Further Education, Professional and Occupational Pedagogy

This series of articles is taken from the research monograph, Further Education, Professional and Occupational Pedagogy: Knowledge and Experiences (Loo, 2019).

The first article centred on FE teachers professional identities, the second article on their emotional ecology, and the third, on reconceptualising teacher education as part of a strategic approach to widening participation.The findings are based on empirical data using a questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews of eight participants (all with vocational/occupational experiences) were carried out.

Schutz et al. (2006) define emotions as ways of being that are socially constructed judgements, which emerge consciously or unconsciously regarding perceived aims, maintain standards or beliefs. Hastings (2004) studied the positive and negative emotions of Australian teachers. Trigwell (2012) developed this previous notion by relating teachers emotions to their teaching approaches. OConnor (2008) expanded on past studies by finding that teachers roles were emotionally engaging and personally demanding in complex contexts. In the US study by Cross and Hong (2012), they use a relational and social construction where the teachers emotions and educational activities are related and socially enacted. Zembylas (2007) goes further than Cross and Hong to suggest that a teachers emotional ecology includes a teachers personal history, understanding of learners and subject matter.

Thus his study provides a framework for studying FE teachers emotional knowledge via pedagogic, life and occupational know-how. Furthermore, the three planes of emotional ecology as delineated by Zembylas are used as a way of structuring the discussion of the data in later sections. First is individual (such as emotional connections with the subject matter, beliefs about teaching and learning, and self- awareness). Second is relational (such as emotional connections with learners, their emotional experiences and knowledge of learners emotions). Third is socio-political (such as emotional knowledge of institutional, cultural contexts, curricula, subject matter and pedagogies) (Zembylas, 2007. This typology of emotional ecology offers a useful theoretical framework to critique and evaluate the broader professional knowledge of FE teachers.

This section draws from the eight participants empirical data and uses Zembylass three types of emotional planes of individual, relational and socio-political. These planes are used to foreground the participants wider professional experiences of pedagogy, life and occupation.

Ann is a female in her 40s. She was teaching at an FE college on a full-time basis on radio production and journalism for four years. Her family background was not privileged, and she went to a state school, but she did her first degree at the University of Oxford. Her mother died when Ann was in her teens. She worked in Japan in the hotel industry before returning to the UK.

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Ann had negative experiences when she started teaching. She felt a fraud teaching journalism because she felt that she was not experienced enough in her occupational practice. This was different from Hastings (2004) findings of the teachers disappointments, frustrations and anxieties. Her feelings were inter-related. They relate to her teaching of journalism where she felt her lack of experiences was preventing her from being a good teacher on the one side, and her lack of occupational experiences, which she might not be able to draw from on the other side. Unlike Trigwells (2012) findings of university teachers with negative experiences of teacher-centred approaches, Ann used student-centred approaches such as role-plays. Her empathy with her disadvantaged learners gave her a different pedagogic approach, unlike Trigwells teachers. She also believed that teachers needed to be aware of their intrapersonal and interpersonal weaknesses and suggested therapy for those before teaching. This philosophy resonated with Schutzs (2006) findings. Anns life experiences of therapeutic help when, as a teenage, she lost her mother, gave her a greater awareness of herself and those around her. She used this negative life emotional know-how to provide a positive educational approach to her disadvantaged charges.

Lou, a female in her 30s, taught dance and Feldenkrais movement in adult and community settings. She worked five hours per week for five years. Trained as a dancer in the UK and Switzerland, Lou then toured the Continent with a dance company before turning to teach.

Lous relational, emotional plane covers pedagogic, life and occupational know-how. She referred to her negative learning experience of lactic acid poisoning in her dance programme as her dance teacher was not aware of this phenomenon. This phenomenon included forgetting dance movements, feeling fatigued and body pains. This negative learning experience is different from Hastings (2004) findings. She used her learning experiences to positively engage with her learners by adopting physical exercises as strategies to prevent her learners from experiencing lactic acid poisoning (pedagogic know-how). She learnt this phenomenon from her friend in physical education (life experience). She applied her know-how when touring with a European contemporary dance group (occupational experience) (Cross and Hong, 2012).

Cori, a female teacher in her 50s, teaches dental hygiene in a higher education institution half of her time, and practices as a dental hygienist in the other half of her time.

Cori features a socio-political emotional plane from the three forms of emotional knowledge: pedagogic, life and occupation. She sees her teaching in dental hygiene as of a higher status than her occupational role as a dental hygienist. At the institution level (Zembylas, 2007), she is teaching at a university on the first-degree course of dental hygiene with an affiliation to a professional body she views this as of higher social standing than being a dental hygienist. Culturally (Zembylas, 2007), the difference in the status of the two activities enabled her to 'become' the lecturer. But, there are pedagogic constraints. These constraints included the wider coverage of the course curriculum as well as that of the professional body's regulations. These constraints prevented her from offering more holistic learning experiences to her learners.

Regarding her life experiences, she mentioned the time she, as a parent, waited at the school gates to collect her child while conversing with other parents. She felt that her role as a parent was different from that of a lecturer and a dental hygienist. As a parent, she provided emotional care and support to her offspring while attending school and other extra-curricular activities. Being a university lecturer, she was viewed as an expert in her field, which was science-related. As a dental hygienist, she was seen as of lower professional status to a dentist. However, slightly of a higher standing to a person at the front desk. Nevertheless, Cori's different socially constructed ways of being offered a broader dimension to those by Schutz et al. (2006) and Cross and Hong (2012).

Turning to Cori's occupational emotional know-how, tension exists between her teaching obligation to cover the professional requirements on the one hand, and offering her learners a more extensive curriculum and learning experience than that prescribed in the professional standards on the other.

O'Connor (2008) classifies this emotional tension as performative, professional and philosophical. In Cori's case, one pressure is inter-related. Her educational activities, as a lecturer, are symbiotically linked to her occupational practices, as a dental hygienist. The other tension is a philosophical one: that of a holistic pedagogical approach on the one hand and the demands and constraints of covering the course curriculum and professional accreditation requirements on the other side. These two tensions are not featured in O'Connor's findings.

The above delineations, using Zembylass (2007) three planes of emotional ecology, provided new narratives using a teachers pedagogic, life and occupational experiences.

Dr Sai Loo, UCL Institute of Education, University College London

Sai Loo (PhD, MA, BSc, FHEA, ACA, FETC) has taught in FE and worked in industry as a Chartered Accountant. Sai has published over 120 articles, conference papers and keynotes (84 per cent are single-authored) including six research monographs with Routledge. His research area is occupational education across teaching, learning and work settings from pre-university to professional education.

In the final article, I will focus on teacher education/training as an approach to widen participation in the FE sector.

References

Cross, D. I., Hong, J. Y. 2012 An ecological examination of teachers emotions in the school context. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28: 957967.

Hastings, W. 2004 Emotions and the practicum: the cooperating teachers perspective.

Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 10(2): 135148.

Loo, S. 2019 Further Education, Professional and Occupational Pedagogy: Knowledge and Experiences. Abingdon: Routledge.

OConnor, K. E. 2008 You choose to care: teachers, emotions and professional identity. Teaching and Teachers Education, 24(1): 117-126.

Schutz, P. A., Hong, J. Y., Cross, D. L., Osbon, J. N. 2006 Reflections on investigating emotion in educational activity settings. Educational Psychology Review, 18(4): 343360.

Trigwell, K. 2012 Relations between teachers emotions in teaching and their approaches to teaching in higher education. Instructional Science, 40: 607621.

Zembylas, M. 2007 Emotional ecology: the intersection of emotional knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23: 355367.

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If the world had been as it should be and not this horrifying mess in which we find ourselves,Arkansas,the directorial debut fromHot Tub Time Machine star Clark Duke, would have made its debut in March at South by Southwest. No doubt its amiable mix of shuffle-footed philosophizing and chicken-fried crime shenanigans would have found an welcome home among the badge-wearing hipsters and the brisket.

Instead, it is available to be beamed into our stressed-out and cluttered living spaces as of May 5, and it arrives as a strange hybrid. At once, the film is a drive-in feature unspooling the tale of a couple of unambitious low-level dealers (Liam Hemsworth and Duke) stumbling ass backwards into a war with their unseen (by them) boss man, Frog (Vince Vaughn) and also a multigenerational, anthropological study of the inner workings of the drug trade in the Deep South, almost like a truncated AMC show.

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Early on, the prospect of taking the film seriously is almost done in by a wink-wink, nudge-nudge self-awareness thats poured over the dialogue like icing on a Cinnabon, calling attention to the artifice of the endeavor for no particular purpose other than why not. Theres John Malkovich at his most preening and mannered (the bar is high) playing a middleman who fronts as a park ranger tasked with overseeing the bumbling pair. The line is, May you dream of offered tits,' he says as a way of bidding the fellows goodnight, all the while practically jamming his elbow into your ribcage.

But as the film moves beyond its choppy first segment (like an extra large TV dinner, Arkansas is helpfully portioned into five chapters), it shakes off some of its early air quotes and discovers its own laconic rhythm.

The story slowly reveals itself as something of a corrective to the typical presentations of organized crime as run by ruthless Machiavellian masterminds. As it does, the characters emerge as more complicated and engaging than the initial setup would suggest they were capable. It is further aided by classic turns from star Hemsworth and, most pleasingly, Vaughn as his opposite number; the two handle the films dramatic heavy lifting and curious tone shifts with a deadly serious sense of purpose that is leavened with just the right dusting of irony.

ARKANSAS 1/2 (2.5/4 stars) Directed by: Clark Duke Written by: Clark Duke and Andrew Boonkrong (screenplay); John Brandon (novel) Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Clark Duke, Vince Vaughn, Eden Brolin, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Kenneth Williams, Chandler Duke and John Malkovich Running time: 115 mins.

From the get gowith its Elmore Leonardstyled setup and Kyles Linklater-esque voiceover through which he ruminates about his philosophy of lifeArkansas has the feel of an indie movie from one generation earlier. Its flashes of extreme violence, including a scene in which Malkovich is tortured by a Louisiana hayseed (played by Clarks younger brother Chandler Duke), call to mind that eras endless rush of dime store Tarantino knock-offs. Adding to this patina of 90s nostalgia are the Flaming Lips, who provide songs for the soundtrack and make an appearance in the film as a bar band.

But there turns out to be something much more gentle and nuanced in the way Duke develops these characters and teases out their surprisingly rich and complex relationships. In fact, he pulls this trick off twice: once with the no-nonsense Kyle and the chain-smoking jokester Swin, and again in flashbacks that show how Frog went from knickknack salesman to drug lord right under the nose of his mentor Almond, played byThe Wires Michael Kenneth Williams, who lends the proceedings much-needed gravitas.

The first-time director also shows a knack for building tension within a scene, including one on a houseboat withKill Bill mamba Vivica A. Fox. (Her characters name in Arkansas is Her.) Eden Brolin also gives a lovely, layered performance as Johnna, a nurse who serves as a love interest for Dukes character.

Overall, it is the performers that give the story life and allowArkansas to rise above some of its shallower instincts, which include a garish costume design that seems to posit the idea that people from the South dress like rodeo clowns. Hemsworth in particular brings a truth and measured heartbreak to his portrayal of someone who has been forced to glimpse how the world works and deeply wished he hadnt.

No matter the size of the screen or the corniness of dialogue,Arkansasproves that strong acting from game performers can make even the most harebrained of endeavors brim with vitality and necessity.

Arkansas is available to stream at Amazon Prime Video, Google Play and YouTube.

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Arkansas Is a Chicken-Fried Southern Crime Throwback to the 90s - Observer

2020 Chicago Blackhawks Draft Profile: Jacob Perreault by Jimmy Lynch

(Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

As of the start of the 2019-20 NHL season, Corey Crawford had been with the Chicago Blackhawks organization for 13 years and counting. Although many fans knew of him even in the early years, his spotlight began to shine a lot brighter as he took over the crease for the 2010-11 season. He played 57 games that year and racked up 33 wins, along with a .917 save percentage, 2.30 goals-against average, and four shutouts.

In his first six of his first seven seasons with the Blackhawks as a starter, he played in at least 55 games, taking full control as the teams number one netminder. In that span, Crawford won two Stanley Cups, made it to the three All-Star games, and was awarded two William M. Jennings trophies as part of the goalie tandem with the fewest goals scored against.

Things were progressing nicely for Crawfords career and his stats in a Blackhawks uniform, but that would begin to be challenged a few months into the 2017-18 season.

Crawford started to battle a variety of injuries, opening up the door and opportunity for other goalies to steal the crease that he once called his home. The team has since seen eight other goalies start games for them between the 2017-18 and 2019-20 seasons, includingScott Darling, Jeff Glass, Anton Forsberg, Jean-Francois Berube, Cam Ward, Collin Delia,Robin Lehner, and Malcolm Subban.

The acquisition of Lehner this past offseason seemed to be a self-awareness statement from the Blackhawks, signaling that a more permanent change in net was about to become their reality. Even as the team struggled to fight for a wild card spot, Lehner was racking up decent numbers with a 16-10-5 record. But then came the trade deadline and he was dealt with the Vegas Golden Knights for Subban.

The Blackhawks were left with Crawford and Subban to ride out the rest of the season. It seemed unlikely that they would be making it into the playoffs, but the team continued to battle onward.

Crawfords calmness and resiliency have always been a noticeably respectable part of his game. His ability to bounce back after a bad goal, forgettable night, or tough injury is commendable. Hes had unparalleled success for the team and brought them to places they may not have reached if not for his work and accomplishments.

As this team moves forward in hopes to regain some of the success that became all too familiar in years past, major changes should be considered if the current equation isnt calculating as they want it to.

The Blackhawks may need someone younger, more agile, and with greater endurance between the pipes. But its questionable if Subban is that goalie. Outside of a solid run in the goaltending mix with the Golden Knights, specifically, as he was thrust into starting more games asMarc Andre Fleury was plagued with injuries of his own, Subban has struggled to find consistency in his game. He has already played for three NHL teams in his only five seasons in the league thus far. Although he is shaping up to be a good choice at number two, he doesnt seem ready to take over the crease as his own just yet.

Crawford is 35 with a $6,000,000 AAV and will become a UFA for the 2020-21 season. The Blackhawks do have modest depth in the goaltending position. Most notably, and outside of the acquisition of a proven veteran who can skate right into the starters crease, the focus should be on Delia. At 25 years old, and with a number of starts (and wins) already accumulated on his Blackhawks resume, he would be a solid choice to kickstart next season and see where he might be able to steer this squad.

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Corey Crawford has earned his wins, awards, and respect. He will forever hold his rightful place in Chicago Blackhawks history. And we may never know how this roster would have ended the year, but one question still remains: Who will be in net at the start, and the end, of their next successful season?

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Are Corey Crawfords best days with the Blackhawks behind him? - Blackhawk Up

ALLEN PARK -- Millions of words have been spilled evaluating this years NFL draft class. Some are good, others are, well, you know.

But nobody knows these guys quite like the beat writers who have watched their games every week, talked to them in locker rooms, in some cases even seen them as high-schoolers.

With that in mind, weve brought together college beat writers who covered each of Detroits draft picks in college to get a more intimate feel for what exactly the Lions are getting in their 2020 class -- a class that is expected to play an immediate and pivotal role in Detroits chances of getting this thing together under Matt Patricia.

Without further ado ...

JEFF OKUDAH

Position: Cornerback

School: Ohio State

Hometown: Grand Prairie, Texas

Size: 6-foot-1, 205 pounds

Pick: First round (third overall)

Analysis from Ari Wasserman of The Athletic: "Maybe you dont believe in recruiting stars, but Jeff Okudah is the type of player who proves their worth. A physical cornerback with length, Okudah looked like a future first-round draft pack when he was a five-star prospect in high school in the Dallas area because he has the prototypical body. But at Ohio State, he exceeded expectations in every other realm of being a football player, most notably with his desire to achieve the greatness his recruiting profile promised.

"Okudahs hunger to be the next great Ohio State defensive back turned into a dominant season with stats that seem made up. Okudah allowed only six receptions the entire 2019 season of more than 15 yards (all of which happened while he was playing off-coverage) and he was flagged only once the entire season (for a late hit in the Michigan game). That means no pass interference calls. With his long arms, fluid hips and next-level footwork, there was no chance he was going to come off the board after No. 3 overall, even if there were some rumors that Detroit was considering trading down. At a place like Ohio State, which has had eight cornerbacks selected in the past seven drafts, including six in the first round, Okudah may be the best of all of them from attitude to reliability to, of course, production.

A week after Okudah arrived at Ohio State, he lost his mother, Marie, to lymphoma. Though he told me he never wanted to be defined by the loss of his mother -- or any tragedy -- he used the discussions he had with his mother as a child and through his recruitment to fuel his vision. Okudah is one of the more down-to-earth stars youll find in college football, and when it comes to character, there is nobody you can put ahead of him. Obviously there have been plenty of NFL Draft busts in the past, but when you talk about the total package, Okudah is the perfect type of player and person on which you want to stake the future of your franchise.

Ari Wasserman covers Ohio State football and recruiting for The Athletic. You can find him on Twitter here, his work here, and his deep-dive on Jeff Okudah here.

Related: The Lions may have missed an opportunity, but gained a star in Jeff Okudah

DANDRE SWIFT

Position: Running back

School: Georgia

Hometown: Philadelphia

Size: 5-foot-8, 212 pounds

Pick: Second round (35th overall)

Analysis from Seth Emerson of The Athletic: "DAndre Swift came to Georgia with the odds stacked against him seeing the field much as a freshman with Nick Chubb and Sony Michel back for their senior seasons. And yet by the end of that season, the one in which Georgia would come out of nowhere to nearly win the national championship, it wasnt just a two-headed monster in the backfield. Swift had willed himself into making it a three-tailback attack.

"Thats the kind of talent that Swift brings to the Lions. When healthy, he is dynamic, explosive and a difference-maker. And one who perhaps doesnt get his due at Georgia, simply because of the illustrious tailbacks that preceded him. Yet it is he who now holds the program record for most average yards per carry (6.56). Swift finished his career seventh on Georgias all-time rushing yards list, despite sharing time with Chubb and Michel as a freshman, Elijah Holyfield (a fellow 1,000-yard rusher) as a sophomore, and being occasionally nicked up as a junior, including one injury that limited him to just three carries in Georgias final two games. He still finished the season with 1,218 rushing yards, fourth-most by a junior in Georgia history.

"And its not just running the ball. Swift caught 73 passes for 666 yards and five touchdowns over his three college seasons. And it probably shouldve been more, but for whatever reason he wasnt as involved as he could have been in the passing game. His frame -- 5-foot-9 but strong (215 pounds) and fast -- made him seemingly ideal for getting the ball in space.

But when called upon, Swift could also bang the ball straight ahead for yards too. He was the home-run threat who ended up succeeding more on singles and doubles. There was an under-appreciated consistency to Swift, who didnt rack up huge games -- his career high was 186 yards -- but never rushed for fewer than 70 yards in any game where he had at least 15 rushes. (He was 12-for-12 in that category.)

Seth Emerson covers Georgia football and athletics for The Athletic. You can find him on Twitter here, more of his DAndre Swift analysis here and more of his overall work here.

Related: Why we liked the Lions draft so much

JULIAN OKWARA

Position: EDGE

School: Notre Dame

Hometown: Charlotte, N.C.

Size: 6-foot-4 252 pounds

Pick: Third round (67th overall)

Analysis from Pete Sampson of The Athletic: "On his own, Julian Okwara is a typical third-round draft pick with more assets (length, natural strength) than deficiencies (senior year production). What makes him interesting in the context of the Detroit Lions is how different he is from his older brother, Romeo.

"Both were developmental prospects when they came to Notre Dame, but Romeo was a broad-shouldered athlete and completely raw as a pass rusher. He was introspective and thoughtful, a mature personality when he showed up. Julian is more of a slender build and able to beat offensive tackles one-on-one regularly. Hes also more a free spirit whose maturity was so much in question early that Brian Kelly joked that the idea of him being a senior captain was laughable.

"But the Julian Okwara heading to Detroit has grown up through both success and failure. He was a terror as a junior and one of the few Notre Dame players who looked the part against Clemson in the College Football Playoff. But he never quite launched from there, missing on personal goals of All-American status and double-digit sacks. Even before his broken leg suffered against Duke in early November, Okwaras senior season felt disappointing. He finished with just four sacks, one against Bowling Green and the other three against Virginia. He failed to impact Notre Dames bigger games against Georgia, USC and Michigan.

Okwara comes to Detroit aware that last fall created questions about his game. But that self-awareness should serve him well in the NFL. For whatever he wasnt last fall, theres a reason why so many saw him as a potential first-round pick after his junior year.

Pete Sampson covers Notre Dame football and athletics for The Athletic. You can find him on Twitter here and more of his work here.

Related: Julian Okwara blown away by opportunity to play with brother in Detroit

JONAH JACKSON

Position: Guard

School: Ohio State

Hometown: Media, Pa

Size: 6-foot-3, 306 pounds

Pick: Third round (75th overall)

Analysis from Ari Wasserman of The Athletic: "Jonah Jackson spent the majority of his college football career on a team that couldnt compete with its counterparts in the Big Ten, which made his move from Rutgers to Ohio State so dramatic. He went from being a captain at one of the worst programs in America to the new guy at one of the best.

"But Jackson blended into Ohio States culture immediately and more than filled his role as a plug-and-play guy. Not only was Jackson a serviceable starter, which was Ryan Days intention for him, he became one of the best interior linemen in college football.

If you want to know why the Lions traded up for Jackson, its because of his long arms, large hands and his strong, powerful build, and his versatility to play both guard spots or even center. He is NFL-ready after playing five years of college football and should be ready to compete for a starting spot in the interior offensive line in Detroit.

Ari Wasserman covers Ohio State football and recruiting for The Athletic. You can find him on Twitter here and more of his work here.

Related: The Lions traded up to go get Jonan Jackson in the third round

LOGAN STENBERG

Position: Guard

School: Kentucky

Hometown: Madison, Ala.

Size: 6-foot-6, 317 pounds

Pick: Fourth round (121st overall)

Analysis from Jon Hale of the Courier-Journal: "No one around Kentucky's program talks about Logan Stenberg without first mentioning his passion and intensity. Even before he developed into an All-SEC lineman, Stenberg was singled out by teammates as one of the fiercest competitors on the team.

'It makes me laugh because hes a big dude with a pony tail, so its hard to take him serious,' linebacker Denzil Ware once said of Stenberg. "but when he puts his hand down and comes off the ball, its like a big train coming to get you. You got to be careful what you say to him, because he might end your life.'

"As Kentucky redefined its offense around a smash-mouth run game that saw running back Benny Snell (Steelers) become the programs all-time leading rusher and Lynn Bowden (Raiders) lead the SEC in rushing last season, Stenberg became the key cog in the offensive line that paved the way. Interior linemen might not generally be a priority in the draft, but UK coaches have been convinced for some time Stenberg will have a long NFL career.

Stenbergs main area of improvement is clear too. That emotion and intensity too often resulted in personal foul or unsportsmanlike conduct penalties during his senior season. He likely would have played almost every important snap if he had not been removed from games a few times out of fear of a penalty stalling a drive. How well he can harness his natural intensity in a positive way will say much about his NFL success.

Jon Hale covers Kentucky football and athletics for the Courier-Journal. You can find him on Twitter here and more of his work here.

Related: Lions get bigger, whole lot nastier with first back-to-back guard picks since 1978

QUINTEZ CEPHUS

Position: Receiver

School: Wisconsin

Hometown: Macon, Ga.

Size: 6-foot-1, 202 pounds

Pick: Fifth round (166th overall)

Analysis from Jesse Temple of The Athletic: "When Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst was asked last season about the impact receiver Quintez Cephus had on the team, he generally cited Cephus infectious personality rather than on-field stats. Cephus was called a connector because of his natural ability to bring people together from different backgrounds, and that kind of positivity likely will be noticed in an NFL locker room. Of course, a big reason the Lions drafted Cephus is because of how he can help the team between the lines. What Cephus brings is a physical presence and a willingness to do the dirty work that helps the team.

"Cephus was Wisconsins go-to pass-catching threat last season, and it wasnt even close. He was targeted a team-high 94 times, 50 more than any other player on the team. He also was targeted 62 times on snaps in which he lined up out wide, according to Sports Info Solutions, one more than all the other Badgers wide receivers combined. He was at his best in the biggest moments late last season, which included catching seven passes for 122 yards against Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game. That performance prompted Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah, now Cephus teammate as the Lions No. 3 pick in the NFL draft, to declare at the NFL combine that Cephus was the best wide receiver he faced in college.

Cephus completely changed the dynamic for Wisconsins offense because he was a consistent downfield presence. But he also was a willing blocker and could be seen out in front on several occasions springing teammates down the sideline on jet sweeps to the edge. His 4.73-second 40-yard dash at the combine raised questions about his speed, but he did drop that number to 4.56 seconds at his pro day. The former high school basketball star (who almost went to Furman on a college basketball scholarship) can make up for any shortcomings with top-end speed with his body positioning, strength and ability to grab the ball at its apex in traffic. He can make tough catches, does not go down easily and should be an asset for the Lions.

Jesse Temple covers Wisconsin football for The Athletic. You can find him on Twitter here and more of his work here.

JASON HUNTLEY

Position: Running back/returner

School: New Mexico State

Hometown: Arlington, Texas

Size: 5-foot-8, 182 pounds

Pick: Fifth round (172nd overall)

Analysis from Jason Groves of the Las Cruces Sun News: "As far as Jason Huntley off the field, he was always a quiet guy who went about his business on the football team and as a student. At the same time, he was very confident of his ability and always a student of the game.

"For example, he predicted over 200 yards and three touchdowns prior to a home game against rival UTEP this year, then he went out and did it. He also knew exactly where he stood in terms of school records and really wanted the NCAA kickoff return record last year.

"His speed is why I believe he was picked up where he was, and that should translate to an NFL field. He has told me he has been working on punt return since he left school, which is something he did not do in college. Most of his receptions were swing passes out of the backfield. When he lined up in the slot, he mostly ran drags, outs and vertical routes, so Im not sure how that would translate at the NFL level.

One of the things that stood out to me the most was durability. Hes a smaller player, but I dont think he was ever injured or even missed a practice, despite his usage greatly increasing the past two years.

Jason Groves covers New Mexico State football and athletics for the Las Cruces Sun News. You can find him on Twitter here and more of his work here.

Related: Early pro day performance helps Jason Huntley land in Detroit

JOHN PENISINI

Position: Defensive tackle

School: Utah

Hometown: West Jordan, Utah

Size: 6-foot-1, 313 pounds

Pick: Sixth round (197th overall)

Analysis from Chris Kamrani of The Athletic: "John Penisini is a hard man to move. Hes also a very big man. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 330 pounds during his days at Utah, Penisini thrived as one of the Utes run-stopping defensive tackles. Against the run, he was one of the best nose tackles in the Pac-12, routinely plugging gaps and taking the pressure off his fellow defensive linemen. Thats why he was drafted in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL draft.

"He will help the Lions win the line of scrimmage, which is obviously a priority for a defensive-minded head coach in Matt Patricia. NFL scouts loved Penisinis motor and were routinely impressed by his unrelenting approach to the game. His coaches always said: John Penisini does not stop. And when you have a defensive tackle on the inside who does not give up on plays, that means hell allow someone else to flourish.

He needs to improve on his pass-rushing skills and develop moves beyond relying on his pure brute strength up the middle. But if he stays healthy, theres no reason he cant be a rotational inside presence for Detroit. He is as laid back as they come, too, a friendly and cordial defensive tackle who should have no issue assimilating in an NFL locker room.

Chris Kamrani covers Utah football and athletics for The Athletic. You can find him on Twitter here and more of his work here.

JASHON CORNELL

Position: Defensive tackle

School: Ohio State

Hometown: St. Paul, Minn.

Size: 6-foot-3, 287 pounds

Pick: Seventh round (235th overall)

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Beat writer roundtable: Breaking down every Lions draft pick with those who know them best - MLive.com

As states start reopening their economies, and building reactivates, construction firms are giving more serious thought to how they can provide a safer environment for their employees and subs.

Boston-based Shawmut Design and Construction, in collaboration with trade unions, industry peer groups, and other firms, has rolled out a COVID-19 safety plan for its project sites across the country.

The coronavirus has very quickly required a drastic change to the world, and specifically, to our construction industry, says Les Hiscoe, Shawmuts CEO. Through technology partnerships, pilot programs, and grassroots innovation by our project team members in the field, we have created efficient, enhanced safety guidelines. Protecting our employees and everyone on our jobsites is our top priority, so we are engaging in real-time, adapting to our new environments requirements almost instantly, and never missing a beat.

The plan includes safety protocols, new jobsite innovation, and COVID-19 risk assessment and response. Shawmut has developed a new custom technology platform thats designed to check for COVID-19 symptoms and to manage contact tracing.

Called Shawmut Vitals, the platform allows employees and subs to self-certify daily health screenings by scanning a job-specific QR code, and then filling out a health survey. Employees who are symptomatic or have been exposed to someone whos infected or at-risk will be flagged for further care or action.

Team members can access information on their mobile devices.

Also See: Nonresidential construction spending declines in March as pandemic halts projects

Shawmut has also mobilized platforms and technologies like SmartVid.io and Feevr to monitor safety compliance, enforce social distancing, and screen personnel for fevers.

The firms plan outlines stringent guidelines for self-awareness and reporting. A dedicated COVID-19 officer will be on site 100% of the time to enforce protocols, which include limiting any worker gatherings to no more than five people. Crews might be minimized and work shifts staggered.

Health screening guidelines, self-reporting, and all best practices will be reviewed regularly and reinforced with on-site signage, written in English and Spanish and located in high-traffic areas. Shawmut will ensure that an adequate amount of hand-washing stations will be available throughout all sites, with each unit at least six feet apart. For tasks that require more than one person for completion, additional PPE will be required.

Following infection-control guidelines has been central to the safety and health of flooring installation professionals. Image: International Standards and Training Alliance

John T. McGrath, Jr., Executive Director of the International Standards and Training Alliance (INSTALL), an industry-endorsed floorcovering installation training and certification program, points out in a recent essay that floorcovering professionals have long understood the importance of health and safety on the jobsite, as spelled out in Infection Construction Risk Assessment (ICRA) standards and protocols, which are now being applied to battle the spread of COVID-19.

Compliance with ICRA standards and protocols helps safeguard patients from potential contaminants during renovation or construction of healthcare projects.

McGrath points out that the United Brotherhood of Carpenters ICRA course teaches techniques for containing pathogens, controlling airflow, protecting patients, and for completing work without disrupting adjacent operations.

As COVID-19 began to spread in North America, the union worked with ICRA to expedite an online short course for contractors in the field. INSTALL (which is the unions floorcovering arm) works with contractors to employ ICRA so construction teams can classify work areas to minimize risk, adhere to protocols, and communicate to the facilitys team.

Different states had different criteria for allowing construction to proceed during the pandemic. In markets where construction was deemed essential, ICRA certification has played a major role in helping healthcare systems find and specify trained contractors in [their] region,says DeAnn Richards, Infection Preventionist and ICRA Consultant, North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters.

Also See: Apartment Firms Reactivation Plans Begin to Take Shape

Jayson Karas, that Councils ICRA Facilitator, notes that major contractors with ICRA training and experience have stepped up to create a roundtable and discussion forum within the six-state region. They were prepared ahead of time for this crisis by working with hospital networks to take stock of PPE and necessary equipment like HEPA filters, Karas states.

Rick Okraszewski, Industry Outreach/ICRA (retired) for the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, says that his Council has provided training for more than a dozen years. The new curriculum adds nuance surrounding COVID-19, he says.

Aside from ICRA compliance, McGrath says there are some simple procedures that construction professionals can follow to curtail the spread of disease on jobsites. The first step, he says, is to develop a COVID-19 response team with representations from all levels of the organization. Contractors should also create a company specific COVID-19 response plan, and ensure that each jobsite has a safety committee.

Prohibit gatherings of more than 10 people, and provide necessary hygienic supplies including handwashing stations, cleaning/disinfectant solutions, portable toilets, and barrier-free trash receptacles.

McGrath adds that one of the most important things that foremen and project managers can do right now is to monitor employee health and send ill workers home. They should also ensure that common areas and items are cleaned and disinfected regularly.

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Making jobsites safer in the COVID-19 world - Building Design + Construction

OTTAWA, May 6, 2020 /CNW/ - A Nanos Research poll, conducted on behalf of the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), has found that many people in Canada have seen their stress levels double since the onset of COVID-19.

The survey of 1,049 Canadian residents conducted between April 25 and 27 sheds new light on the way people are describing their mental health during COVID-19, as well as what they are doing to improve it.

The number of participants who reported feeling stressed regularly or all the time has more than doubled since the onset of COVID-19, with fears over physical well-being and personal finances cited as the primary reasons. They are also aware of a decline in their mental health, with nearly 40 per cent reporting that their mental health is worse or somewhat worse than before the outbreak. But, despite their self-awareness, more than three in four people report that, over the last month, they have almost never or never sought mental health information online.

"The 'I'm fine' theme of this year's Mental Health Week captures the key message of this poll," said Louise Bradley, president and CEO of the MHCC.

"When we say we are 'fine,' we may not always mean it. I hope this survey reminds everyone that it's normal to feel stressed, anxious, or preoccupied during this outbreak. There is no shame in admitting as much, and there is certainly no shame in taking advantage of all the resources at your disposal to help you feel better."

Fortunately, more online mental health resources than ever are available right now, and the list is growing. The MHCC's own COVID-19 Resource Hubincludes curated tips, guides, and other tools to help improve mental health during the outbreak. The federal government has also recently launched its Wellness Together Canadaportal to provide mental health resources and connect people with the support they need.

"We must not only fight the virus. We've also got to fight the stigma that is likely preventing people from feeling comfortable seeking help and support," said Bradley. "The more we invest in our wellness now, the better off we will be on the other side of COVID-19."

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New Nanos poll reveals people in Canada are more stressed in the era of COVID-19 - Canada NewsWire

MEADVILLE, Pa. (PRWEB) May 06, 2020

I Am: a heartwarming collection of Bible passages for girls that teaches them lessons on compassion, self-esteem, and faith that nurture their souls. I Am is the creation of published author A. Nicole, a family nurse practitioner and cofounder of With Open Arms Ministry.

A. Nicole shares, As a child of God, it is important for you to know exactly who you are in Christ. In a world filled with upsets, disappointments, and challenges, it is easy to believe the negative situations. Be of good cheer, The Great I AM has conquered all of those challenges and has created you to overcome each one. This book is a small reminder of the bigger present He has designed in you, the perfect image of Him. You are whom He says you are, nothing more and nothing less. Each page should be a reminder to each girl and young lady reading this that His love is greater than what the world says you are!

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, A. Nicoles new book is a potent teaching tool that parents and educators can use to inspire children the significance of having God in their hearts to lead them toward grace and blessing.

This book is dedicated to the youth to instill in them to embark on a journey of self-awareness in the light of Gods Word and the knowledge of His love in their lives.

View the synopsis of I Am on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase I Am at traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about I Am, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.

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A. Nicole's newly released I Am is a resounding book for girls of all ages that imparts inspiring scriptures on identity and self-worth - PR Web

Last season, on Nov. 12, Adrien Nunez was thrown to the wolves.

Following a wrist injury to freshman phenom Franz Wagner, Nunez a sophomore that barely sniffed the floor the season prior was thrust into a starting position.

A guard with daunting range and 3-point shooting ability, Nunez was billed as a solid force in Michigans offense throughout his career. It was the other side of his game, though, that left people worrying

From the early minutes of Nunezs tenure as a member of the starting squad, this flaw became widely apparent perhaps at no more obvious moment than in mid-November, his second start, against the Bluejays.

The game began with both teams sporting young rosters and nobody really knowing what to expect, but Creighton set an aggressive tone early and targeted Nunez.

Bluejay guard Mitch Ballock sat at the top of the key with the ball in his hands and Nunez across from him. Ballock drove to the hoop. It would be the ultimate test of Nunezs on-ball defense, less than a minute into his starting role.

Ballock sped past Nunez and got an easy two points at the rim.

(Ballock) blew by me, and I was like, Oh, snap. I need to get this together, Nunez told The Daily. That was the moment I was like, Oh, I really need to work on this. Just getting comfortable in that position.

From that point on, Nunezs battle with defensive consistency proved to be an arduous one.

The rest of the season, Nunezs defense among other things did not improve to the point where he would see consistent minutes for the Wolverines.

As the games left in the regular season dwindled down, so did Nunezs playing time. Wagner returned to the lineup and Nunez returned to the bench. Some games, Nunez would only see a handful of minutes, playing the role of an offensive specialist. Others, he wouldnt see the floor at all.

Yeah, its tough, its a change, going from nothing to a lot to not a lot again, Nunez said on Jan. 8. Im just working everyday. Working before or after, gaining (coach Juwan Howards) trust to really put me on the court.

Nunez took it in stride, though, not allowing himself to fold in frustration.

Howard saw potential in Nunez. The kind of potential that makes a coach dig to find the crux of his players deficiencies and hammer out inconsistencies. In Howards mind, the best way to do that came during particular drills in practice.

Unlike other coaches Nunez has played under, Howards mentality on how to run drills in practice is simple: You run it until you get it right.

That was a big thing, Nunez said. He made sure I was getting it. For some coaches, if a player doesnt get it the first time or second time, they move on, but I could mess up 10 times, hed make me do it over and over and over again until I got it, which showed how committed he was to getting me better."

That was a big aspect, and its a big trust thing with coach now because I know hes invested in me. Hes gonna stop practice for me just so I can get the drill.

Nunez wasnt the only player singled out like this, and some take to it more than others. Sometimes, it can fan the flames of that players frustrations and insecurities. For others, though, this crucible of performance shores up faith in the coach and their aptitude for the teams array of concepts.

I want to be coached, Nunez said. Im not gonna shy away from that, and I feel like that is a good quality to have, just wanting to be coached. There are definitely guys who will get frustrated when he would, not pick on you, but make you do the drill over and over again.

Nunez used his coachability as his north star throughout the season, and eventually that guiding light led him into Howards office at the beginning of February. Between the repeated drills and lack of consistent play and playing time, something still wasnt clicking for Nunez.

He needed help. Enter associate head coach Phil Martelli.

Martelli is a veteran coach that spent 24 years as the head coach of St. Josephs. Initially sorted into one of five players Martelli was tasked with keeping track of academically, Nunez had already established a rapport with him, one stretching back to Martellis initial recruitment of Nunez in high school.

But after discussing how he can improve with Howard, the pair struck up a new kind of relationship. One based on growth and film study.

***

Jenny Lessard Nunezs mother knew her son and Martellis paths would cross again. She just knew it.

Through much of his senior season at Bishop Loughlin High School in Brooklyn, NY, Martelli made his recruitment of Nunez to St. Joes personal. Through one stretch the summer before the guards senior year, Martelli visited 13 of Nunezs games in a row. He wanted him in Philadelphia, bad.

Then, Nunez broke the news to the veteran coach: he wouldnt be coming to the City of Brotherly Love, instead pursuing a postgraduate year at St. Thomas More Prep School in pursuit of other offers.

Nunez had moved on from the Hawks, but that didnt stop Lessard from texting Martelli with a seemingly divine piece of foresight Our paths will cross again.

With an extra year, Nunezs recruitment took off and he secured an offer from coach John Beilein. Two years later, Nunez and Martelli reunited in Ann Arbor, continuing the relationship forged in Brooklyn.

I recruited (Nunez) very hard coming out of high school, it was just a joy, Martelli said. It was ingenious by coach Howard to put us together, not that the other guys wouldve done just as well, but we were in a good place starting out. There was a trust there.

That progress started with Nunez making one simple concession: He didnt know how to study film.

Sure, like any player, he had watched plenty of film, but what the sophomore was saying was that he didnt know how to see it. He didnt know how to watch all 10 players on the floor at the same time and have the wherewithal to ingest what was happening and why.

Anybody can watch film, Martelli said. I think a player watches himself, but you have to watch, and I mean its not rocket science, but you have to be able to see the whole play even when youre not involved with the ball.

The film study with Martelli has continued into the unexpectedly abrupt postseason with the coach sending Nunez game clips and inspirational sayings.

Watching film, running drills over and over, for Nunez, its all part of the mental aspect of the game. He knows he can physically do whats required of him because hes done it before at some point or another.

He just needed to do it in front of thousands of people.

Through nearly all of his in-game appearances, Nunez knew something was off. He was uptight, worried to death about whether he would make a mistake or squander his quickly vanishing playing time it was a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.

I didnt have that mentality to just act free like the way I was playing before, Nunez said. I was so worried about either getting taken out or making a mistake, I was so focused on that that it kinda crippled me in that way.

Since stepping into Howards office to tackle this mentality problem, Nunez has done nothing but try to loosen up and make the most of his time on the floor and, simply put, have fun. The Brooklyn native is even using all of his newly found free time in the coronavirus-related quarantine to reflect and find a solution.

One outlet for Nunez to step out of his comfort zone comes from the popular app TikTok. The social media platform is used for a variety of goofy videos, and Nunez had adopted it to show himself dancing or expressing comic concepts. Currently, Nunez has 41,000 followers and nearly 700,000 likes on his posts.

People think Im fooling around, but thats taking me out of my comfort zone, Nunez said. Its something that I never liked, to be showy. I never liked to have the attention. Ive always been so reserved and tense trying to do everything right, but now Im acting like a goofball in front of thousands of people, and just being loose, thats a big thing.

***

Largely due to his lack of success this past season, many people speculated Nunezs name would be first up in the transfer portal.

With his first recruiting class, Howard made it clear the quality of talent coming to Ann Arbor would only rise, and Nunez struggled to fit into the rotation even with plenty of opportunities. But when the pandemic hit and the season ended, the decision to stay was a no-brainer for the sophomore.

I definitely talked a little about it with my parents, but nothing really serious, like, Oh I wanna stay here, I didnt want to pack everything up, Nunez said. I know that if I can make it here, I can make it to the next level. Even if I kill at another school, it wouldnt be the same, so I just decided to stay.

Buried in his decision to stay is the idea that this will be the sophomores first season having the same coach and system from the year prior in nearly five years. Going from high school to prep school to Beilein to Howard has meant a lot of different systems and learning curves. A creature of routine, Nunez is more confident with a year of Howards plays under his belt.

Now that begs the question: What will Nunezs role on the team be in the seasons to come?

Nunez wants to be known as an all-around player, not just a shooter. That means tackling his weaknesses, including on-ball defense, being able to come off screens and playing off a shot fake.

One aspect he personally wants to tackle is his ball-handling abilities. With point guards Zavier Simpson and David DeJulius leaving the program due to graduation and transfer, respectively, the vacuum at that position is one of the biggest question marks for the team. Nunez could be instrumental in filling that void.

The bottom line for Nunez, though, is self-awareness. He knows what he needs to work on and is not shying away from the challenge.

So perhaps the next time Nunez steps on the floor in a maize and blue jersey, he wont be watching an opposing ball handler fly past him on his way to an easy bucket. Through relentless practice, film study and self-awareness, Nunez will flash a smile after showing the product of his trials and tribulations.

See more here:
The trials and tribulations of Adrien Nunez - The Michigan Daily

Romeen Sheth is president of Metasys, a workforce-management firm based in Atlanta.

Steve Schlafman Contributor

Peacetime CEO/Wartime CEO by Ben Horowitz is one of the most commonly cited management think pieces of the last decade.

And for good reason; Horowitz surfaced a fundamental distinction in operating philosophy that is necessary for companies to survive, reinvent and ultimately win when macroeconomic environments shift. The framework is especially useful given how counterintuitive the advice is behaviors of a peacetime CEO and wartime CEO are often on diametrically opposite sides of the spectrum; it is rare to find a CEO who can successfully emulate both personas.

While in concept it is easy to understand these principles, as with most things in life, nothing can replace the visceral comprehension that comes via learned experience. We are at the onset of enduring the most challenging startup environment of (at least) the last 15 years. COVID-19 is an indiscriminate event that is systematically wiping out businesses, whether atoms or bits.

For most startup operators, this is the first taste of true systematic adversity. The undercurrents of frothy valuations, the social milieu of early-stage investing and stores of excess capital are coming to a grinding halt as the bull market of the last 12 years is dramatically disrupted. We have an entire generation of founders/CEOs who may conceptually understand the peacetime CEO/wartime CEO ethos, but now, theyre going to actually live it. At the same time as every other founder/CEO. Brutal.

Since the onset of COVID-19, we have spoken to more than 100 founders and CEOs. Naturally, we are hearing frequent allusions to peacetime CEO/wartime CEO as a framework to help navigate the landscape. Weve even used it over the last few months. While we believe it is a helpful framework, it is also incomplete. Further, we believe its application can lead to deeply problematic outcomes.

At a micro level, the misplaced application of peacetime CEO/wartime CEO can fundamentally change a company for the worse. A wartime CEO, as Horowitz notes, is completely intolerant, rarely speaks in a normal tone, sometimes uses profanity purposefully, heightens contradictions, and neither indulges consensus building nor tolerates disagreements. In the strictest application, we are seeing this align with a common false trope that has plagued the tech industry: To change the world like Steve Jobs, I need to emulate all aspects of Steve Jobs personality. A classic logical fallacy many founders/CEOs have learned the hard way if you emulate all aspects of Steve Jobs personality, it doesnt mean you will change the world like he did.

Each company is driven by its own unique culture and values in a crisis situation, while it is important to be adept and agile, its equally, if not more important, to triple down on the strongest elements of your culture established pre-crisis. Many of the strongest founders/CEOs we have had the pleasure of coaching and investing in are uniquely world-class in their patience and tolerance, their ability to make the abnormal normal and their commitment to inspire with clarity. It is the adherence to these principles that will help carry their companies through this time.

At a macro level, peacetime CEO/wartime CEO conjures outdated themes that are at best inaccurate, and at worst, counterproductive. War implies destruction, ruthlessness, blood, death; there is an innate sense of machismo and bravado in this language reinforcing a homogeneous tech community. This type of vernacular and attitude increases barriers to a more inclusive community excluding women and underrepresented minority participation.

One of the most common takeaways we have heard in reference to the framework is, now is the time when real founders are made. If Rent the Runway, ClassPass, Away, the Wing and the countless other women-led/minority-led startups that have been adversely affected by COVID-19 are not able to bounce back, we highly doubt it is because they werent able to cut it as real founders, a ridiculous assertion to make under any circumstance.

The peacetime CEO/wartime CEO framework is clearly valuable it forces us to dissect the behavioral shifts necessary to survive in a crisis. That being said, it needs to evolve. Being firm, decisive and staring down an existential crisis is not mutually exclusive with applying empathy, gratitude and generosity. You can be an intense, laser-focused and paranoid CEO without losing yourself or fundamentally changing the culture of your company.

We know dozens of leaders who are leading their companies through these challenging times without leaving a wake of carnage or damage to the foundation they have spent years building. They are leading with their heart and values and will be remembered for how they carried themselves, treated their employees and guided the company through the crisis. COVID-19 presents us with a unique opportunity as an industry. Now is the right time to retire the false dilemma of peacetime CEO or wartime CEO and empower the rise of the human-centric CEO:

Theres no way to mince words. COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on the startup community. The inevitable is unfortunately occurring every day many startups will never come back from this. As eternal optimists, however, we see opportunity in this crisis for the broader industry: the rise of the human-centric CEO. Now is the time for us to propagate community, resourcefulness and generosity. Its the time to be ever thoughtful about employees, colleagues, stakeholders and fellow founder/CEOs in need. Individual startups may not survive this crisis, but it is our hope that an everlasting mentality does.

By no means is this list exhaustive, but it captures the behaviors and attributes from the top leaders we are working with. We believe CEOs should strive to become human-centric. Not only because its the right thing to do, but also because we believe it will lead to healthier organizations and better results over time.

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The rise of the human-centric CEO - TechCrunch

Illustration by Joe Ciardiello.

Were living in lonely times. Under orders to isolate at home, were separated from our friends, family, coworkers, communities. We find ourselves missing our loved ones and missing, too, the many strangers with whom we used to share the city streets. Some people wonder if and when theyll touch another person. Others go feral, knowing that theres no point in primping when theyre not going to be seen. Most of the time, these conditions feel unprecedented, unlivable.1

Mary Gaitskill did not write her fiction for this moment, but as the countrys leading artist of prepandemic isolationand of the sudden, miraculous collapse into intimacy that it can spawnshe is perhaps, more than any of her contemporaries, the writer of our times. A skillful composer of short stories and several novels, Gaitskill found herself breaking into public life with her collection Bad Behavior, a book acutely focused on loneliness and the destructive things many of us do to overcome it. Populated by teenage runaways, disillusioned sex workers, bored businessmen, exploited models turned temp workers, her fiction describes cities after work and late at night, in which her characters search for connection and only rarely find it. Sometimes they find moments of grace and kindness; most of the time they hurt each other gratuitously and indiscriminately. In one early story, A Romantic Weekend, two lovers with high hopes for an adulterous weekend witness their seductive puffball cloud deflated with a flaccid hiss, leaving two drunken, bad-tempered, incompetent, malodorous people blinking and uncomfortable on its remains. The scene is familiar rather than anomalous; discomfort is Gaitskills default setting.2

Reading about her wary, lonely characters, one gets the sense the author knows whereof she writes. Her ex-husband, the writer Peter Trachtenberg, once wrote of Gaitskill, I think I have never met anyone more lonely. One imagines her response: Sure, but Im in good company. In her fiction, loneliness is a universal experience, the thing that unites people across class divisions and divergent personal histories. And yet its also a great tragedy. When you feel alone, desperation drives your actions. A person might provoke or lash out or lie, all in the hope, perhaps even the unconscious desire, that she will be seen or even seen throughthat is, recognized as a damaged but tractable soul beneath a well-wrought surface.3

This is how Gaitskill depicts Quin, one of the two narrators of her most recent work of fiction, This Is Pleasure, who is caught up in a publishing industry scandal, the kind now familiar from the Me Too movement. First we hear from Margot, a book editor well into a successful career, who recalls how her friend and fellow editor boasted about flirting with a stranger. Then we hear from Quinthe culpritwho has slunk back into his office in the night to retrieve a resilient orchid. He has been forced out of his job because he was sued for sexual harassment by a female former employee. Since her suit went public, we learn, other women have come forward with similar complaints. The story switches between the perspectives of Quin and Margot, friends for decades, as they try to reckon with what he has done wrong and how the industry has changed since the two of them started working in it.4

The story is typical of Gaitskill in that it explores a familiar, even clichd situation, only to subvert our expectations. The story is not one of justice served, nor is it one of justice miscarried. Instead, it is a story about how loneliness can deform a person, even one who seems to have so much going for him. The story doesnt excuse Quins behavior, but in recognizing his flaws, it doesnt outright condemn it, either. Instead, it asks us to see Quin for who he iseager, erring, lonely, a creep and a bad guy who probably deserves to lose his job but not his humanityand it also asks us to try to recognize what we might share with him, what might cause us to behave badly. If this story of sexual misconduct refuses easy resolutions, it also offers something more sustaining: a recognition of the loneliness plaguing each of us and a suggestion for how the damaged among us might possibly be redeemed.5

Lonelinessand the desire to escape itis a current that has run through most of Gaitskills life. Born in 1954 in Kentucky and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, she ran away from home during high school. It was a whole huge mess, she later told an interviewer. She wandered from Detroit to Toronto to California, working a series of odd jobs, including street vendor, clerk, and stripper. She ended up stripping for only a short time, but critics and interviewers have focused on it, to Gaitskills frustration. Finding herself once again being asked about that interlude in a 1999 interview with the writer Charles Bock, she responded, Like most jobs Ive had, I saw a lot of different things go on, it didnt bring me to any one or two conclusions. When he asked about how she chose the sexual battlefield as her subject matter, she let out whats described as an audible sigh.6

She eventually expounded on some of her frustrations with those critics in the story The Agonized Face, from her 2009 collection Dont Cry. In it, an unnamed feminist author appears at a literary festival and refuses to read from her work. Rather, she speaks about how shes been characterized by the local media and festival organizers in brochures advertising her participation and her history of sex work. They had ignored the content of her work completely, focusing instead on the most sensational aspects of her lifethe prostitution, the drug use, the stay in a mental hospital, the attempt on her fathers lifein a way that was both salacious and puritanical. The writer reminds the audience that when we isolate qualities that seem exciting, but maybe a little scarywe not only deny that person her humanity but we impoverish and cheat ourselves of lifes complexity and tenderness! Here we see the worldview that suffuses so much of Gaitskills writing. Theres an allergy to reflexive judgment, a moral dedication to capturing human intricacy.7

This impulse was there from the beginning. In Bad Behavior, the 1988 short story collection that earned her epithets like the queen of kink, Gaitskill frequently focuses on moments and characters in which opposite feelings and qualities intertwine. In one story, for example, we meet a man trying to dominate his female partner; he feels an impulse to embrace her but then a stronger impulse to beat her. In another, a woman finds herself horrified and fascinated by the desolation and cruelty of the city at four in the morning. In a third, a woman working a menial job suspects that a wealthy friend views her with a mixture of secret repugnance and respect. Relationships are also built on competing impulses. In one story, a sadist is both cruel and helpful in attempting to fulfill a womans genuine desires. A boss, a harasser, victimizes his employee and at the same time spurs an important awakening in her. These encounters are not enjoyable exactly, but neither are they entirely damaging. They are simply things that happen.8

Often, conflicting feelings arise in the face of weakness. As Deana, the sage girlfriend of the brittle Connie, puts it in the story Other Factors, Its kind of strange to be confronted so aggressively with somebody elses frailty. Some people will want to protect you, as I did, but some people will want to hurt you. Others will be merely afraid of you, for the obvious reason that it reminds them of their own frailty. Weakness in Gaitskills work is both an enticement and a threat. People seek to exploit it in others, hoping that by doing so, theyll expunge it in themselves. But rarely does this impulse get her characters what they crave: recognition, connection, love.9

Gaitskill wrote the stories that make up Bad Behavior over five years in the 1980s, after her graduation from the University of Michigan, where she studied journalism and writing, and her move to New York City. In her last year at Michigan, she won the Avery Hopwood Award for writing. It was usually a predictor of literary success, but Gaitskill found it more a harbinger of frustrated promise. Unable to sell any of her stories to magazines, she worked various clerical jobs, including one at the Strand Bookstore. These day jobs gave her material; she offered sharp accounts of the anomie and ennui that can come from doing office work. They also gave her models for some of her characters, many of whom work in offices.10

Gaitskills best-known piece of fiction, Secretary, is a story about office work. A newly trained typist and the only first-person narrator in Bad Behavior, Debby finds a job doing very dull work for an unusually inquisitive lawyer. She is a detached, closed-off personlike a wall, the lawyer observesand he wants to draw her out, to get her to loosen up. He eventually gets what he wants: After Debby makes a series of typing errors, the lawyer spanks her in his office. The word humiliation came into my mind with such force that it effectively blocked out all other words, she recalls. Further, I felt that the concept it stood for had actually been a major force in my life for quite a while. Aroused and ashamed at the same time, she masturbates to the memory that evening.11

There are two more encounters between Debby and the lawyer, escalating in intensity and intimacy, and she begins to have recurring dreams. In one, theyre standing in a field of flowers, and the lawyer tells her, I understand you now, Debby. After he ejaculates on her during another spanking session, Debby quits her job but says nothing to members of her family, although they can tell something hideous has happened. The lawyer eventually sends her a note of apology and $200, along with a request that she keep their encounters secret. Debby does, even when a reporter calls seeking information about her former boss. Feeling as if shes watching herself from outside her body, she says of the sensation, It wasnt such a bad feeling at all. The story ends on this moment of dissociation, a common response for people too traumatized to stay in their own skin.12

Secretary was eventually made into a 2002 film starring James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal. In the essay Victims and Losers, Gaitskill calls the film the Pretty Woman version of her story, smoothed out to present its heroine as empowered. Gaitskill understands this emphasis on empowerment as a sign of Americans fear of being seen as victimsof being humiliated or powerless or lonely. But for Gaitskill, the weakness her protagonist feels is something worth preserving; it is, above all else, a mark of her humanity. To be human, Gaitskill writes, is finally to be a loser, for we are all fated to lose our carefully constructed sense of self, our physical strength, our health, our precious dignity, and finally our lives.13

Recognizing fragility can also lead to different and more meaningful victoriesanother theme that runs through her short stories and novels. In 1997s The Blanket, one of the sweetest stories Gaitskill has written, a 36-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man confess their love and commit to their relationship, but they can do so only after they have both admitted to the depth of their fear: the woman by telling the man that a particular bit of sexual role-playing upset her, the man by telling the woman how scared he is of losing her. In her first novel, Two Girls Fat and Thin (1991), two lonely women, both molested as children, find a tenuous connection, but only after one of them, a journalist, has published an unflattering account of the other. The books final scene finds the two women sleeping in bed together, a platonic echo of the concluding scene in The Blanket.14

The Mare (2015), Gaitskills third novel, doesnt give us the same kind of happy ending. The book is a rewriting of the 1935 novel National Velvet (later a film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney) told from the perspective of several narrators, the point of view changing with every chapter. As in the original novel, The Mare describes how a girl named Velvet (in Gaitskills version, an 11-year-old Dominican American from the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn) tames an unruly horse and becomes a skilled rider. It ends with Velvet, now 13, winning her first equestrian competition and then immediately swearing off horseback riding forever at the behest of her abusive mother. Though the novel presents love as a dangerous force, it also acknowledges that it can provide people with moments of sweet communionfrom Ginger, the childless woman (and avatar for Gaitskill) who fosters Velvet, singing to her while brushing her hair, to Velvet, feeling a connection to her horse where my legs touched her sidesand we were in it together, to Velvets mother and brother, who join Ginger in cheering the girl to victory in her first and only equestrian competition. Its hard to characterize these moments; words like happy and joyful dont really do them justice, as they suggest the absence of pain or foreknowledge or doubt. Instead, these scenes are fleeting moments of connection and reprieve, and the characters can sense their end. Beyond impermanence, they are marked by ecstasy and quite often by forgiveness. They represent something like grace.15

While Gaitskills fiction is all about ambiguity, her nonfiction tends to be clear to the point of bluntness. In 1994 she wrote an essay for Harpers Magazine, On Not Being a Victim, that was an intervention in the debate then raging over date rape. On one side, there was a growing number of feminists who wanted to establish clear rules for sexual engagementrules that men would know and obeyso women would not have to experience unwanted sexual advances. On the other side, there were figures like Camille Paglia and Katie Roiphe, who insisted that women who made themselves vulnerable to violation were either stupid or naive (Paglia) or misrepresenting their experiences out of shame or regret (Roiphe).16

Frustrated by the extremes she found on both sides, Gaitskill tried to plot a third course by looking with a fairly unsparing eye at difficult sexual encounters in her life, including two rapes. If she did not vilify the men involved, neither did she blame herself for being stupid. Gaitskill instead focused on the need for both men and women to better understand their desires and actions. Insisting that she did have some control over how at least some of these situations played out, she also recognized that ultimately she did not have all of the control. To create a world of sexual equality would require more than just rules; it would also require greater introspection on the part of men and women.17

She presented herself as a case study. As a younger person, Gaitskill had trouble determining and then conveying what she wanted (and what she didnt want), and she sometimes suffered because of this. She suggested that other men and women ran into similar difficulties. She was not responsible for other peoples actions, but her upsetting sexual encounters prompted her to reexamine her own motivations and desires. Gaitskill calls this personal responsibilitynot the kind that Paglia and Roiphe wrote about but a self-awareness that helps a person protect herself and others.18

Because of the phrase personal responsibility, On Not Being a Victim could easily be read as a provocation in todays context, with Gaitskill joining ranks with the anti-feminists. But she was not agreeing with Paglia and Roiphe; she was trying to show the fallacies in their thinking. To insist, as Paglia did, that just by going to a frat party, you take on the risk that you might be sexually assaulted was essentially to absolve the assailants of their transgressions. Gaitskill, on the other hand, was insisting on an inward reckoning, a questioning of ones impulses and reactions. Dealing with my feelings and what had caused them, rather than expecting the outside world to assuage them, was, for her, a key source of protection: The best means of self-defense required self-knowledge. Through it, she could feel more confident and recover her ability to determine what happens to me.19

For her, both the feminists and the anti-feminists of the 1990s focused too narrowly on codifying sexual rules without paying attention to personal responsibility and self-awareness. Roiphe and Paglia are not exactly invoking rules, Gaitskill wrote, but their comments seem to derive from a belief that everyone except idiots interprets information and experience in the same way. In that sense, they are not so different in attitude from those ladies dedicated to establishing feminist-based rules and regulations for sex. The problem with these rules was not only how they were defined but also their inefficacy. Rules usually dont work if people dont buy into them. Gaitskill suggested that rules were quite often disempowering: If youre told to follow a rule that doesnt resonate with you (Dont sleep with someone on the first date) or doesnt seem to fit a particular situation (Never objectify a woman), then you cant develop the kind of personal responsibility that enables you to better take charge of your life.20

There might be a lot to argue with in Gaitskills essay, and certainly the argument she makes is out of step with our moment. But it would be a mistake to characterize her as a cynic or nihilist or someone who takes cruelty and pain for granted. Instead, Gaitskill wants us to better understand what motivates behaviorbad and goodand why people hurt each other in spite of rules and regulations. If shes skeptical about the efficacy of rules, shes remarkably optimistic about peoples capacity for self-reflection. The path she proposes in the essay is a more challenging one, but, she insists, it also has more potential to make lasting change.21

This ethic of self-awareness and personal responsibility is also at the center of This Is Pleasure. In Margots eyes, Quin is a mixed bag. An eccentric with a foppish haircut and a quick wit, he is a champion of women writers and yet a boss who evaluates his assistants based on the shape of their butts. Hes a supportive friendthe only one to have Margots back during a moment of crisisand a compulsive flirt, at one point even attempting to reach up her skirt. He can be perceptive; he notes that Caitlin, his assistant, is intelligent, more than she realized, and I wanted her to learn how to use that intelligence more actively. But he can also be astoundingly stupid. When Caitlin tells him that spanking is her kink, he sends her a clip from an old western in which John Wayne spanks an actress. Caitlin eventually sues Quin, citing the video as an offense.22

This Is Pleasure was first published online by The New Yorker in July 2019. It calls to mind another piece of Me Too era fiction in the same magazine, Kristen Roupenians Cat Person, which went viral in December 2017. Roupenians story was full of irony and ambiguity and all the stuff that makes fiction fiction. But many women, fed up with predatory men and fired up for change, nonetheless read it as moral instruction and pressed it into the cause. Gaitskills story, like much of her fiction, resists such instrumentalization. Many who shared it on Twitter were strikingly coy concerning what they thought about it besides that it was worth thinking about. Writers from across the political spectrum praised the story without saying specifically what they admired about it. Even if they couldnt agree on how to interpret it, most people agreed that they should respond.23

This Is Pleasure is confounding in part because it seems more interested in examining Quins inner life than it does in judging his behavior. The story does not deny his culpability and acknowledges that the loss of his job fits his crimes. But through the character of Margot, Quin is seen as not so much evil or tragic but pitiful. Successfully soliciting the kind of attachments he does not want, he is his own worst enemy. If his behavior remains unsympathetic, his motivationsa desire to be seen and a desire to be lovedare all too human in Margots eyes.24

This comes across in an early encounter between them. At a dinner together, Quin, who interviewed Margot for a job a few years earlier, tells her that he admires her new assertiveness. Im sure he didnt say this right away, she recalls, but in my memory he did: Your voice is so much stronger now! You are so much stronger now! You speak straight from the clit! Andas if it were the most natural thing in the worldhe reached between my legs. In response, Margot shoves her hand into his face, palm out, like a traffic cop, and tells him no as firmly as she can. But it is also in this very moment that she sees his humanity. Looking mildly astonished, Quin sat back and said, I like the strength and clarity of your no. After this exchange, they order food, eat, talk, and later say goodbye so warmly that a young man walking past smiled.25

Its a remarkable moment. Quin recognizes Margots no, but Margot recognizes something in Quinhis desire, even his need to be restrainedand how, by denying his overt request, she formed a truer connection with him. Later, she remembers his expression when she stopped him from reaching up her skirt as somehow grounded and more genuine than his reaching hand had been. Their friendship is forged not despite but because of this brief moment of struggle, during which each reveals something to the other and recognizes something in turn.26

As the story goes on, we learn that Margot cannot unsee this humanity even as Quins accusers grow in number. She doesnt fault them for failing to see it themselves, and she understands why they felt hurt or exploited. Yet Margot remains his friend throughout, even as she grows even more dismayed by Quins lack of capacity for self-reflection, his defensiveness, and his self-justifications. At one point, he sits down to draft a statementI realize that the way Ive carried myself in the world has not always been agreeable to those around meand finds his mind wandering to a piece of performance art and the sympathetic note he received recently from the artist, whom he describes as a sexy girl. Quin, Margot recognizes, cant sustain the kind of self-inquiry that he needs in order to become responsible, and so he may continue to hurt people. But hes also clearly lonely and desiring of a human connection. Margot has felt both of these things, too, and finds she cannot turn away.27

For Gaitskill, the solutions to loneliness and the cruelty it so often prompts are honesty, vulnerability, and recognition; this is the underlying moral vision that courses through her fiction. Gaitskill may be a secular writer, but there is something almost religious in the way she depicts human frailty. Its commonindeed, inevitableand cannot be barred or banned or legislated away; it can only be viewed, unblinkingly. And sometimes, after enough thought and time, forgiven.28

Gaitskill, while deeply moral, is not a moralist. Whereas others might only judge, she attends, as artists are meant to do. By offering us a portrait of ourselves, lonely and uncertain and vulnerable, she finds that miracles occur: rapprochement and forgiveness, sudden kinds of intimacy and, if not love, then recognition. The world will remain a cruel one, but cruelty doesnt always win. Her fiction asks us to pause, to look more carefully so that we do not miss these forms of miraclesthose moments that, like us, are present in this world only briefly, glimpsed for an instant, and then gone.29

Continued here:
Mary Gaitskills Art of Loneliness - The Nation