December 2022 APASA Café: Topic: Genetics of Glaucoma Evaluation in the Amish Presented by Jessica Cooke Bailey, Jonathan M. Skarie, and colleagues Description: Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness throughout the world. To better understand glaucoma and inform new treatment strategies, we study the genetics of people with glaucoma. We think that, by studying glaucoma risk in the Amish, we can uncover genes and pathways that influence this disease. With the Genetics of Glaucoma Evaluation in the Amish pilot study (GGLEAM), we study glaucoma in an Amish population concentrated in Holmes County, Ohio. Our recruitment is participant-facing: we visit homes and advertise in newspapers that are commonly read among Amish communities. Upon informed consent, participation in GGLEAM includes undergoing detailed medical, environmental, and lifestyle history questionnaires, a blood draw, and an eye exam. We organize for participants to travel to Mansfield to receive a comprehensive eye examination by our Ophthalmologist collaborator. We extract DNA from blood samples for genome-wide genetics analysis wherein we apply techniques that are specifically useful for large family studies. We send study updates via newsletters to participants. We recognize the importance of engagement with the Amish community. By understanding glaucoma risk in the Amish, we can learn more about the complex risk for this disease and apply this knowledge to better inform prevention and treatment strategies. Suggested Reading: Waksmunski AR, Song YE, Kinzy TG, Laux RA, Sewell J, Fuzzell D, Fuzzell S, Miller S, Wiggs JL, Pasquale LR, Skarie JM, Haines JL, Cooke Bailey JN. (2021). The GGLEAM Study: Understanding Glaucoma in the Ohio Amish. Int J Environ Res Public Health 18(4):1551. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18041551. PMID: 33561996.

November 2022 APASA Café: Topic: Utilizing the “Anabaptist Thing” in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century German Historical Fiction Presented by Berit Jany Description: The talk explores images of early Anabaptism in selected Austrian, Swiss, and German fictional writing. Through a critical reading of the movement’s representations in historical fiction dating from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the presenter takes inventory of chief characteristics of Anabaptist life and piety and observes which of these aspects are selected for portrayal in fictional texts. This includes an investigation of how authors have fictionalized the Anabaptist movement, its commitment to theological precepts and non-resistance, and its separation from society. The reading of these selected texts is also concerned with underlying programmatic aims and ideological convictions cloaked by literary articulations of encounters between society and fictional representatives of the early movement.

September 2022 Café: Panel Discussion: “On the 50th Anniversary of Wisconsin v. Yoder: Assessing the Complexities of this Milestone Amish Schooling Decision” Panelists: David Cheng (Cheng Law, Inc.), William Fischel (Dartmouth Univ.), Emma Rosenberg (New York Univ.), and Mark Strasser (Capital Univ.). Description: In 1972, the Supreme Court’s decision in Wisconsin v. Yoder ushered in a new era of legal freedoms for the Amish and other plain people, namely, the ability to operate their own schools and the ability to cap educational attainment at eighth grade. Yet, across the past half-century, the Yoder decision’s complexities, even contradictions, have routinely triggered academic and legal debates. To acknowledge 50 years of the Yoder decision, this APASA Café features four law and society scholars who will discuss some of the legal and cultural intricacies of Yoder today. Suggested Reading: Cheng, David Gan-Wing 2012. "Wisconsin v. Yoder: Respecting Children’s Rights and Why Yoder Would Soon Be Overturned." Charlotte Law Review 4:45-. Fischel, William. 2012. "Do Amish One-Room Schools Make the Grade? The Dubious Data of Wisconsin v. Yoder." University of Chicago Law Review 79(1):107-29. Rosenberg, Emma. 2020. "Amish and Hasidic Litigation: A Survival Strategy." Journal of Church and State 63(3):485-505. Strasser, Mark P. 2019. "Yoder's Legacy." Hofstra Law Review 47(4):1335-57.