Ridge Kennedy was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Then he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Tokyo, Japan; Hatfield, Pennsylvania; Bangkok, Thailand; Fort Smith (again); Indianapolis (again); Cleveland, Ohio; and Mentor, Ohio. Then he went off to high school in New Hampshire. No, he wasn't a military brat; his parents were in the newspaper business. After majoring in speech and theatre in college and teaching theatre classes at Hiram College and Bucknell University, Ridge went into the family business, starting off as an intern at The Evansville Press. Over the next thirty years, he earned a living primarily as a writer: newspapers, technical writing, advertising, public relations and marketing. In the early days of the personal computer, he expanded his interests into technology. In the early 2000s his career veered into information technology; providing tech support and writing code instead of words. Throughout his life, Ridge has also pursued an interest in folk music and dance. He is a song leader and dance caller. Google "yodeling square" and his name on YouTube for a glimpse of his alter ego in the folk arts world. The Richest Man in New Babylon reflects another important area of interest for him; a deeply-felt desire to make the world a better place. Not just for him, his family and friends; but for people he doesn't know. Fellow Americans. Fellow residents of Planet Earth. Global warming, racism, income inequality, dictators and genocides-he worries about all that stuff, too. His work on The Richest Man in New Babylon is a not-for-profit effort to address the challenges faced by people, disproportionately men of color, who have been incarcerated in the United States. But the rules described in his book can be applied by anyone, anywhere, so that ticks the "income inequality" checkbox on Ridge's worry list, too. For more information about Ridge and his ongoing projects, visit www.ridgekennedy.com. If you would like to support the effort to increase financial literacy for people who have been incarcerated, visit www.richestmaninnewbabylon.com.
