Charles Matthew Rupert is a current graduate student completing his master’s in philosophy at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. From his Midwestern working-class roots, he has struggled to understand the plight his friends and family have faced in the land of opportunity. The struggle for resources and political recognition among the throng of lower and lower-middle-class Americans—including limited, superfluous, and spurious education; reduced prospects; political alienation; and the mindless retreat into consumerism—have driven him to seek answers from the privileged and question the pedigree of every institution. This long and slow journey of illumination has brought him in and out of academia, and although he intends on continuing to a doctoral program in philosophy upon graduation, he nevertheless hopes to keep his hands in the soil of the earth. His academic interests include politics and economics, metaphysics, cinema, and living a meaningful life. His everyday interests include parenting, gardening, cooking, loving, and maintaining compassion in world of barred teeth.