Mark Connor began boxing at age 10 at the Mexican American Boxing Club, the area of the city from which he formed his understanding of the world, anchoring his perception of direction to the family house and the rising of the sun outside his bedroom window.
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He had 102 amateur fights, made it to three national tournaments, and competed against some of the nation’s top world-class boxers. He became the Upper Midwest Golden Gloves lightweight champion at 17.
However, when America went through the trauma of an economic shutdown and his beloved Twin Cities blew up in fiery riots, Mark worked when he could (the Boxing gyms and churches were closed due to Governor’s orders), helped his mother who was diagnosed with a fatal heart disease, and daily mourned the death of his father.
Mark is a boxing trainer and a writer from St. Paul, Minnesota. His first book, It's About Time, has sold millions of copies. He weaves together a story of love, family, and life with twenty poems running through it.
It’s About Time (Millions of Copies Sold for Dad) is a saga wrapped around a package of poems, guarded by angels. With a narrative style that reads like a novel, contains a collection of poetry, and shares an autobiography, Mark Connor guides us through a journey of love, family, and life that is ours as much as his own, peaking at the point of merger of difference and unity.
Following him from memory to memory, we feel the eyes upon us, defeat the empire of fear, embrace the kingdom of love, and find ten minutes a day to be grateful. All the while, we celebrate the city of Saint Paul (with a friendly nod to Minneapolis), experience Irish influence in neighborhood life, rooted in Catholic cohesion, and embraced by Indigenous America in the Medicine Wheel.
We box the perfect metaphor with future world champions, love beauty in a moment of ambivalence, work on a fishing boat in Southeast Alaska, comfort a child in an American Indian shelter for kids, and guard American Indian buildings, with guns, in riots. Through it all, we honor Dad, mourning his death and remembering his love, sharing a story written for America, valuing fatherhood, defending family, encouraging marriage, and providing hope.
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