The telling of an unlikely friendship, "Before a Canyon" shares one man's surprising experience working with marginalized children in the barrio of South Phoenix, his time in school, out of school, and beyond school.  Jeremy Tucker befriends a student, Victor, and navigates barriers in the classroom, in their respective cultures, and in their own surprising lives where their friendship becomes important in ways that neither could have foreseen. Tucker openly explores the vast differences between our country's high echelons of education and barrio public schools, and his story shows how real understanding, respect, and love can occur across the widest canyon. It provides powerful testament that those who can, teach; but those who are truly lucky learn from their students.