ANTHONY ARVIN

Anthony Arvin was born in the American West in a much simpler time. Few people had ever flown in an airplane, and radios still had vacuum tubes. Manners, respect for elders, and a sense of community were still very strong. Things like gratitude, honesty, and wisdom were still highly valued and emphasized universally.

 

As tends to happen, though, the world was changing, and upheaval was right around the corner. The days when families spent time together on the porch were replaced with latchkey kids, changing values, hectic schedules, technology, and the generation gap.

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Ideally suited to bridge the two ages, Anthony was old enough to remember life before technology, but young enough to embrace and even excel in the modern world. Anthony went from a tiny community with a one-room schoolhouse ... to working all over the world in a variety of high-tech industries. He is a master craftsman, world-class artist, writer, inventor, humorist, and a well-traveled bumpkin.

 

What makes Anthony unique, though, wasn't the idyllic setting for his childhood. In his youth, Anthony was repeatedly faced with death. He had to deal with the loss of close family members, but he also faced threats to his own life. In his young teens, an accident took his life, and CPR was required to resuscitate him. Two years later, he cheated death again. Barely. Anthony became painfully aware of how fragile life can be and found himself consumed with the fear of his own death. Not the physical act of dying, as it turns out, that was easy. His fixation was the fear of dying before he had the opportunity to matter...to make his mark in the world.

 

Before he was old enough to get a driver's license, Anthony was already coping with all the distress and fears that go with a full-blown midlife crisis.

 

While his friends were concerned with their grades, being popular, or excelling at sports, Anthony was relentlessly pursuing perfection in his art; Driven to create art so profound, and with such skill, that hundreds of years from now his work might hang in a museum somewhere, serving as a testimony that he had even existed. That is a considerable burden for a 15-year-old, but there can be little doubt that it explains the breathtaking skill he achieved as an artist.

 

He also acquired an insatiable appetite for knowledge and understanding. He wanted to understand how everything around him worked, including people and relationships. He actively searched for and sought out wisdom and wise people. That wasn’t common in a time that most people his age were still reeling from the breakup of The Beatles.

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Despite the overwhelming burdens of his youth, he didn't let the trauma define him, and his determination to overcome those fears became a blessing. Through it all, Anthony developed wonderful perspectives and insights. His ability to see and articulate the things that make life fulfilling is one of Anthony's significant contributions to this world.

His talent as a storyteller, and his skill as an illustrator, make his books a unique and enjoyable experience.

 

In his writing, you get a heartwarming perspective on life's challenges, while his irreverent and mischievous sense of humor keeps the mood light and entertaining. And his art…that just adds a level of delight you have to see to believe.