Zirin is Editor of the Prince George's Post (Maryland) and writes the weekly column Edge of Sports (edgeofsports.com). He is a Senior Writer at Basketball.com and writes for The Source.
I've been writing since I can remember, I was born in England and raised in Aurora, Colorado. I asked my dad once, why of all the places he had been, after 28 years in the Air-force, born in Rhode Island, why he wanted to retire in Colorado? He looked at me and smiled a kinda strange smile "Son it's the best place I have ever been...I do miss the ocean, but not very much". My other siblings traveled all over the world with mom and dad. We spent several years traveling all over Europe and then settled in Colorado. Sure I've been in other parts of the world, all I can remember is....yeah I got nothing, some pics of me as a baby that's all. I have a great wife, 3 daughters and a chunk of land… miles and miles from anything. Five days a week I travel, and on the sixth day I work in front of my computer from about 6 am till dark then on Saturday I rest. Shabbat is a very important time in our family life as is the study of the Torah. My wife spent her summers out here on this farm and when the opportunity came for us to move here we did, mother-in-law and father-in-law live 100 yards away and as odd as that may sound to some, it has been a great deal of fun and the feeling of closeness we have is awesome.
Professor, writer, and civil rights activist Cornel West was born on June 2, 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and raised in Sacramento. He graduated from Harvard University in 1973 with an M.A. and later taught African-American studies there. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Haverford College, and Princeton University, the latter as professor of religion and director of African-American studies. West earned his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1980. He has written more than twenty books, including Race Matters and Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America.