ABOUT DANIEL

ABOUT DANIEL

Born in Fort Riley, Kansas in 1985, Daniel was the first born to his Mother – Starla – and his father, of the same name. As early as he can remember, Daniel has always had an extremely active imagination and has always contemplated life in a deep way. From playing for hours on end by himself as a toddler and young boy – initially concerning some family members with his apparent lack of social skills – to imagining a utopian future for humanity (in an ever-changing vision) starting at the age of 10, his mind has not ceased to contemplate how to remain entertained, how to entertain others, or how to improve life for all.

The eldest of Starla’s four children, Daniel used to relish in the thought that he was the oldest of the bunch. He even used to consider himself a supervisor of sorts of the younger three; which, as you might imagine, didn’t sit well with them. As the years passed, Daniel felt compelled to use his role to try and ease tensions within the household. Was he himself always free from guilt as a participant in said tension? No, but he soon learned – especially after he had children and got married – that it was best to work towards peace than to keep fanning the flames of resentment.

Entering into his teen years and then his early adult years, Daniel invested more and more of his time to researching, debating, and ultimately participating in politics. At the age of 10, he thought that he knew it all about why the world was so unjust. In his young mind, the world merely needed to find its way into some theocratic kingdom under the auspice of the British Crown, which Daniel saw as the only legitimate monarchy on Earth. This was more borne out of his fascination with British history as well as a fealty to the King James Version of the bible more than anything else of substance.

This misguided love of royalty soon faded as Daniel himself entered the realm of politics and participated in his first ever presidential campaign as a regular volunteer of the Kerry campaign in Licking County, Ohio. The experience of working on a campaign and being fueled with hope taught him to love democracy and to have an appreciation for the American experiment. Still, he knew that more needed to be done to make this system live up to its potential. So, he looked for opportunities to be an activist; from circulating a petition and delivering public speeches advocating for the impeachment of George W. Bush to organizing a local Occupy movement which later made history by managing to get an important citizen’s initiative on the ballot in Newark, Ohio for first time as part of an effort to deal with money in politics.

Above all, the most important activist cause he ever took up was the one he embarked upon starting in early 2005 to save his beloved mother. Once she had been told that she had a very short time to live should she not procure a procedure – which Medicaid would not cover, as it was seen as an “elective” surgery – to help remedy her worst known medical threat Daniel mobilized as soon as he could to help spread awareness. Dubbing it “Operation Save Mom”, Daniel’s mission was intent on using letters to the editor, contacting the media, and even communicating with elected officials to try and get someone with a degree of power or influence to help save her.

In 2012, after a life spent battling a host of ailments ultimately culminating in cancer, Daniel’s mother passed away at the age of 49. This proved to be most crucial turning point in his life up to that moment. Having started pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Government about 3 years earlier, Daniel was crippled with guilt that he hadn’t spent enough time with his mother in her final days. Tragically, the night she died, Daniel missed seeing her for the first time in weeks because he was working on a school assignment which had to be turned in that night. The moment he submitted his assignment the phone rang and a family friend broke the news to him: she was gone. That night, Daniel dedicated the rest of his education to his mother’s memory and graduated just over a year later.

Now, as a single father of two, Daniel’s ambition to help liberate the many from the oppression of the few in conjunction with his unyielding love of entertainment has taken on a new form. After all, failing humanity now means failing his children, and that is an intolerable possibility.