Publications

An article by John Smolens (English) titled "Get Your Story Started" is the lead story in the December issue of The Writer magazine.

Renxin Yang (Sociology and Social Work) published "Between Traditionalism and Modernity: Changing Values on Dating Behavior and Mate Selection Criteria" in the International Review of Modern Sociology. Her research addresses the rapidly changing values and behaviors concerning male/female relationships and family dynamics during China’s economic reform. Yang conducted in-depth interviews with 18 women ages 18–29 from various backgrounds. There was not a consistent pattern that could capture all of their micro-situations, but findings suggest that significant generational shifts away from traditional values and behaviors are occurring. Such shifts reflect the influence of changing childhood socialization practices, the importance of evolving ideological and religious beliefs and variations in the individual’s opportunities and life-chances.

James McCommons (English) was pictured and quoted in an article titled "Ten Things Amtrak Won't Tell You" in
the November issue of Smart Money magazine, a publication of the Wall Street Journal Company. The article
mentioned his 2009 book, Waiting on a Train.

Matthew Frank's (English) new nonfiction book, Pot Farm is now available for pre-order from the University of Nebraska Press/Bison Books and Amazon. The book is a behind-the-scenes exposé of a Northern California medical marijuana farm. The publisher's description reads: "After eight months in his childhood home helping his mother through her bout with cancer, Matthew Frank and his wife were themselves desperate for comfort. They found sanctuary in the most unlikely place—amid a collection of outcasts and eccentrics on a plot of land miles outside their comfort zone: a 'mostly medical' marijuana farm in California. ... Pot Farm details the strange, sublime and sometimes dangerous goings-on at Weckman Farm, a place with hidden politics and social hierarchies, populated by recovering drug addicts, alternative healers, pseudo-hippie kids and medical marijuana users looking to give back. Frank's book also looks at the blurry legislation regulating the marijuana industry as well as the day-to-day logistics of running such an operation and all the relationships that brings into play."

Frank's earlier book, Barolo, has gone into its second printing in paperback and will include links to Italian Piemontese recipes. It is also available for pre-order from the publisher's website. Barolo is described as both an intimate travelogue and a memoir of culinary education. The publisher's website reads: "After a childhood of microwaved meat and saturated fat, Matthew Gavin Frank got serious about food. His 'research' ultimately led him to Barolo, Italy (pop. 646), where, living out of a tent in the garden of a local farmhouse, he resolved to learn about Italian food from the ground up. Barolo is Frank’s account of those six months."

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