Born in Manhattan, New York City, Glenn Raysor and his older sister Donna were raised by a single mother in the Bronx, New York. As a child he often played stickball and ran the streets of avoiding the drug dealers, gangs, and other trappings of the urban jungles. Education was always stressed by his mother, Barbara. He played in numerous city basketball tournaments. In high school he played baske
tball, football and track for the Lions of Lehman High school. He earned a football scholarship to New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, Long Island. He had a brief stint with the Brooklyn Kings semi-pro football team. He graduated with a B. Degree in Fine Arts. Later he would graduate from the City College of New York with a Master Science in Education, while teaching in the South Bronx and working full time at night at the US Postal Service. He later would run the after school tutorial program after strong urging by Mr. Howard Saffir the principal. Glenn's caring and sense of instilling self-worth in his students quickly spread through the neighborhood. In the following years Glenn would become the Director of a Young fathers program, and several other community programs aiding troubled youth. While being an integral part of the programs he saw first-hand the devastation of many Black and Latino teens struggle with illiteracy and the limitations it brought to their lives. During the thirteen years Glenn taught, he also witnessed the beginning of the vicious cycle of non readers. After frustrating attempts to find literature for his students, Glenn used his childhood and experiences as an educator to create SomewhereOut of the Darkness. He learned students took a more vested interest in reading when they could relate to the characters and stories. His students would read and critique his stories about the neighborhood during the class group reading. Teachers would ask to use his writings in their classes. Somewhere Out of the Darkness addresses these concerns of our young people, and possible remedies that young people can take to stay alive.
