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Magne Kristiansen]
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Where were you born?
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June 28, 1947 in Ødergården on the island of Kråkerøy in Norway - a small town of 13 people, next to the Glomma River. It was a thrillingly beautiful place.
When my parents wanted to move to the US in 1955 I did not want to go. (Not that they asked me.)
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Where did you go to school?
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I attended high school at Cresskill High School in Cresskill NJ (a suburb of New York City). This was a new High School and we were the first class to go through it. Consequently we were the top class in the school from 8th Grade onwards. We had no obnoxious upper classmen.
I received my BA from Harvard, and a PhD (in Philosophy) from Yale.
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Remembrance of childhood...
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When we moved to America in 1955 I did not know a word of English. I remember the first hours of the first day of 3rd Grade vividly. The last thing I remember was Mrs. Archer, my Teacher, standing over me saying "Locker Number Three". I did not know what she was trying to say, so she said it louder: "Locker number three!"
Then I don't remember anything until the middle of fourth grade.
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Remembrance of being a teenager...
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Going to New York most weekends - going to a museum or down to the Village to watch a foreign film.
Going to Cape Cod with Merryl Maleska, my high school girlfriend. We went to a beach that was sandy and very gentle. After we walked out a hundred yards or so, we saw many primitive-looking horseshoe crabs moving in the clear waters. I was scared. Later on we drove to town in her dad's fancy Lincoln New Yorker and bought some fried clams. Life was good!
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My favorite teacher:
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Mrs. Clemons, the high school English teacher. She let a bunch of us come in after class where we would shoot the breeze about books and literature. I loved it. She was the one who first gave me a philosophy book to read.
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Why did I want to be a teacher?
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I always liked math. After a divorce in 1987 I had some money that I wanted to spend on something fun. It was buy a computer or travel to Japan. I bought a computer - never having touched one before.
I still remember the sunny spring day that the UPS truck bounced across the dirt-road, over the field bring me my computer. It took me three days just to be able to print something.
Computers became a passion, and at some point I decided that I might as well try to make a job out of it, as I was studying and thinking about it all the time.
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What do I do for fun?
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Computers. Reading books. Decorating my trailer. Talking with someone who has an intellectual interest.
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My favorite...
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Book: |
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William H. McNeill, Jacques Barzun, Jean Baudrillard, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Geoff Dyer, Todd McEwen and Cees Noteboom
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Music: |
Electronica. Whatever seems fresh to me at the moment.
And Leonard Cohen, Sade, The Orb, Cuban music, dance music, blues, older jazz, classical, singer-songwriters, etc.
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Food: |
Potatoes. Smoked or pickled fish. A really nice restaurant meal.
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TV Program: |
I don't watch TV anymore. And I don't miss it.\
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Movie: |
Ratatouille, Spirited Away, Ingmar Bergman, foreign films in general
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An unfulfilled fantasy...
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To write a philosophy book. To be alive.
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Something that people don't know about me... |
I have hitch-hiked across the US nine times.
I have built my own house.
I have 5000 45rpm records.
I bought over 440 CDs and 750 books in 2007.
I used to have beautiful curly hair.
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