The Shared Story: How Narratives Affect Consumers’ Sense of Community and Support for CSAs

As the demand for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) grows, attracting and retaining consumers remains a challenge. Digital communication between farmers and consumers is recommended, but limited empirical research regarding optimal content strategies exist. Narrative persuasion, applied as a communication strategy, offers a promising opportunity to connect with CSA consumers. This study, an online between-subjects experiment, examined how consumers (n = 182) respond to narrative vs. non-narrative email messages from CSAs. Moreover, narrative perspective (first-person vs. third-person) was explored. Results indicated that consumers who read a short narrative were more likely to: feel positive emotion, a communal connection to the farm and support the farm than those who did not read a narrative. First-person perspective was viewed as less credible than third-person. Results emphasize the need for CSAs to digitally share their stories with consumers, in an effort to garner support for local farms. This study demonstrates an evidence-based approach to message development for CSAs

Framing Agricultural Narratives: A Content Analysis of Topics and Trends on the U.S. Farm Report (2022-2024)

Agricultural television news serves as a vital channel for information, shaping stakeholder perceptions and public understanding of the agricultural industry. This study utilized content analysis to systematically examine the U.S. Farm Report, a prominent agricultural broadcast, over a 35-month period from February 2022 to December 2024. The research aimed to describe headline topics, airtime allocation, overall content characteristics, and dominant framing elements, as well as identify temporal patterns of change. A systematic random sample of 35 complete episodes was analyzed. Findings revealed that market and economy and crop agriculture were the most frequently discussed topics and demanded the greatest airtime. Content characteristics indicated a strong emphasis on USDA\u27s advancing racial justice, equity, opportunity, and rural prosperity priority, with national headlines and voice-over delivery predominating. Framing analysis showed a majority negative tone and a prevalent focus on economic issues. Producers consistently emerged as the most mentioned actors, beneficiaries, and those facing risks, while health-related aspects and scientists as actors received minimal attention. Temporal analysis highlighted shifts in headline prominence, moving from environment-focused in 2022 to market-economy in 2023, then diversifying in 2024 to include social/community and politics/policy. Airtime emphasis also transitioned from the food industry to market and economy by 2024. These results underscore the program\u27s strong orientation toward economic concerns for its core audience, while also identifying potential areas for broader representation of issues and stakeholders. This research offers valuable insights into how specialized media narratives are constructed, influencing discourse within the dynamic agricultural sector

The Testimonial “We”: Collaborative Life Writing in Senthuran Varatharajah’s Vor der Zunahme der Zeichen

In contemporary novels about refugees’ experiences, the subject of first-person witness often serves narratively as a means of centering the voices of those forcibly displaced. This reading of Senthuran Varatharajah’s novel Vor der Zunahme der Zeichen examines how the novel diverges from a focus on the singular testimony of a first-person subject to enable political recognition of shared experiences of flight. In its structure as a Facebook conversation between two strangers, Senthil and Valmira, sharing distinct experiences about arriving in Germany as asylum-seekers, Vor der Zunahme privileges a dialogue that underscores how their life histories are embedded in family histories and cultural memories of major historical events such as the Sri Lankan Civil War and Kosovo War. While previous readings of Vor der Zunahme have focused on its portrayal of trauma and language (Fagan), postdigital practices (Ubieto), peripherality (Majkiewicz), and conditions of displacement (Teupert) and cosmopolitanism (Lizarazu), this article considers how the novel engages social media to center the interpersonal aspect of life writing and reflect on forms of witnessing the transgenerational and cultural-historical aspects of personal narratives about flight and diasporic experiences

Mapping the story: A collaborative art-based inquiry into the role of narrative in adult education

This study examines the role of story and storytelling in our life-long meaning-making processes through art-based methods, creating webs of resonance between storytelling and adult education theories

A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Online Mental Health Resources for Oklahoma\u27s Agriculturalists

In the center of Oklahoma\u27s agricultural landscape is an ongoing struggle: the mental health of its farmers and ranchers. Farming is a unique occupation that requires specific mental health needs tailoring to their way of life. Existing literature highlights the elevated risk of mental health disorders and suicide among farmers, underscoring the urgency of understanding and addressing mental health issues within agricultural communities. This study utilized thematic analysis to explore the array of mental health resources available to Oklahoma\u27s agricultural community by analyzing both textual and visual material. Six major themes were found throughout the content of existing mental health resources for Oklahoma agriculturalists. The major themes included causes of stress, stress management, how to have uncomfortable conversations, warning signs, emotional intelligence, and support. The findings of this study offer guidance for the development of future resources aimed at addressing the mental health needs within Oklahoma\u27s agricultural communities. Future campaigns should ensure specific behaviors are targeted, along with collaborating between organizations when possible to increase reach of campaigns. Future research is needed to understand the impacts of social marketing efforts to promote mental health behaviors of agriculturalists

Pediatric Cannabis Poisonings, United States Hospital Emergency Departments, 2018-2023

This study estimated the annual number of pediatric cannabis poisonings and examined characteristics of patients and cannabis products involved. We reviewed case narratives and analyzed data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) among children 0-11 years. Our analysis identified 370 cases of pediatric cannabis poisoning, with most (90.5%) occurring in children 4 years or younger. 78% of identified products were cannabis edibles, primarily gummies. 45% were examined/treated without admission, 45% admitted/hospitalized, 5% held for observation, and 5% treated/transferred. By applying sampling weights, we estimated 8,429 pediatric cannabis poisonings presenting to U.S. hospital emergency departments from 2018 to 2023, with significant increases (by 461%) over this period. Findings suggest a sharp rise in pediatric cannabis poisonings, likely linked to the expanded cannabis market and proliferation of cannabis products resembling popular children\u27s snacks. Stricter laws/regulations and other preventive measures are needed to protect vulnerable populations from accidental cannabis ingestion

Editorial Board

Editorial Boar

Remedial Reading Teacher to Reading Interventionist: The Evolution of a Profession and its Necessary Personality Traits

This reflective article examines the work of Hurt, Roane, Simms, and Schell (1975), who surveyed remedial reading teachers to identify key personality traits essential to their profession. Their findings are contextualized within a broader historical framework, tracing significant educational policies and milestones that have shaped the field of reading intervention over the past 50 years. The article highlights both the enduring relevance and the evolution of these traits in the transition from remedial reading teachers to modern-day reading specialists. Drawing on practitioner insights, the author proposes additional traits necessary to meet the demands of contemporary literacy education

Coats of Many Colours: A Brief Review of Academic Dress in Israel

At that of Israel’s founding, two institutions of higher education were operating and had been since the time of the British Mandate: The Technion and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Neither adopted academic dress until the twenty-first century, and now several Israeli universities use it

Cigarillo Flavor in Context: Qualitative Analysis of the Social-Ecological Factors Influencing Cigarillo and Cannabis Co-Use Among Young Adults

Co-use of cannabis and cigarillos (“co-use”) is prevalent among young adults. The United States Food and Drug Administration proposed a rule to ban flavored cigars, which could impact co-use, particularly blunt use (removing tobacco from cigar and mixing or replacing with cannabis). We sought to explore the impact of cigarillo flavor on cannabis/cigarillo co-use. The sample included 38 young adults (21–28) who smoked cigarillos and cannabis in the past month recruited from a non-probability sample of participants in the Cigarillos Flavor and Abuse Liability, Attention, and Substitution (C-FLASH) Study. Semi-structured phone interviews were conducted, double-coded, and analyzed for emergent themes. Most participants believed cigarillo flavor enhances the co-use experience, but participants mostly felt that a cigar flavor ban would not impact their cannabis use. They would continue using unflavored cigarillos to roll blunts or migrate to another method of consuming cannabis. Other influential cigarillo characteristics (e.g., burn time) and social-contextual factors (e.g., management of mental health, easy access) emerged. Banning flavored cigars may have a neutral to positive impact on co-users. To reduce co-use, policymakers should consider approaches to address psychosocial and structural determinants of use