SEATTLE – Keith Beasley was a member of the Seattle U track and Field team from 2017-18 where he mainly participated in the 200m, 400m and 4x400 relay. He graduated in 2018 with a degree in English and a minor in Political Science. On August 6, 2020, Beasley released his first public novel, Bone Flake: A Poetic Maniac, which tells the story of a young adult's life who was successful in sports until finding himself in trouble with the law, leading to jail time. He is then granted superpowers which he uses to fight crime across the city. Seattle University Athletics recently caught up with Beasley to learn more about his book, what else he has been up to since attending Seattle U and what his plans are for the future.
Q: Where are you now and what have you been up do?
A: I'm currently on a State Active-Duty mission in King County assisting COVID-19 frontlines with the Army National Guard as a Second Lieutenant.
Q. What was your inspiration for Bone Flake?
A: I've always wanted to be an author but never shared that with many people. But in talking to my dad, he convinced me to chase after my dream, which is writing. So, I began Bone Flake about a month after graduating from SU. The book is about a former collegiate athlete who goes to jail for a crime he didn't commit. He gets bailed out by a rich guy who grants him super-powers to fight crime, but the crime is started by the person who bailed him out. He then uses his powers for good to battle this person who bailed him out of jail.
My inspiration in starting this book was rapper Jay-Z. I look to him as an inspiration of patience and persistence. He didn't release his first album until age 26, so I decided to do the same. His sales didn't do much on his first album, but he received a lot of five-star reviews, which is hope. He kept working and thriving in his craft to now being one of the greatest artists of all time. With his inspiring story, I hope to keep thriving and pressing on with new books year after year to succeed in my craft as an author and news reporter.
Q: Are you currently working on another book? If not, what are your plans in the near future?
A: I'm currently working on another novel that will get self-published later this year. It will be titled Fairy Fro' and it's about a teenager who also has super-power abilities, but is sort of conservative herself. She lost her mother at a young age when she was killed on duty as a police officer, is now being raised in a single-parent household by her father and her friends press her to use her platform to battle brutal policing. It relates to what goes on in the real world between the Black community and police officers in this country. She wants to point out that the Black community needs to fix itself before the police do the fixing and seen as the villain. Yet, her mindset changes a bit at the end to create a balance of both worlds. She doesn't want any violence between Black communities and the police.
Q: How has your experience as a student athlete at Seattle U helped you get to where you are today?
A: Being a student athlete at SU taught me to get tough when the tough times in life get going. It was not easy managing ROTC, classwork and track. Yet, it paved the way for me now as I work on the front lines of COVID-19 as an Army Officer and it prepared me to use my degree along with internship experience to apply for jobs as a news reporter. My routine during college consisted of waking up at 4 a.m. for a 5 a.m. ROTC class and morning fitness with the ROTC Cadets on a near-daily basis. Afterward would be class, and then head to track practice. It was challenging to be on more than one team (ROTC, SU Track and Army National Guard) where I had to give up a few of my track meets to meet the requirements of military duty. However, with those experiences, my main focus today is one team and that is the military assisting the frontline of COVID-19. Once my frontline duty ends this year, my next team will be a civilian career as a news reporter.
Q: How has being a student athlete at Seattle U made an impact on you as a person?
A: Being a student athlete impacted me in feeling privileged and shielded. Privileged by getting to travel places, compete, get free meals, hotel rooms and the campus knowing your talent as an athlete. Shielded is when guys from certain communities are seen as student athletes and not just a person from a certain community. On the other hand, from my experience, once I left track it was a different world of a different treatment. It helped open my eyes to how certain people can be viewed if there were no sports to play. It relates to what major sports leagues did last year of 2020 in canceling all their sporting events at once in what's been going on television that deals with social justice. Those athletes are privileged and shielded, but they are using that as a platform to help those who are not privileged and shielded as they are.
Q: What's your favorite memory from your time at Seattle U?
A: I would have to say winning the Distance Medley Relay at the Indoor WAC Championships with the track team was a standout memory. Both the men and women won that year. It's the first time it happened in program history, and it was a good year for SU sports overall. The women's basketball team made it to the NCAA Tournament, men's soccer beat UW in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and women's soccer were WAC champs. It was nice to be a part of that collective success and winning.
Q: What is something that you learned while being a student athlete that you continue to use in your life today?
A: The biggest thing about being a student-athlete is to stay thinking forward and not just the moment. People can say tomorrow is not always promised, which is true, but stay optimistic about how you want to look five-to-10 years from now. I was caught up in the moment and didn't know what I wanted to do after college until a month after I graduated. I now want to publish more books, talk on television as a news reporter and build up from there. The book is complete, and the television job will happen this year once I apply this summer.
I also learned about asking questions about the people you work with. Both Coach Kelly and Coach Chad read their athlete's reflection on their races after each meet. Because of that, I put that into the world of the military in working with soldiers. Building a relationship and having good communication with the people you work with is key.
Q: What's one piece of advice you would offer today's student athletes?
A: If you don't think big, you won't achieve big. And always be open-minded to others.
Q: Where are you now and what have you been up do?
A: I'm currently on a State Active-Duty mission in King County assisting COVID-19 frontlines with the Army National Guard as a Second Lieutenant.
Q. What was your inspiration for Bone Flake?
A: I've always wanted to be an author but never shared that with many people. But in talking to my dad, he convinced me to chase after my dream, which is writing. So, I began Bone Flake about a month after graduating from SU. The book is about a former collegiate athlete who goes to jail for a crime he didn't commit. He gets bailed out by a rich guy who grants him super-powers to fight crime, but the crime is started by the person who bailed him out. He then uses his powers for good to battle this person who bailed him out of jail.
My inspiration in starting this book was rapper Jay-Z. I look to him as an inspiration of patience and persistence. He didn't release his first album until age 26, so I decided to do the same. His sales didn't do much on his first album, but he received a lot of five-star reviews, which is hope. He kept working and thriving in his craft to now being one of the greatest artists of all time. With his inspiring story, I hope to keep thriving and pressing on with new books year after year to succeed in my craft as an author and news reporter.
Q: Are you currently working on another book? If not, what are your plans in the near future?
A: I'm currently working on another novel that will get self-published later this year. It will be titled Fairy Fro' and it's about a teenager who also has super-power abilities, but is sort of conservative herself. She lost her mother at a young age when she was killed on duty as a police officer, is now being raised in a single-parent household by her father and her friends press her to use her platform to battle brutal policing. It relates to what goes on in the real world between the Black community and police officers in this country. She wants to point out that the Black community needs to fix itself before the police do the fixing and seen as the villain. Yet, her mindset changes a bit at the end to create a balance of both worlds. She doesn't want any violence between Black communities and the police.
Q: How has your experience as a student athlete at Seattle U helped you get to where you are today?
A: Being a student athlete at SU taught me to get tough when the tough times in life get going. It was not easy managing ROTC, classwork and track. Yet, it paved the way for me now as I work on the front lines of COVID-19 as an Army Officer and it prepared me to use my degree along with internship experience to apply for jobs as a news reporter. My routine during college consisted of waking up at 4 a.m. for a 5 a.m. ROTC class and morning fitness with the ROTC Cadets on a near-daily basis. Afterward would be class, and then head to track practice. It was challenging to be on more than one team (ROTC, SU Track and Army National Guard) where I had to give up a few of my track meets to meet the requirements of military duty. However, with those experiences, my main focus today is one team and that is the military assisting the frontline of COVID-19. Once my frontline duty ends this year, my next team will be a civilian career as a news reporter.
Q: How has being a student athlete at Seattle U made an impact on you as a person?
A: Being a student athlete impacted me in feeling privileged and shielded. Privileged by getting to travel places, compete, get free meals, hotel rooms and the campus knowing your talent as an athlete. Shielded is when guys from certain communities are seen as student athletes and not just a person from a certain community. On the other hand, from my experience, once I left track it was a different world of a different treatment. It helped open my eyes to how certain people can be viewed if there were no sports to play. It relates to what major sports leagues did last year of 2020 in canceling all their sporting events at once in what's been going on television that deals with social justice. Those athletes are privileged and shielded, but they are using that as a platform to help those who are not privileged and shielded as they are.
Q: What's your favorite memory from your time at Seattle U?
A: I would have to say winning the Distance Medley Relay at the Indoor WAC Championships with the track team was a standout memory. Both the men and women won that year. It's the first time it happened in program history, and it was a good year for SU sports overall. The women's basketball team made it to the NCAA Tournament, men's soccer beat UW in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and women's soccer were WAC champs. It was nice to be a part of that collective success and winning.
Q: What is something that you learned while being a student athlete that you continue to use in your life today?
A: The biggest thing about being a student-athlete is to stay thinking forward and not just the moment. People can say tomorrow is not always promised, which is true, but stay optimistic about how you want to look five-to-10 years from now. I was caught up in the moment and didn't know what I wanted to do after college until a month after I graduated. I now want to publish more books, talk on television as a news reporter and build up from there. The book is complete, and the television job will happen this year once I apply this summer.
I also learned about asking questions about the people you work with. Both Coach Kelly and Coach Chad read their athlete's reflection on their races after each meet. Because of that, I put that into the world of the military in working with soldiers. Building a relationship and having good communication with the people you work with is key.
Q: What's one piece of advice you would offer today's student athletes?
A: If you don't think big, you won't achieve big. And always be open-minded to others.