Name: Arlin Migliazzo
Job title: Professor of History
Department: History
How long have you worked at Whitworth? 27 1/2 years
What do you like best about your job? The opportunity to teach the most important subject with great colleagues to great students at a great university
In what ways do your gifts and abilities help meet the needs of the campus community you serve? I hope that I have been able to contribute to our discussions regarding our mission and what a quality education should look like at a church-related university.
Favorite book: Hard to narrow down. I really like the Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis
Favorite movie: Older – either “Hollywood Canteen” with Joan Leslie or “Unconquered” with Gary Cooper; newer – the “National Treasure” films
Favorite food: Pressure-cooked Swiss steak like my mom used to make
Favorite quote: “Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life,” by Bertolt Brecht
Favorite music: American folk/mountain music from any era – they call it Americana these days
Favorite animal: I’ve always thought California sea otters were cool.
Guilty pleasure: Pretty much anything chocolate, ridiculously hokey monster movies, and ABBA.
Hobbies: Gardening, traveling, and visiting historical sites, family members, and friends – though not necessarily in that order
Best vacation ever: The next one
Birth place: South Gate, California (a few miles south of downtown L.A.)
We’d be surprised to know that…I was once asked to audition for the old Dating Game show on TV.
I collect…fountain pens.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? So many places . . . but I’d really like to visit Italy to see where my dad’s family lives.
What cartoon character best describes you? The Great Gonzo of the Muppets – odd but strangely intriguing
If you could try anything and not fail, what dream would you attempt? I’d still like to play center field for the Los Angeles Angels.
What is your favorite sound? It’s a tie between a campfire, waves crashing on the beach, water trickling over rocks in a creek, and the crack of a baseball on the sweet spot of a wood bat
What is your life motto? Two – “Life is pushing out the boundaries of the comfortable,” and “God’s Kingdom is very large.”
If the whole world was listening, what would you say? “Strive to live an authentic life.”
Favorite childhood book: Black Beauty
Favorite childhood TV shows: Early on probably the original “The Mickey Mouse Club” or one of the 1950s westerns (“Cheyenne,” “The Cisco Kid,” “Sugarfoot,” “Hopalong Cassidy,” or “The Roy Rogers Show”), although the way Commander Cody could fly was great; later – “Mission: Impossible,” “I Spy,” and “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”
Least favorite word: Pulchritude
If you could go on a road trip with anyone (from the past or present), who would you choose and where would you go? I’d love to have a conversation with Abraham Lincoln as he travels to Pennsylvania to deliver the Gettysburg Address.
Best high school class subject: Literature
