How to ensure that responsible and responsive policy decisions are made by career administrators, and how to coordinate their work with the policies of politically elected or appointive officials, remain key preoccupations, especially in democratic states.
While such motivation may seem quaint, Ms. Antoni has gained success as an artist because her work corresponds to many contemporary preoccupations, especially women's interest in -- and anxieties about -- their bodies.
One suspects, as Mr. Benfey takes us through his sometimes convoluted argument, that he may be reading back into Degas's 19th-century tableaux some very 20th-century preoccupations, especially the notions of social borders, marginal identities, hidden racial and sexual meanings.
Though both are fables of a sort and share thematic preoccupations -- especially Ms. Parks's brooding sense of individual fate as determined by history -- their forms are entirely different.
This is not a reductive summary — each novel is a distinct treasure — but an effort to highlight a preoccupation: Gaiman is especially accomplished in navigating the cruel, uncertain dreamscape of childhood.
There is no question that teacher bashing, not just union bashing, has become a preoccupation for many, especially those with a vested financial interest in seeing to it that the education of our children is turned over to for-profit schools.
This overinvestment causes a preoccupation with results (especially failure!), expectations, and pressure that lead to doubt, worry, anxiety, and fear.
Looking young/younger is a full time preoccupation for many people, especially if you're female.
People in the rock music trade are not often accused of preoccupation with big thoughts, especially ones hefty enough to merit preservation between book covers.
