Dear Readers,
The 2013-2014 Arkansas Journal of Social Change and Public Service publication schedule has begun. You might have noticed that we started this year with two articles related to healthcare. We first published an article addressing the need for behavioral health advance directives by David Jung. We then followed up with an article by Dr. Robert C. Patton discussing EMTALA and reverse dumping in emergent care. This is the model we are attempting to follow this publication season. We strive for monthly themes and hope to publish at least two substantive articles each month relating to the theme, with other, lighter articles, photo essays, book reviews, and essays (all relating to the theme), interspersed throughout the month. Our hope is that by focusing on thematic ties for an entire month we can initiate conversation and ideas in our readers. The Journal members would like to encourage feedback to our articles – both on the website itself and through other social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook. Our ultimate goal is to increase the candid exchange of ideas in order to give social change initiatives a voice and a direction, not only in Little Rock, but throughout the world.
For the month of October we will publish multiple articles that attempt to answer whether corruption can ever be ethically permissible? This is the question we would like to pose to our readers this month. Is corruption ever ethically permissible? We will offer four voices in response to this question and we welcome the addition of your voice to the fray. If you want, you can wait to read them all and then respond or if an individual article sparks your attention and you would like to respond, feel free. You can use the comment section at the bottom of the article or you can submit a written response in the form of another article or a photo essay or even poetry. We will strive (with editorial consent) to post it alongside our articles. If your response can be restrained to 140 characters you can use Twitter to respond; @ARSocialChange, #permissivecorruption.
In the same vein, if you have an idea for a monthly theme, or if you have an article that you would like to submit, please send it to us at socialchange@ualr.edu . We look forward to hearing from you.
Also, I will provide a monthly letter from the Editor which will set the stage for the scope of our monthly theme. In the next couple of weeks, be on the lookout for more information regarding this semester’s symposium – Catalysts for Change. We have heard many times people say they have social change ideas or see a public need not being served. So often we get ideas or see injustices around us but fall short of implementing a plan because we have no idea how to take our ideas and create the change we want to see. There will be more information in the next couple of weeks but for now, mark your calendars for November 8, 2013. We hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
Alexis Cook
Editor-in-Chief