She plies a well-stocked battery of thespian tricks, but she also makes it clear that these are Winnie's tricks, that what commands our attention is Winnie doing her best to command her attention, to help keep shadows at bay.
By the end, you are caught in her spell, understanding the intensity of the moment when each new attendee of the MoMA show takes the step to sit down opposite her and command her attention.
Mrs. Ireys traveled to England and France and worked in 17 states, but it was her native Brooklyn, with its famous botanic garden, that commanded her attention and affection over a lifetime.
Several years ago, though, the former singer and widow of the late composer Henry Mancini received a letter that commanded her attention.
Gaitskill "commands her readers' attention as few fiction writers can," Kathryn Harrison said in the Book Review, and the reasons are on display here in her third collection of stories.
Because her subject is intimacy, often but not necessarily sexual, because she has a gift for inventing details that feel authentic, as if excised from an unwitting, living victim, Mary Gaitskill commands her readers' attention as few fiction writers can.
She clearly channeled her energy into matters that commanded her immediate attention; shortly after my arrival at the department, it was announced that she would assume the Deanship; that uber-clean office would become a loaner to a series of visiting faculty members who lived their lives by stringing temporary gig after temporary gig together, like beads on a motley bracelet.
When we see a teacher effortlessly commanding her class's attention, our instinct is to put it down to some quality of their personality – great teachers, it is said, just have something.
But still, the fact that Sarah Palin, of all people, is able to command such attention for her views on the science of climate change, of all things, is kind of amazing.
If someone like THAT doesn't command attention from her guy 100% of the time, then I don't feel so bad when I don't.
Her standing will enable her to command attention even though she might lack a clear Senate platform.
