By Thomas Retzios ’18, Contributer
“I didn’t realize this was a Reddit AMA,” said Mr. Nat Tracey-Miller ’05, after I asked him if he would rather fight a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses. This year, Mr. Tracey-Miller re-entered our community not as a student, but rather as a new faculty member: Country Day’s librarian. For the last 5 years, he worked on System Wide Services at the Public Library of Cincinnati, filling in positions in all 41 branches around the county.
Mr. Tracey-Miller wanted the librarian position because he loves everything about Country Day. The school takes him back to some of his fondest memories as a student. His favorite Mr. Black memory was when Mr. Black talked for multiple classes about the Duomo and everything there is to know about it. Mr. Tracey-Miller says that he [hopes] someday [he] can love something like [Mr. Black] loves that building”.
One time during a Country Day Talent Show, Mr. Tracey-Miller got boo’d. In a very rebellious act, he re-wrote the lyrics to Rockin’ in the Free World by Neil Young to be about the Iraq War. This was following the start of the Iraq War and since it was such a controversial topic, he got boo’d for his unpopular opinion (and lyrics, for that matter) by the students and faculty.
Mr. Tracey-Miller loves music. He loves every aspect of music, he loves listening, playing, and even writing about it. He writes for 3 different music websites, including Cincy Music. Because he writes for these music websites, Mr. Tracey-Miller gets to go to many concerts for free, he has already gone to 6 music festivals this year. On average, he goes to 50-100 concerts a year. He said that getting home late from concerts and then having to write 750 words can be rough. Out of all the concerts he has been to, his favorites were Neil Young and Crazy Horse, at which he had front row seats, and LCD Soundsystem.
There is a common accusation floating around the Upper School that Mr. Tracey-Miller is, in fact, a hipster. He acknowledges this accusation with character, shrugging his shoulders. He said that the most hipster thing he has ever done was wearing a red flannel, walking around Findlay Market, drinking overpriced coffee, while buying overpriced bread. His first car was a Maroon Volvo 240 dl wagon (very hipster), and his dream car would be an all-electric version of his Volvo wagon (very, very hipster).
One fact that most people would not guess about Mr. Tracey-Miller is that he collects maps. He collects old road atlases, national geographic maps, and a variety of other antique maps. Mr. Tracey-Miller enjoys looking at them, and he believes that “there is an art to mid-century map-making that we have lost due to Google maps”. His oldest maps date back to the late 1800’s.
Mr. Tracey-Miller is happy to be back, doing what he loves in the place he loves. And for those who were wondering, because of his height, he thinks he could take on 100 duck-sized horses.
