by Jeffrey Stanley

"My television blew up in 1991 and I never got it fixed, and I don't have a computer. One thing I was horrified about at the end of the last century is being trapped behind a screen. You should know that one of my earliest heroes was Henry David Thoreau. I know that today people can't live without their screens, but not me." At 81 legendary BFS teacher Martin Norregaard knows who he is, and isn't afraid to tell you all about it.

1. I've heard your name around here for many years. There's an annual award given out in the Upper School at graduation that's named after you but this is my first time meeting you. How long did you teach here?

I came in '61 and retired officially in '91--that was 30 years--not knowing it would go on and on after my retirement.

2. How did that happen? I think most teachers retire and that's that.

An invisible connection gets built up somehow.

3. Are you a Quaker?

I had no idea that Quakers existed in Brooklyn when I first came here. A teachers' agency sent me here for an interview. I am convinced now about destiny. It was my destiny to come here and to stay. I didn't know it. And I wanted a spiritual connection after my retirement, so I started attending the Brooklyn meeting. I became a convinced Quaker in the early 1990s.

4. Have you always believed in destiny?

No. Destiny occurred to me late in life. People have the choice whether to follow it. I believe values have to change as one ages.

5. So you didn't believe in destiny, but now your values have changed and you do believe in it. How else have your values changed with age?

Time. When I was younger I would run here and there. For me now it isn't an hour, it's my life. I'm now keenly aware that my hours aren't unlimited. I don't lose my identity but I change. I am content with much less. I became enough. Once that happens to you--you become enough--the world becomes enough. When I was younger nothing was enough.

6. Did you set out to become a teacher?

Not at first. I worked for an airline, a travel agency, I worked as a tutor. It was about that time that I decided to go to Columbia Teachers College. That was in the '50s. I wanted a job that would be different every day. I had worked for awhile at Thonet Industries on Park Avenue, a furniture manufacturer. It was the same thing every day. It was not a happy time. It was just not for me.

7. Where are you from?

Brooklyn. My parents came over from Europe. My mother was German, my father Danish. I am an only child.

8. Now here we are after 50 years at BFS and many alums we've interviewed in our Alum Profiles section name you as an influence; Julian Palmer, Stephen Wermiel, Peter Trachtenberg, John Leo, Peter Laughter. You seem to have had a lasting and profound impact on them. Did you know that going into the classroom, that your "cryptic utterances" were going to move and inspire your students and make an indelible impression on them?

No, never. It amazes me. I only taught Middle School English and Social Studies!

9. And there's an email from BFS Alum Director Susan Price '86 that she recently got from alum Abigail Meisel. It says, 'If you see Mr. Norregaard please tell him my 7th grade report on the Plains Indians, which was my first research project, launched me as a writer of nonfiction.' Do you remember her?

Of course. She was from the 1970s. I also remember a student years ago wrote a poem about boxes. How we are in boxes all the time; a car is a box with wheels, a building is a box, a room is a box.

We're in a box right now.

Yes, we are.

10. What was your least favorite part of being a popular teacher?

Having to give a student a low grade. I didn't want people to be unhappy.

11. So you read, you serve on the board, you keep journals. You spend hours and hours a day not watching television or staring at other screens. Anything else keeping you busy?

I became a volunteer in the early '90s, again by destiny, at the International Center on West 23rd Street in Manhattan. It's where students come to speak English. I'm a conversation partner. Here's a framed photo I keep at home of me standing next to one of my students. His name is Yao. He's Chinese.

Very nice. It's inscribed, 'I appreciate your kindness and everything you did for me.' He sounds like one of your former BFS students.

12. What else is new in your life?

I became an American grandfather for the first time last year.

13. What does that mean?

A Korean conversation partner of mine needed friends. I brought him to Quaker meetings, he got involved with young people. He went on to NYU's film school, graduated, made a film. On the night of the premiere I was there with his family. He looked at me and said, 'You are my American grandfather.' He's back in Korea now and working hard.

14. Earlier you showed me a journal you're keeping in which you list and describe your highlights of 2010. Do you do that every year?

No, this is the first time. But I thought, why didn't I do that sooner? Every year has its highlights.

15. Any highlights for 2011 so far?

I am convinced that June 4 will be the highlight of my life.

16. You're being honored at Alumni Day. It's that big a deal for you? A lifetime highlight?

I've been part of the school for 50 years. BFS, without my realizing it, has helped me find out who I am. Just like the students leave here knowing who they are.

17. So in a way you see yourself as a student, too?

Sometimes growing up is not easy. After 70 it all gets easy.

18. Desert island question--what 3 things?

I was warned that I would be asked this question.

You were warned correctly.

I would take a hundred composition books.

That's not one thing.

And I would want a huge caseful of Sharpie pens.

You're stretching the word thing.

And also maybe Mirado Black Warriors.

(he holds up a new pack of black pencils)

Whoa. Not just pencils but... Mirado Black Warriors. I've never heard of those but it looks and sounds like a pencil not to be trifled with.

They have nice erasers.

They're like the Cadillac of pencils.

Some things I get enthusiastic about.

19. What's your 3rd thing?

I would want to take my faith with me.

You're the first to say that.

With faith, I'm assuming rescue would come eventually.

Ah. Well-played.

I also would want to take my mind but that's more than 3 things.

20. Who needs a mind when they've got cool pencils and 50 years of changing lives. What's one thing that's always in your fridge?

Bottled water and yogurt.