Body Language

When the NFL lockout finally ended last summer and practices began, DeSean Jackson stayed away. Stuck in a contract dispute with the Eagles, Jackson skipped the first 11 days of training camp, setting in motion a season that would quickly turn sour for the receiver and his team. This year, though, Jackson is already looking forward to the full-team practices that begin Tuesday, sounding reenergized by finally putting his contract saga behind him. "The [off] time's been long enough already," Jackson said Saturday.

After Team USA's Dustin Pedroia singled in the third inning of yesterday's exhibition, Phillies righthander Kyle Kendrick raised his arms skyward and shook his head. It was the third consecutive hit he had allowed, and his second emotional outburst. Pitching coach Rich Dubee, who watched Kendrick become unhinged many times last season, quickly trotted to the mound and scolded the pitcher. Dubee had noticed a similar gesture moments before: After Kendrick made a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, he raised his hands in the air. When Kendrick displayed his frustration again following Pedroia's hit, Dubee left the dugout to share his annoyance.

Defenseman Dimitri Yushkevich sits in solitude at his stall, methodically unwrapping the tape from his ankles while the boisterous dressing-room banter swirls around him. He'd probably be the last guy you'd think was among the most popular and respected Flyers. The 21-year-old Russian rookie would love to become a vocal part of the dressing-room scene, he'd love to reveal his thoughts on his first season as a key player in the Flyers' rebuilding phase. But that will require a few more of the English classes he's been taking.

Ray L. Birdwhistell, 76, who developed the scientific study of body language and thereby greatly enhanced the art of people-watching, died Wednesday at his home in Brigantine, N.J. Pioneering the concept of nonverbal communication in his 1952 book, Introduction to Kinetics, he taught observers not only to listen to what people say but also to watch what they do when they say it. "He touched many people's lives. He had a profound influence," said his wife, Anne D. Birdwhistell.

Communications specialist Marilyn S. Nyman stands close, watches intensely, and responds quickly and on target. She reads people almost instantly, having learned the value of nonverbal communication early - as a teenager when her father became deaf, she explains. Living with him in Penn Valley, she told a group of about 25 women at Willow Grove Business Women's Network lunch Thursday, was like being constantly videotaped. He wouldn't let anything slide. If she or her sister fiddled with their fingers, he'd ask, "What's the matter?"

Establishing trust and rapport through body language will be among the topics discussed on March 26 by Linda Sommer at a "Business Women's Dynamic Dinner," the third in a series of four dinners hosted by the Gloria Dei Women's Ministries. The dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Buck Hotel in Feasterville. The cost of the dinner is $22. Checks can be made payable to Gloria Dei Women's Ministries and sent to Gloria Dei Church, 570 Welsh Rd., Huntingdon Valley, Pa. 19006 before March 18. Sommer is the president of the Eastern Neurolinguistic Programming Institute in Newtown, Bucks County.

Don't you hate cellular communications show-offs? No matter how much your neighbors on the bus may be yakking on the cell phone, they don't compare to the cells inside us. Those cells communicate, too, employing a delicate, precise system of electrochemical signals to let one another know what's up. A similar system regulates the functions within each cell. The more scientists learn, the more cell signal transduction - the process by which signals trigger effects in cells - is turning out to be one of the most exciting fields in microbiology.

Body language and its effect on communication will be the topic of the next monthly dinner meeting of the New Directions Charter Chapter of the American Business Women's Association. The meeting is open to working women in Bucks and Montgomery Counties. It will be held at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 9 at the Warrington Motor Lodge, Route 611 and Street Road, Warrington. Registration begins at 6 p.m. For reservations, call Freddy Potter at 215-641-1471. ON THE CALENDAR A new group, the Philadelphia Association of Part-Time Professionals, will meet at 8 p.m. Feb. 15 at the William Jeanes Memorial Library, 4051 Joshua Rd., Lafayette Hill.

What is original and up-to-date in paintings by Anda Dubinskis and John Hoag at Franklin and Marshall College is the clear-cut body language of their human-figure subjects. Though their work otherwise is not alike, these two artists featured in the show "The Art of the Figure: Communicating Gesture" typify the new sensitivity of many contemporary realist painters. We turn to their work, with its strong ability to communicate gesture, because it reminds us that art is a personal matter as much as an objective phenomenon.

Crossed legs, upturned palms, downward gazes. To the uninitiated these are little more than insignificant gestures or postures. But to Andrew J. Gateriewictz, a shrug can be more than just a shrug. Speaking to home remodelers recently, Gateriewictz, president of the sales and marketing consulting organization Strategees & Associates in Drexel Hill, offered a new tool for selling an updated kitchen or a new deck: body language. Remodelers aren't necessarily known for their psychological acumen or their business sense, said Vince Green, vice president of the Bucks-Montgomery chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, which sponsored the seminar in Lansdale earlier this month.

When the NFL lockout finally ended last summer and practices began, DeSean Jackson stayed away. Stuck in a contract dispute with the Eagles, Jackson skipped the first 11 days of training camp, setting in motion a season that would quickly turn sour for the receiver and his team. This year, though, Jackson is already looking forward to the full-team practices that begin Tuesday, sounding reenergized by finally putting his contract saga behind him. "The [off] time's been long enough already," Jackson said Saturday.

MILWAUKEE - It appears as if the ball is in Evan Turner's court. At least it was for one night. The second-year swingman was thrust into the starting lineup last night by coach Doug Collins against the Milwaukee Bucks in favor of normal starting "two" guard Jodie Meeks. Rookie Nikola Vucevic also was inserted into the starting five, taking over at center for fellow rookie Lavoy Allen, who had started 11 consecutive games in place of injured Spencer Hawes. It appeared to be a good time for Collins to give Turner his first start of the season.

Minus Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, the Flyers were supposed to huff and puff to score goals this season, and they figured to win many low-scoring games with their defense and their new, elite goaltender. So, naturally, they were among the league's highest-scoring teams in their first 10 games, and their heralded defense was, in a word, awful. Entering the weekend, they were second in the 30-team NHL in goals scored per game (3.6), and 28th - 28th! - in goals allowed (3.5). It's been like watching Dexter, the intense show about a vigilante killer, turn into a comedy.

The excellent, fast-moving rendition of The Merchant of Venice by Quintessence Theatre Group at the Sedgwick in Mount Airy is all the more interesting for its choices. Quintessence artistic director Alexander Burns lets William Shakespeare's tale flow like the river of nastiness it is - a comedy because it follows the Elizabethan rule that it end with marriages, but a revenge play that many see nowadays as a repellent portrait of Jews and Christians alike. Burns paints that clearly, and the adept cast wastes little time in displaying a spitfire hatred of whomever their characters despise.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). Your dilemma seems serious to you. Make notes about what you are going through now so that you may avoid the same situation later. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You'll prepare for an upcoming presentation. It seems that every time you practice your pitch, it gets better. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You read the body language of those around you. When they want to talk, you're a listening ear. And when they want to be alone, you give them space. CANCER (June 22-July 22)

  One of the most satisfying things about going to the theater is being fooled. If you go, I'll bet that's one of the reasons. It has to do with real people right in front of you, creating a world and getting you to buy in. At the Wilma Theater, where Alan Ayckbourn's comedy My Wonderful Day starts off quietly and gets funnier and funnier as it plows forward for 90 minutes, I was completely bamboozled - and what a great feeling when...

An amazing story just became more so. Many, including me, already credit Jose Melendez-Perez with preventing a direct strike on the nation's capital on Sept. 11, 2001. Now a case can be made that he played a key, albeit indirect, role in the killing of Osama bin Laden. On Aug. 4, 2001, Melendez-Perez was working as an immigration inspector at Orlando International Airport. He was the secondary screener that day, the one people are sent to when "something is not right," Melendez-Perez told me in 2005.

An affectionate 2-year-old, Quadeer loves to be held and cuddled. His endearing smile and laugh draw people, even strangers, to him. He is delighted when his foster father playfully "roughhouses" with him and he loves to spend time in the pool. Quadeer has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. Although he is not verbal, this adorable child makes his needs and desires known with his eyes and through body language. He receives early-education services and occupational, speech, physical, and feeding therapies.

BOSTON - As far as Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli is concerned, the Hawks expect bad things to happen when they step on a court and, invariably, that's what happens. Martelli's thoughts were underscored last night when the Hawks blew a 12-point lead with 10 1/2 minutes left in the second half and absorbed an 85-79 loss to Boston University. "I think when good things happen you expect good things to happen," Martelli said after the Hawks (3-8) lost their sixth straight game. "When things don't go your way, you think, 'Oh, is that the start of it?

If you watched Taylor King play during the second half of Villanova's season, it was pretty clear something was wrong in his life. Beyond the missed shots and sluggish play, his body language was that of somebody unhappy with his circumstances. "He's been having a lot of personal issues," Villanova coach Jay Wright said yesterday. It was announced Monday that King would be leaving the basketball team with 2 years of eligibility remaining. "He's not going to be part of the team, but we are going to support him any way we can," Wright said.