“I was born in New York but as a baby moved to Venezuela and Argentina. I've also lived in Denmark, where my father's from. I've traveled a lot, and having that sort of background probably increased the chance that I was going to remain curious as an adult about people who are different.” PeopleDifferentFatherBornChanceNew YorkBabyAdultsMovedBackgroundsCuriousTraveledArgentinaVenezuelaDenmark Author:Viggo Mortensen
“My mother was a teacher, my father was a community organizer. I come from a working class background.” MotherFatherCommunityClassTeacherBackgroundsWorking ClassOrganizer Author:Chris Hayes
“In New Haven, Conn., when I was growing up, there were two sorts of Irish. There were the "drugstore cowboy" micks, who hung around the Elm Street poolroom over Longley's Lunch. And there were the earnest young Irishmen who fought their way up from the Grand Avenue saloonkeeper backgrounds of their fathers, went through Yale Law School, and have now found high place by the preferment of local politics or in the teaching profession.” WayTwoBookSchoolLawYoungFoundFatherGrowing UpGrowingStreetsTeachingHavensProfessionBackgroundsLocalsLunchHungCowboyEarnestAvenuesLaw SchoolYaleHigh PlacesIrishmenTeaching Profession Book:Studs Lonigan Source: Studs Lonigan
“I did not come from an academic background. My father was a smart man, but he had a fifth-grade education. He and all his friends were plumbers. They were all born around 1905 in great poverty in New York City and had to go to work when they were 12 or 13 years old.” MenYearsFatherBornCitiesPovertyNew YorkSmartBackgroundsGradesNew York CityAcademicFifthPlumberFifth GradeSmart Man Author:Leonard Susskind
“I was brought up in a very naval, military, and conservative background. My father and his friends had very typical opinions of the British middle class - lower-middle class actually - after the war. My father broke into the middle class by joining the navy. I was the first member of my family ever to go to private school or even to university. So, the armed forces had been upward mobility for him.” FirstsWarSchoolFatherForceOpinionClassMiddleMilitaryMembersMy FamilyUniversityConservativeBritishBackgroundsBrokeMiddle ClassTypicalNavyJoiningArmed ForcesMobilityNavalPrivate SchoolUpward Mobility Author:Christopher Hitchens