Kevin McBeth

At forty-five, Kevin McBeth is getting closer to fulfilling his lifelong dream of being as happy as is humanly possible – which seems to relate directly to time spent with his wonderful wife and three amazing kids. He has a passion for the relationships that exist between pen and paper, athlete and teammate, campfire and acoustic guitar, and is fond of the conversations that stem from a glass of bourbon or a game of “Chutes and Ladders.” Kevin is motivated by the connection between people and the positive results of trust and communication. His life lessons have been sculpted from the vast and wild assortment of characters that continue to fill the pages of his life’s story. Kevin spent his first eighteen years in Spring Lake, Michigan, and the last twenty-two in Bisbee, Arizona. Between those, he hitchhiked the country, eventually ending up at the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, where the friendships that evolved into this project took root. In the last two decades, he has gone from dreadlocked and homeless to Arizona’s Teacher of the Year, has published three books, and has worked extensively alongside Shatner. He currently coordinates Teacher Education programs for the University of Arizona and spends the bulk of his time picking up his roommates’ Legos. “Life is too short to take seriously,” he insists. His daily efforts are geared toward adhering to this claim. Likes/Loves: family, guitar, public schools, peanut butter cups, Arizona Cardinals, ‘83 Orioles, ‘01 Diamondbacks, Dungeons and Dragons, Greg Brown, David Gray, Allman Brothers, laughter, most soup, Lord of the Rings, David Sedaris, beef stroganoff, John Irving, The Far Side, tennis, table tennis, 80s sitcoms, The Guess Who, Jethro Tull, parody, satire, compassion, equity, anchovies and bleu cheese. Dislikes/Not a fan: some soup, liver, Cowboys, Patriots, Packers, Packers fans, Packers fans’ social skills, stagnant water, misplaced apostrophes, toast crumbs in butter, hockey, Yankees, cancer, pettiness, hypocrisy, ineptitude, lima beans, inequity, global hunger, personal hunger.