Hello! I'm Mike, and I'm the man behind the curtain... The blogospheric curtain, that is. I'm a freshmen at Wayne State University. It's a pretty rad place to learn. It wasn't easy getting here, though. There were a lot of obstacles I had to overcome every step of the way. Some of them I got around, some of them I still struggle with <End story for another time/>. I am involved in quite a few political movements and am greatly influenced by the work of Mahatma Ghandi, Cesar Chavez, and Dr. Martin Luther Kind Jr. All three of them, while living, made great personal sacrifices in order to make the world a better place for others. Even though they are no longer with us, their memory, passion, and legacy lives on. I find the issue of the environment and humanitarianism intensely interesting and therefor have dedicated my political activism to the causes. The world would be a better place if everyone just kept in mind that everyone has their own personal hell that they deal with and probably conceal.

Before I began college level English, I thought very lowly of rhetoric. To me, rhetoric was a slimy linguistic based tool used to ‘seal the deal’, so to speak, most often employed by crooked politicians, used car salesmen, and that cousin that only calls when they need to make bail. Little did I know that my life revolved around rhetoric, in almost everything I do, whether I know it or not. My life, as well as most humans, is continuously influenced by brands, organizations, significant people, etc. (the list goes on and on). Just like in the world exists good and evil, in the realm of rhetoric exists well-meant and ethical rhetoric and unethical rhetoric used to pursue bad intentions. It is my responsibly as a conscious human and student living up to the best of my personal ethics to decipher what rhetoric is meant to help and what rhetoric is meant to hinder and to act on it accordingly. While all rhetoric should be questioned to ensure its authenticity, different rhetorical situations must be acted upon uniquely. Acting correctly upon good rhetoric would be allowing my opinion to be swayed. Acting upon bad rhetoric would be resisting the rhetoric and arguing valid points against it.