: About Me

I was born in a small town in Connecticut, a great place to grow up. My Dad moved us to Florida when I was 11 years old, though, and I hated it. My new classmates called me "Yankee" and they weren't talking baseball - they were still fighting the Civil War.
After high school I went to the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York. Somehow, I managed to graduate and become a deck officer in the Merchant Marine (and a Lt. in the U.S. Naval Reserve). Sailing as one of the mates, I made at least one voyage to sea every year for twenty years. My family thinks I went everywhere, but in truth I missed a few spots.
In between trips, and when shipping was poor, I went back to college and got a Master's degree in Education from Boston College. For eight years I taught junior high school and shipped out just in the summer. My location shifted during these years from New Orleans, to Boston, to Baltimore.
While in Baltimore, my first marriage fell apart. Realizing that I needed a new start, I got into a business that took me to Arizona. There I helped the Phoenix Symphony increase their season ticket sales, and met a new love. I went back east, made a last trip across the North Atlantic, and quit the sea life forever.
I got married in Arizona and have been here ever since. I merged my knowledge of navigation and charts with some computer software, and became a GIS (Geographic Info Systems) Analyst for a local government. A few months ago I retired from that and moved to a small town in Northern Arizona.
I've liked and played sports all my life, and still play tennis. The wife and I go hiking in the Arizona high country often. I am passionate about national politics and am somewhat intolerant of those who think "it doesn't matter." My wife says I dislike people who drive like Morons, but it's likely I dislike those who are Morons all the time, too.
I probably spend too much time writing e-mail, blogging, and reading news online. I prefer nonfiction to fiction, and read mostly history and political works. I have a literary agent (Andy Whelchel, National Writers Literary Agency) who represents two book-length manuscripts that I have written. One of these is a nonfiction ms. of my years at sea; the other is one of those "fiction but based on my experiences" manuscripts. It is based on my experience coaching baseball with inner city kids in Baltimore.
My goal with Helium is to expand my writing with numerous shorter pieces, to challenge myself to get better, and to gain exposure. I like to write op-ed style pieces and essays, and hope to post many of them here. I chose the pen name Kevin Zahn as the result of a contest within my family. I had wanted a pseudonym since I learned in grammar school that Mark Twain was one. I just loved Tom and Huck.

My passion is ...

National politics (in addition to the wife, of course)

I know too much about ...

Conspiracy theories

My parents always told me ...

To stay away from "bad" girls

My childhood ambition ...

To be the next Bob Cousy

My favorite memory ...

Surviving my first typhoon at sea at the age of 18.

Why I write ...

I feel compelled to

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

The Presidential debates and campaigns

My first job ...

Selling shoes at a Thom McCann's in Florida while in high school.

My best moment ...

Navigated a large ship through the Strait of Gibraltar, in dense fog, with no radar, and didn't hit anything

My inspiration ...

The wife and family; corny answer but I swear it's true and no, she did NOT make me say this.

Politics, News & Issues > US Leaders Commentary: Critiquing Ronald Reagan's legacy

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During the current presidential primary season, I found it curious how all the Republican candidates repeatedly mentioned Ronald Reagan, compared themselves to Reagan, sometimes seemed to imply that they WERE Reagan, reincarnated, or at least that they channeled his spirit. Since they made it clear how indebted their party is to him, let's examine the real Reagan a bit. And I will grant the point that many will idolize anyone who wins the presidency, no matter how he did it, or what his record was, or what he accomplished or not; you can have that for a "legacy" that he won it for his part...

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