It has often been the goal of my writing to raise consciousness without having to raise my voice. While compiling this collection, I realized several things. First and foremost, I've come a long way since my first column. In case you were wondering, my first column is not contained within the following pages. It wasn't very good and is better left not celebrated.

I write when the muses move me. The concept for many columns have been spawned while in the car as I counted off the endless miles, in that limbo land between sleep and wake, and sitting through pointless lecture. I write simply to express. I write because I have inner thoughts, hopes, and desires I wish to share.

I am amazed at how naive I was especially with some of my earliest columns. However, do not construe that last comment to mean I know everything now-far from it. There is an ancient Chinese Proverb that says, "Before you can learn anything, you must admit you know nothing." Nothing could be more true during my years at college.

Second, the copy editors who originally proof read my material (especially September 1997 ­ May 1998) were terrible. What you are reading isn't exactly as it appeared when it was originally published, but it's really close. I shouldn't criticize those early copy editors too strongly. For starters, they were fun, cute, and enjoyed displaying their belly-button rings. A more serious and less chauvinistic reason is that my proofreading and editing ability is far from perfect. You might even-no rephrase that-will probably find a few errors on your journey through the following pages. Hey, it happens to the best of us. Right!?!

Third and somewhat related to the first point, I find now that I didn't always fully understand the topics I was writing on. I thought I did at the time, but years later see that I didn't. As I reread my material now, I find my opinion has changed on some matters. But there's nothing wrong with changing your mind. That's a sign of life and the beauty of living in a free country. Many of the following essays were originally published in The Snapper, the Millersville University student newspaper. I hope you enjoy reading the following articles as much as I enjoyed writing them.

One last thing, perhaps I should take a moment to discuss the Wildman. The Wildman is my alter ego. He is a man through and through not in the least concerned with political correctness. He is not always "sensitive" to gender issues or political correctness. The Wildman, however, is extremely aware of the political, environmental, and social world around as he strives to do what is right. He calls the world as he sees it and does things the way he wants to unaffected by what other people might think or say.