Passing through this crucible, Magner gained confidence and learned not to undermine her own chances, as, she contends, many women do.
It isn't, as she contends, an attempt to cloak the artist in the health official's white coat and consign art, as Aristotle once did, to a therapeutic role.
Mrs. Bachmann's exit, which comes as she contends with numerous federal and local investigations into possible violations of campaign finance law, certainly lengthened Mr. Graves's odds at winning the seat.
Like its predecessors, the musical version follows the exploits of the madcap title character as she contends with the addition of her newly orphaned 10-year-old nephew, Patrick (at Goodspeed, the apple-cheeked Eli Baker) to her jazz-and-Champagne household on Beekman Place.
Previewing her speech, Clinton aides said she would assert on Monday that there was a moral imperative to ensure that "every single American has quality affordable health coverage," just as she contends there is an economic imperative to rein in costs.
"It is so amazing in America because you say, 'I want this' and they say, 'Come and get it.' " Now, she wonders, "How much time do you have to spend creating or not creating an image?" Ms. Nafisi, 54, is learning the pitfalls and conundrums of playing the fame game in her adopted country as she contends with her corporate handlers, her book club fans and jealous former countrymen.
Taylor, like Ms. Lohan, was in and out of the Betty Ford Center as she contended with drug and alcohol addiction.
Given Harrell's power as speaker, she contends, looking into the allegations would pose a conflict of interest for the House panel.
The psychic crisis she has observed in adolescent girls (and, more recently, in preschool boys) is, she contends, as old as Western civilization itself.
As do other relocators, she contends that her firm will connect clients to the most experienced, most specialized brokers.
But it has to be understood, she contends, as of a piece with other moments of fevered religious nationalism, from the anti-Catholic riots of the antebellum era to modern anti-Islam bigots.
