The article analyzes respondents' discussions of media framing of a variety of personal concerns. These include crime, education, taxes, economics, abortion, family life, status of government and leadership, health care, drugs, and the future of the nation's children. This study is based on focused, in‐depth interviews conducted with 191 adults who lived in or near Wichita, KS, prior to the 1992 elections. Accounts of commonly held personal concerns were highly individualized. Examination of respondents' interviews identified three conceptual processes—linking, collapsing, and colorizing—contributing to the way individuals framed their concerns. A discussion of the framing of concerns as politically charged “problems” more often than issues to be resolved in the legislative arena suggests new directions in research and reporting of politics in media.

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Because of their contrasting commitments to radical Christian discipleship and respectable national citizenship, Mennonites have historically employed a paradoxical rhetoric in order to articulate their convictions in the public sphere. This essay examines how Mennonites crafted separatist and assimilative arguments and martyr myths to transcend the polarizing positions of pacifism and patriotism. The essay concludes by describing how Mennonite traditions have influenced the authors' rhetorical scholarship and practice.

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