The articles of Volume 2.1 are especially timely, describing contemporary developments in national and international politics, social media, and the field of rhetoric. The articles of Volume 2.1 include:

PR Guns for Hire: The Specter of Edward Bernays in Gadhafi’s Libya – Sharon J. Kirsch outlines the work of a Massachusetts-based public relations firm on behalf of Muammar Gaddafi, locating it within rhetoric’s disciplinary fragmentation.

Not to Shy Away: Barack Obama’s Rhetoric of Friendship – Paul Lynch applies David A. Frank and Mark Lawrence MacPhail’s consilience-coherence heuristic to two key Obama orations: his 2008 Jeremiah Wright speech and his 2009 address at the University of Notre Dame.

Sociotechnical Notemaking: Short-Form to Long-Form Writing Practices – Brian J. McNely summarizes a recent debate on short-form writing practices, providing empirical evidence for the epistemological legitimacy of social media.

Troubling Citizenship: Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and the Rhetorics of Immigration Law – Gale Coskan-Johnson analyzes the legislation and practice of immigration policy along the Arizona-Mexico border in order to delineate the rhetorical features of contemporary US citizenship.

Review of Reframing Writing Assessment to Improve Teaching and Learning – Chris Gallagher reviews Linda Adler-Kassner and Peggy O’Neill’s recent book on writing assessment, summarizing and critiquing strategies and frameworks for institutional change.

Environmental Rhetoric, Ethics, and Policy – Teaching Engagement – Derek G. Ross describes a philosophy for effective civic engagement through a graduate environmental rhetoric course he taught at Auburn University during the summer of 2011.

Present Tense is a peer-reviewed, blind-refereed, online journal dedicated to exploring contemporary social, cultural, political and economic issues through a rhetorical lens. In addition to examining these subjects as found in written, oral and visual texts, we wish to provide a forum for calls to action in academia, education and national policy. Seeking to address current or presently unfolding issues, we publish short articles of 2,000-2,500 words, the length of a conference paper.