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Far more than an individual endeavor, work is a collective enterprise, an ethic, in which individuals participate to fulfill needs of their surrounding social world. Specifically, sport professionals undergo strenuous physical labor to compete and garner public admiration. Yet, when chronic illness interferes with their performances, how are athletes expected to respond? Through a thematic analysis of newspaper discourses covering professional golfer Tim Simpson's mysterious illness over time, this study explores an athlete's persistence to compete despite his deteriorating health. Using a grounded theory approach, this study investigates the tensions between Simpson's efforts to maintain a "sport ethic" while instantaneously adhering to responsibilities expected of "healthy citizens". The analysis reveals Simpson's body as paradoxically the primary means for his athletic performance and the primary source of his declining health. Public discourses manage this paradox by diffusing disruptions provoked by Simpson's sudden illness and standardizing deviations observed of his actions to justify his work ethic. Drawing from these observations, the concluding discussion interrogates issues that surface when good health is framed as an achievement of rather than a basis for productive living.

With much attention devoted to physical health, what unseen consequences are emerging for mental health throughout the COVID-19 pandemic? The worldly disruption of COVID-19 casts rippling effects that penetrate the bodies and spirits of people experiencing this historical moment. Many of these ripples are subtle and difficult to trace. Peering into the waters muddied by COVID-19, we explore the subtle ripples, particularly the unseen mental health implications during this pandemic. In doing so, we issue questions as departure points for scholars and practitioners to consider for future research and practice in the changing landscape of our current world.

Health communication scholars grapple with complex issues, many of which probe embodied sensibilities. This essay narrates a profound, unexpected moment that gives rise to notions of trust, vulnerability, and risks involved when conducting fieldwork. The author explains how embodied interactions bring forth latent constructs pertinent to health communication research, both for investigative practices and applied purposes. Furthermore, the author questions how symbolic acts demonstrated by research participants may illuminate powerful meanings yet simultaneously pose potential dangers for researchers.

Among the many health issues relevant to college students, overconsumption of alcohol remains a prevalent concern. Circumscribing the drinking habits occurring on campuses are innumerable social norms furthering popular beliefs that alcohol is an inherent part of college life. This case study examines how students encounter, interpret and express the social norms they conceive as constituting their campus culture. Through triangulating ethnographic practices with in-depth interviews, we utilize a narrative lens to explore how students construct meanings and values for alcohol's roles in campus life. Our findings demonstrate how students validate uses of alcohol by coupling its presence with stress, social enhancement, peer responsibility and identity. Moreover, interviewees expressed there being subcultural differences between younger and older students' discourse around alcohol use. We draw from these observations to offer suggestions for engaging students actively in campus interventions that give rise to voices excluded from commonly construed social norms.

Two recent incidents in the United States generated a wealth of public discourses about a particular reproductive health issue: adolescent childbearing. As the media, political pundits, and private citizens pondered the meaning of these events, they expressed viewpoints, explanations, and possible solutions in mass-mediated outlets. We examined the discourses communicated in such outlets to understand how public discussion of teenage pregnancy reveals ideological assumptions about reproductive health, ideal family forms, and the expected life course.