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Miles Davis traced his rising fame in the 1950's to changes taking place in society. Given Davis's affiliation, first with a group of postwar jazz musicians carving out a new identity for black artists, then with a larger movement engaged in transforming the nation's cultural and political landscape (including the Beats, Civil Rights activists, Abstract Expressionists, and others), it is remarkable that in 1958 he teamed up with arranger Gil Evans to record an album devoted to Porgy and Bess. Yet far from an artistic misstep, Porgy and Bess became one of the most successful albums of Davis's career. Listening to the recording today, it's easy to understand both its initial popularity and long-term appeal. Porgy and Bess showed Davis striving to seek reconciliation with the mainstream, searching for beauty in the "lovely American bottom." On the streets of New York, a celebrated black artist found out that society had not changed as much as he believed. Davis displayed his firsthand knowledge that for African Americans it was going to take a mighty long pull to get there. His art would bear eloquent witness to both the pleasures and perils of that journey.

Miles Davis traced his rising fame in the 1950s to changes taking place in society. "There was a new mood coming into the country," he stated in his autobiography. "Black and white people were starting to get together, and in the music world Uncle Tom images were on their way out." Describing himself as a "nonconformist"-"cool and hip and angry and sophisticated and ultra clean"-Davis identified with others in that period who were breaking barriers and challenging authority: Martin Luther King leading the Montgomery bus boycott, Marian Anderson appearing as the first black singer at the Metropolitan Opera, Marlon Brando and James Dean gaining popularity as actors by portraying rebels (Davis 1989:197-98). Davis's bold, brash persona earned him a special degree of respect from black Americans. Writer Amiri Baraka considered the trumpeter his "ultimate culture hero," someone who embodied "a black attitude that had grown steadily more ubiquitous in the 1950s-defiance" (Baraka 1996:41, 48). Given Davis's affiliation, first with a group of postwar jazz musicians carving out a new identity for black artists, then with a larger movement engaged in transforming the nation's cultural and political landscape (including the Beats, Civil Rights activists, Abstract Expressionists, and others), it is remarkable that in 1958 he teamed up with arranger Gil Evans to record an album devoted to Porgy and Bess. Ever since its premiere, the opera by the Gershwins and Heyward had sparked controversy and caused Mrican Americans to speak out in protest.

Consumers regularly identify food safety as an issue of great concern. They also consistently rank mass media as a primary source of food safety information. The purpose of this study was to investigate Ohioans' levels of media system dependency and to assess the role of source trust and perceived food risk factors in influencing this dependency. Mail survey techniques were used to collect data from a sample of 7,976 Ohio residents. Data are reported for 4,014 respondents, for a 56 percent response rate. Traditional media, such as newspapers and television news, were perceived by respondents to be the most helpful among the media formats assessed. Moderate levels of perceived risk were found for the food safety items assessed. Pesticide residues in food and contamination of drinking water generated the highest levels of perceived risk. Relative to perceived source trust, physicians and scientists were evaluated most favorably, ahead of farmers and growers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Extension. Regression findings indicate that perceived trust in government and expert sources were the two best predictors of media dependency, followed by perceived food safety risk. Findings have implications for food safety communicators and journalists communicating with at-risk audiences about the safety of their food supply.

The purpose of this study was to explore the levels of positive youth development (PYD) among Indiana 4-H club participants. Questionnaires were collected from a convenience sample of [State] youth (n = 453). Findings indicated that youth who participated in the 4-H program reported significantly higher total positive youth development than those who had never participated in 4-H. Youth who participated in the 4-H program also reported significantly higher scores on four of the Five Cs of PYD (Confidence, Connection, Character, and Caring). The findings of this study contribute to the Developmental Systems Theory by confirming the role that 4-H has in contributing to positive youth development. Recommendations are provided to guide future research related to the Five Cs aspect of positive youth development among 4-H youth.