This is my first semester at GSU. I am pursuing the PhD in rhet-comp to help further my career in post-secondary education. I currently teach English composition at Georgia Gwinnett College, where I have been a full-time faculty member since 2016. My academic interests include prison education programs and the development of large language models (AI). My personal working definition of rhetoric right now is the following: Rhetoric is the practice of stretching language beyond its basic functions of communication and into something aesthetically pleasing and seductive; at its best, it is the heartfelt ballad of the logical mind, and at its worst, the siren song which escapes and radiates from the black hole of human selfishness.