 photo by Jack Palmer Steven Duffy ’77 Circulation Coordinator, Olive Kettering Library “ Duffy’s always open to a hug, he always helps you look at something from a different angle, and you can count on him to ask the questions that everyone else is thinking but no one wants to ask.” – Anna Hogarty, Administrative Aide to the President Steven Duffy ’77, known to most Antiochians simply as “Duffy,” is something of an Antioch landmark, with his characteristic tie-dyed t-shirts and his collection of stuffed buffaloes on display in the library. He can usually be found manning the circulation desk, where he is the Circulation Coordinator. I recently had the chance to talk with him about life, Antioch, and everything in between. Duffy was an Antioch student off-and-on from 1967 to 1977, and joined the staff of the Olive Kettering Library full time in July of 1977, just after he graduated. He worked at the library even before graduating, however, both as a co-op student and as a Federal Work-Study student. “I’ve worked at the library since the student wage was $1.30,” he brags. “That was big money back then.” He describes his job now as “King of the Grunts,” then elaborates: “I keep the library running as smoothly as I can. Circulation means everything that moves around, people and books, plus watching the computer system, stuff like that. There are about 1700 people who use this library, between faculty, staff, town residents, Antioch students and McGregor students.” When I ask him what originally drew him to Antioch, he says: “I had a world history teacher who told me about some paradise kind of place in Ohio that had no grades and where you could travel all over the planet. Sounded pretty interesting.” Duffy came to Antioch intending to study literature, but changed his major to biology. “I thought I was going to go into public health for a while,” he explains. In addition to the library, his co-ops included a Latin American health clinic in Oakland, an elementary school in northern California, a stint with the New York Times, a hitchhiking trip to South America, and a free health clinic in Los Angeles, which he enjoyed so much that he took a two-year of leave of absence from Antioch to continue the job. “LA was so exciting; California was the Promised Land,” he says, laughing. W I ask him about his favorite memories of Antioch, he immediately mentions the Payless Paydays. He explains: “How many places do you know that everybody would work for a month and a half for nothing? Faculty, staff—we all carpooled together to unemployment. It showed that Antioch could run on sheer willpower.” About his life outside Antioch, he says: “I live in Dayton with my other half. We’ve been together eighteen years. I do aerobics and I garden. I have two gardens behind my house.” He surprises me by revealing that he’s “born again,” his words, but doesn’t go to church: “I go to church twice a year with my other half. I don’t believe in those institutions, because they’re failures. Why be part of an institution that keeps the wickedness going? So I’m just kind of out there on my own. I say my little prayer every morning that I’m going to be a blessing to myself and others. But I’m not going to force it on anybody. I believe in free will.” Finally I ask Duffy about the tie-dye and the buffaloes. The tie-dye tradition turns out to have originated during his time as a student: “The first tie-dye was given to me by a woman named Erin Murphy, who dropped out of school. She was part of this group called Dykes for the Dead—the Grateful Dead. I helped her out, so when she was packing she threw the shirt down from the top of North Hall to me, and after that I was hooked. I never did like the Grateful Dead, I just like the t-shirts.” The buffalo story is slightly more complex. It started with the nickname “Buffalo,” which was adopted by Joe Cali, Head Librarian, after a friend of Duffy’s called him “Duffalo” one day in the mid-1970s. The stuffed buffaloes came later: “The first buffalo was given to me around 1980 or so. I was the union rep after we’d had Payless Paydays; the college was virtually bankrupt. Gradually we got a little stronger, but as the union rep I had to help people through problems. There was a woman who said that as a good union steward I sat outside with her with a contract and a seniority list, trying to explain to her all her options. She was so grateful for my helping her that she gave me a stuffed buffalo.” Along with his work in the library, Duffy stays active in the Antioch community as a member of the Alumni Board. By Campbell Meeks ‘04
page last updated: August 12, 2004 |
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