125 Faces of MSUM
Name: Martin Grindeland
Profession: Professor of mass communications
Number of years at MSUM: 32
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Q: What’s one of the best trips you’ve ever taken?
A: Our trip to Norway. We went to visit the Grindeland farm. We kind of knew it was not too far from Voss, Norway. We went up to where we thought it was on a map and had a cabby drop us off. We knocked on the door, and I asked the girl who came to the door if she knew where the Grindeland farm was. She said, “Well, we call this the Grindeland farm,” and I asked, “Do you know any Grindelands?” She said, “Well, I’m a Grindeland!” It’s up there kind of in the mountains and by a lake.
Q: If you could listen to any type of music right now, what would you choose?
A: I listen to a variety of music – I always have – and I work with a lot of different music in documentaries. I guess I’d have to figure out something that really fit the mood of the moment. I’m an old-timer, so my favorite band is still the Beatles because that made a big impact on me. I can remember when those songs came out.
Q: Did you have long, shaggy hair back then, too?
A: I think everybody did. I did have to take a break in that because I was an officer in the Air Force, too, during part of that period, and they had pretty strict hair requirements. Military personnel were probably the only guys with short hair at that time. Almost everyone else I knew had long hair. It was a tough time to be a barber, unless you were right by a military base, or something.