Born in 1969 as the seventh of eight children to two Harlem raised parents, this author benefited from both the inner-city life of Queens, New York, and childhood summers spent on a farm in rural upstate New York. Academic, professional, and physical accomplishments have punctuated this author's life. After earning his doctorate from Seton Hall University in 2006 in the area of education leadership, management, and policy, creative pursuits such as self publishing memoirs, poetry, and photography have taken the edge off of the busy work life of a public school administrator. An adventurer by nature, he became the first African American to hike to the top of every mountain in the northeast United States over 4,000' (115 of them) by September of 2000. At that time, less than 400 people had accomplished this feat; whereas thousands have scaled Mount Everest.