Jake Withers: Ohio State Lacrosse Star and Faceoff Specialist

Who is Jake Withers. What were his achievements at Ohio State. How did he contribute to the Buckeyes’ lacrosse program. What records did he set during his college career.

Jake Withers: A Dominant Force in Ohio State Lacrosse

Jake Withers emerged as a cornerstone of the Ohio State Buckeyes men’s lacrosse program during his collegiate career from 2014 to 2017. His exceptional skills as a faceoff specialist and ability to control possession made him an invaluable asset to the team. Throughout his four years at Ohio State, Withers consistently demonstrated his prowess on the field, setting records and earning numerous accolades along the way.

Career Highlights and Achievements

• Two-time Big Ten Specialist of the Year (2016, 2017)
• Two-time First Team All-Big Ten selection
• 2017 USILA Second Team All-American
• 2017 USILA Scholar All-American
• 2014 ECAC All-Rookie Team
• Four-time Ohio State Scholar-Athlete
• Three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection
• Five-time Big Ten Specialist of the Week
• 2017 Tewaaraton Award Top 25 nominee

Record-Breaking Performance: Faceoffs and Groundballs

Withers’ impact on the Ohio State lacrosse program is undeniable, as evidenced by his record-breaking performances in crucial statistical categories. By the end of his senior year, he had solidified his place in Buckeyes history.

Career Records

• Program’s all-time leader with 351 groundballs
• 614 faceoff victories, ranking among the program’s best
• Twice achieved 20 faceoff wins in a single game during the 2017 season, the highest for a Buckeye since at least 2001

These impressive statistics underscore Withers’ consistency and dominance in his role as a faceoff specialist. His ability to win possessions and secure groundballs provided the Buckeyes with a significant advantage in many games throughout his career.

Senior Season Success: 2017 Campaign

Withers’ final year at Ohio State was arguably his most impressive, as he continued to excel and lead the team to success. His senior season was marked by numerous individual achievements and team accomplishments.

2017 Season Highlights

• Ranked fourth in the NCAA with a Big Ten-best .647 faceoff winning percentage
• Finished seventh in the NCAA and first in the Big Ten with 7.57 groundballs per game
• Collected a team-best 159 groundballs
• Achieved double-digit faceoff wins in 17 games
• Recorded nine double-digit groundball outings
• Led the Big Ten with a .745 faceoff winning percentage in league games
• Set career-bests with 5 goals, 6 assists, and 11 points

Withers’ dominant performance in his senior year played a crucial role in Ohio State’s success, including their run in the NCAA tournament.

NCAA Tournament Heroics

Jake Withers’ contributions were particularly impactful during Ohio State’s 2017 NCAA tournament run. His ability to control possessions and give the Buckeyes extra opportunities proved invaluable in high-stakes games.

Key NCAA Tournament Performances

• Quarterfinal win over Duke (May 20): Won 17 faceoffs and collected 11 groundballs
• Semifinal against Towson (May 27): Secured 15 faceoff wins and 10 groundballs

These performances demonstrate Withers’ ability to elevate his game when it mattered most, helping Ohio State advance deep into the tournament.

Consistent Excellence: Year-by-Year Breakdown

Throughout his four years at Ohio State, Jake Withers showed remarkable consistency and continuous improvement. Each season brought new achievements and contributions to the team’s success.

Freshman Year (2014)

• Played in all 14 games
• Finished second in the ECAC with a .509 faceoff winning percentage (111-of-218)
• Ranked second in the conference with 4.57 groundballs per game
• Led the Buckeyes with 64 groundballs, earning the team’s Groundball Award
• Named to the ECAC All-Rookie Team

Sophomore Year (2015)

• Appeared in 14 games
• Collected 18 groundballs
• Won 44-of-86 (.512) faceoffs
• Standout performance in NCAA quarterfinals vs. Denver: 14-of-29 faceoffs, 6 groundballs, and 1 goal

Junior Year (2016)

• Led the Big Ten in faceoff winning percentage (.607) and groundballs per game (7.27)
• Ranked in the Top 12 nationally in both categories
• Named Big Ten Specialist of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten
• Collected 110 groundballs, just the second Buckeye with over 100 in a season since at least 1988
• Achieved double-digit faceoff wins in 11 games

Senior Year (2017)

• Repeated as Big Ten Specialist of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten
• Named USILA Second Team All-American and USILA Scholar All-American
• Ranked fourth nationally in faceoff winning percentage (.647)
• Finished seventh in NCAA with 7.57 groundballs per game
• Set career highs in goals (5), assists (6), and points (11)

Academic Excellence and Leadership

Jake Withers’ success was not limited to the lacrosse field. He demonstrated a commitment to academic excellence and leadership throughout his time at Ohio State.

Academic Achievements

• Four-time Ohio State Scholar-Athlete
• Three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection
• USILA Scholar All-American in 2017

Leadership Role

As a senior, Withers was named team captain, showcasing his leadership abilities and the respect he earned from coaches and teammates alike. His combination of on-field performance and off-field dedication made him an exemplary student-athlete.

Impact on Ohio State Lacrosse Program

Jake Withers’ contributions to the Ohio State lacrosse program extend beyond his individual statistics and accolades. His consistent excellence helped elevate the team’s performance and reputation within the competitive landscape of college lacrosse.

Program Records

Withers’ name is prominently featured in the Ohio State record books, particularly in the categories of faceoffs and groundballs. His career total of 351 groundballs stands as the program record, while his 614 faceoff victories rank among the best in Buckeyes history.

Team Success

During Withers’ tenure, Ohio State experienced significant success, including deep runs in the NCAA tournament. His ability to win possessions and control the pace of the game was a key factor in the team’s achievements, particularly during his junior and senior seasons.

Legacy

Jake Withers’ impact on Ohio State lacrosse will be felt for years to come. His performance set a new standard for faceoff specialists and midfielders in the program, inspiring future generations of Buckeye lacrosse players to strive for excellence in all aspects of the game.

Analyzing Withers’ Playing Style and Strengths

Jake Withers’ success on the lacrosse field can be attributed to a combination of physical skills, mental toughness, and strategic understanding of the game. His playing style and strengths made him a formidable opponent and a valuable asset to the Ohio State team.

Faceoff Technique

Withers’ exceptional faceoff winning percentage throughout his career indicates a mastery of faceoff techniques. His ability to consistently win possessions for his team provided a significant advantage in controlling the pace and flow of games.

Groundball Prowess

With a career record in groundballs, Withers demonstrated not only the ability to win faceoffs but also the tenacity and skill to secure loose balls. This combination of faceoff wins and groundball recoveries made him a dominant force in possession battles.

Offensive Contributions

While primarily known for his faceoff and groundball skills, Withers also showed the ability to contribute offensively, particularly in his senior year when he set career highs in goals, assists, and points. This added dimension to his game made him an even more valuable player for the Buckeyes.

Mental Toughness

Withers’ consistent performance in high-pressure situations, such as conference tournaments and NCAA playoff games, speaks to his mental fortitude. The ability to maintain composure and execute at a high level in crucial moments is a hallmark of elite athletes.

Jake Withers’ Place in Big Ten Lacrosse History

Jake Withers’ impact extended beyond Ohio State, as he left an indelible mark on Big Ten lacrosse during his collegiate career. His dominance in faceoffs and groundballs set him apart as one of the conference’s premier specialists.

Conference Dominance

• Two-time Big Ten Specialist of the Year (2016, 2017)
• Two-time First Team All-Big Ten selection
• Led the Big Ten in faceoff winning percentage and groundballs per game in multiple seasons

Statistical Leadership

In his senior year, Withers led the Big Ten with a .745 faceoff winning percentage in league games, significantly outperforming his closest competitors. He also topped the conference in groundballs per game, showcasing his all-around impact on the field.

Raising the Bar

Withers’ performances helped elevate the level of play for faceoff specialists across the Big Ten. His success set a new standard for excellence in this crucial aspect of the game, challenging other players to improve their skills to compete at his level.

The Future for Jake Withers

As Jake Withers concluded his collegiate career at Ohio State, he left behind a legacy of excellence and achievement. His performances and accolades during his time with the Buckeyes positioned him well for potential opportunities in professional lacrosse and beyond.

Professional Prospects

With his exceptional skills as a faceoff specialist and his proven ability to perform at a high level in collegiate competition, Withers likely attracted attention from professional lacrosse teams. His combination of faceoff prowess, groundball ability, and offensive contributions make him a valuable prospect for the next level of play.

Coaching and Mentoring

Given his deep understanding of faceoff techniques and strategies, as well as his leadership experience as a team captain, Withers may have opportunities to pursue coaching or mentoring roles. His knowledge and skills could be invaluable in developing the next generation of lacrosse players, particularly faceoff specialists.

Continued Impact on Ohio State Lacrosse

Even after graduation, Jake Withers’ impact on the Ohio State lacrosse program continues. His records and achievements serve as benchmarks for future Buckeyes to aspire to, and his success story can be a powerful recruiting tool for the program.

Jake Withers’ career at Ohio State stands as a testament to the impact a specialized player can have on a lacrosse program. His dominance in faceoffs and groundballs, combined with his leadership and academic success, make him one of the most notable players in Buckeyes lacrosse history. As the sport continues to evolve, Withers’ performances will likely be remembered as a pivotal period in Ohio State’s lacrosse program, setting a standard of excellence for future generations of players to emulate.

Jake Withers – Men’s Lacrosse – Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State Career: Team captain as a senior … 2017 USILA Second Team All-American … two-time Big Ten Specialist of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten … USILA Scholar All-American … named to 2014 ECAC All-Rookie Team … four-time Ohio State Scholar-Athlete and three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection… five-time B1G Specialist of the Week, four-time ECAC Rookie of the Week and an ECAC Specialist of the Week … Tewaaraton Top 25 nominee in 2017 … ended career as program’s career leader with 351 groundballs and had 614 faceoff victories to rank among program’s best all-time. … 20 faceoff wins twice in 2017 was most for a Buckeye since at least 2001.

2017 (Senior Season): B1G Specialist of the Year, First Team All-Big Ten. USILA Second Team All-American and USILA Scholar All-American … fourth in NCAA with B1G-best .647 faceoff winning percentage … ranked seventh in NCAA and first in league with 7.57 groundballs per game, picking up a team-best 159 … double-digit faceoff wins in 17 games, with nine double-digit groundball outings … first in B1G with .745 faceoff winning percentage in league games only (82-of-110), second place was .608; first in league with 42 groundballs and 8.4 per game (2+ more per game than second place) … career-best five goals, six assists and 11 points … won 17 faceoffs and had 11 groundballs in NCAA quarterfinal win over Duke May 20 … 15 faceoff wins and 10 groundballs in NCAA semifinals vs. Towson May 27 … won career-high tying 20 faceoffs (in 31 draws), 11 groundballs and scored a goal vs. Hopkins in B1G Tourney semifinals May 4; won 13-of-23 draws and had 10 groundballs vs. Maryland in the tournament final May 6; named to All-Tournament Team … -NCAA Player of the Week and B1G Specialist of the Week after winning 18-of-25 faceoffs and picking up 10 groundballs vs. Maryland April 22 … – B1G co-Specialist of the Week after Michigan game; won career-high 20 faceoffs (on 23 attempts), with 11 groundballs and scored twice for first career multiple-goal game; won 500th career faceoff in contest … then-career-high 19 faceoff wins vs. Hopkins 4/9 (most by a Buckeye since at least 2001) and had 10 groundballs; scored first goal since May 2015 … B1G Specialist of the Week after winning 21-of-37 faceoffs and collecting 10 groundballs in wins over Towson and Denver combined … became OSU’s career leader in groundballs vs. Cleveland State March 11 … Ohio State Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Big Ten.

2016 (Junior Season): Led the Big Ten in faceoff winning percentage (.607) and groundballs per game (7.27), ranking in the Top 12 in the NCAA in both categories … named B1G Specialist of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten … received team’s Bice Unsung Hero Award … took all but one faceoff in B1G play for the Buckeyes, winning a league-best 63.2 percent (67-of-106) and had a conference-high 32 groundballs and 6.4 groundballs per game … 110 groundballs on the year, just the second Buckeye with more than 100 groundballs in a season since at least 1988 … double-digit faceoff wins in 11 games … won 18-of-28 faceoffs April 9 at Johns Hopkins, with eight groundballs; ties most faceoff wins for a Buckeye since at least 2001 … won 16-of-23 draws and had seven groundballs vs. Rutgers April 30 … 16 faceoff wins and 12 groundballs vs. Towson March 15 … named Big Ten Specialist of the Week after winning 14-of-19 draws and picking up nine groundballs at Furman Feb. 6 … earned league specialist of the wek accolades after 10 groundballs and 14 faceoff wins vs. UMBC Feb. 26 … won 13 faceoffs, with four groundballs, vs. Notre Dame March 26 … 13 faceoff wins and nine groundballs against Marquette March 4 … won 14-of-17 faceoffs and had seven groundballs vs. Detroit Feb. 13 … had 11 faceoff wins and four groundballs at Maryland April 14 … 12 faceoff victories and nine groundballs at UMass Feb. 20 … an Ohio State Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Big Ten choice.

2015 (Sophomore Season): Played in 14 games … picked up 18 groundballs … won 44-of-86 (.512) faceoffs … won 14-of-29 faceoffs and scored a goal, picking up six groundballs, vs. Denver in NCAA quarterfinals May 16 … won a faceoff at Duke May 9 in NCAA tournament … won 4-of-5 faceoffs and had two groundballs May 2 at Johns Hopkins in Big Ten tournament final … 8-1 on faceoffs vs. Dartmouth Feb. 21 … won 3-of-4 faceoffs against Maryland April 18 … an Ohio State Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Big Ten honoree.

2014 (Freshman Season): Played in all 14 games … second in the ECAC with a .509 faceoff winning percentage, winning 111-of-218 … 4.57 groundballs per game to rank second in the conference and led the Buckeyes with 64 to earn the team’s Groundball Award … named to ECAC All-Rookie Team … five-time ECAC player of the week (four rookie awards, one specialist) … ECAC Rookie of the Week April 21 after winning 10-of-17 faceoffs, with seven groundballs, vs. Air Force April 19 … league’s rookie of the week April 14 after career-high 16 faceoff wins (in 25 attempts), picking up six groundballs, vs. Michigan April 12 … tabbed ECAC Rookie of the Week March 31 with 11 groundballs and 16 faceoff wins vs. Notre Dame and Jacksonville combined (nine faceoff wins, eight groundballs vs. Notre Dame, seven victories, with three groundballs, vs. Jacksonville) … ECAC co-Rookie of the Week after winning 14-of-21 faceoffs and picking up 11 groundballs vs. Marquette Feb. 22 (most groundballs for a Buckeye since Eric O’Brien had 10 in 2007 … picked up ECAC Specialist of the Week acolades after picking up 10 groundballs, winning 15 (of 21) faceoffs and scoring first career goal, along with causing a turnover … 10-of-15 on faceoffs, with five groundballs, March 8 at Hofstra … nine faceoff wins, with four groundballs and a caused turnover, April 6 at Delaware … named an Ohio State Scholar-Athlete.

Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School: Three-time team MVP (2009, ’10, ’12) … 2010 Junior Athlete of the Year and 2012 Senior Athlete of the Year at Thomas A. Stewart … played for the Petersborough Jr. ‘A’ Lakers under coach Mat Giles … won national championships with Team Ontario in 2006, ’08 and ’12 … also a letterwinner in hockey and wrestling and a 2011 All-Ontario wrestler.

Personal: Son of John and Sherry … has a sister, Tori … enjoys fishing and pond hockey … economics major … greatest sports thrill was winning three national championships with Team Ontario.

Jake Withers | Halifax Thunderbirds

Completed his third season in the NLL and third with the franchise… In 2020 lead the team in loose balls with 147, second overall in the NLL… lead the NLL in Faceoff percentage with .781.. scored the first ever goal in Halifax Thunderbirds history…Went 242-310 from X during the 2020 season…  In 2019 he was third on the team’s all-time faceoff wins list (554)… Named the 2018-19 winner of the Knighthawks’ Wolf Pack Award, which recognizes heart and dedication to the team… Led the NLL in faceoff winning percentage (.749) and was second in wins (275)… Fourth in the league in loose balls (166)… Posted the first two-goal game of his career on 3/31/19… Named a road alternate captain on March 11, 2019… Won a franchise-record 29 faceoffs on 3/15/19… Named the 2017-18 NLL Rookie of the Year and an NLL All-Rookie Team selection… Set the team playoff records with 56 loose balls and 88 faceoff wins… Collected a team NLL Finals record 20 loose balls on 6/9/18 in Game Three… Won 15 faceoffs and chipped in two assists in his NLL playoff debut on 5/4/18… Knighthawks’ 2017-18 Rookie of the Year… His 279 faceoff wins were an NLL rookie faceoff record and a team single-season mark… In 2017-18, he led the NLL in faceoff wins and faceoff winning percentage (.670) to become the first rookie in league history to have the best faceoff percentage (minimum of 200 faceoffs won) since Geoff Snider in 2007… Second on the team with 148 loose balls… On 4/13, he set the NLL rookie faceoff record, and the team single-season faceoff wins mark… Won a career-high 25 faceoffs on 3/31/18 to set a team rookie record… Played his collegiate lacrosse at Ohio State University… Served as a team captain in 2017… Was named a 2017 Second Team All-American as a faceoff specialist… Four-time Ohio State Scholar-Athlete and a 2017 USILA Scholar All-American… Big Ten Specialist of the Year in back-to-back seasons (2016-17)… Became only the second Buckeye in program history to pick up 200 ground balls… In 2017, he ranked fourth in the NCAA and first in the Big Ten in faceoff winning percentage (.647) and was seventh nationally with 7.6 ground balls per game… He has won 275 of 425 faceoffs, including 17 games with double-digit victories, with a league-high 159 ground balls… The two-time First Team All-Big Ten selection had a .595 faceoff winning percentage (614-of-1032)… Collected 351 ground balls in 64 games… 2017 Big Ten Preseason Honoree… In 2016, he led the Big Ten in faceoff winning percentage (.607) and ground balls per game (7.27), ranking in the Top 12 in the NCAA in both categories… Received team’s Bice Unsung Hero Award… Named to 2014 ECAC All-Rookie Team… Played five seasons with the Junior “A” Peterborough Lakers, posting 29 goals and 78 points in 90 games… Also, played parts of three seasons with the Senior “A” Lakers and won the 2017 Mann Cup… Won a silver medal with Team Canada at the 2018 FIL World Lacrosse Championship.

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The Years that Morphed Jake Withers into a Potential Leader for the Waterdogs

Withers doesn’t remember the coaching visit that changed the trajectory of his career. It was sometime during his sophomore season and for some reason, he never met Greg Gurenlian in person that day. 

Gurenlian, a former PLL All-Star and Team USA member, started The Faceoff Academy in 2012 and brought his expertise to Ohio State. His program emphasizes a shift in stance and optimizing body mechanics to limit unnecessary movements during faceoffs. Gurenlian asked the Ohio State staff that day who would commit themselves to his system. The coaches assured that Withers would. He had to. 

Withers and Gurenlian formed an online relationship for Withers’ final two years at Ohio State. After watching Withers film, Gurenlian saw parts of himself during the early part of his career. A self-taught faceoff man, Gurenlian relied on his athleticism to bail him out of poor mechanics. Withers was no different. 

“I’m looking at this guy and I’m like wow he’s getting away with backward mechanics just because he’s so insanely athletic and blue-collar.” Gurenlian said.

Following his sophomore season, everything changed for Withers on the field. He switched his hands from a normal lacrosse grip to a motorcycle grip, which puts both hands on top of the stick with their knuckles facing the opponent. He adjusted his backfoot so his toes locked in at a sprinter position. With the foot movement, his weight distribution shifted toward the play, something he previously hadn’t done. 

He perfected his counter moves too. One, known as a reverse shovel, became the bane of opposing coaches. A quick swipe lacrosse his opponents stick jarred the ball loose and turned what appeared like a faceoff loss into a Withers’ groundball. Coaches pleaded to refs that Withers was holding their faceoff guys, though he wasn’t. He’s just an agitator who knows what it’s like to be under someone’s skin. 

After a summer of learning heading into his junior season, things suddenly stopped for Withers once more. His best friend, Jake Stanley died on September 12, 2015. For a moment it appeared all his work could’ve been for nothing.

“That was something that kicks you right in the pants, takes everything right out of you, right?” Withers said. “Especially when it’s somebody that, (when) I’m down at school, I haven’t thought of in a while, and a guy that I used to see almost every day in my life. It’s something where I could’ve picked it up. I went home. I could’ve stayed there and you know kind of sank myself away, kind of back into where I was at the start of my sophomore year.” 

Stanley had been one of Withers’ biggest supporters, he constantly asked about the status of the season and when he’d be coming down for a national championship game. So instead of allowing his friend’s passing to derail him, Withers slapped his buddy on his arm with some ink and went back to chasing the national championship they’d always discussed. 

Withers’ adjustments from Gurenlian created an entirely new player.  In his junior season,  Withers won Big Ten Specialist of the Year, with a league-best 60.7% faceoff winning percentage and averaged more than seven ground balls per game. But Ohio State didn’t make the postseason. 

Early on in his senior season, it appeared the Buckeyes were headed for a similar fate. Myers was at odds with his goalie Tom Carey, whose failure to listen and commit himself fully to the program’s plan had led two games on the bench. Withers went into a meeting with the two and explained to Carey that he too used to be that guy who always thought he was right. Once he swallowed his pride and trusted Myers’ system, his play elevated.

“Jake’s like a lot of athletes; he wanted to understand the why,” Myers said. “Once he understood kind of why we were doing things the way we were, he had no issue.” 

After the talk, Carey went on to an All-American season, as did Withers who finished the season as a second-team All-American, winning 64.7 percent of his faceoffs. Ohio State lost in the Big Ten Championship to Johns Hopkins. Even in the program’s best year, they didn’t close out their league title. For a rising program, it could’ve been demoralizing. Withers addressed the team in the locker room. 

“I want you guys to listen up, we’re going to be dry the rest of his month,” he said. “We’re going to make the NCAA tournament this weekend and we’re going to play all the way through for a national championship.”

He was right. Ohio State lost in the National Championship. It took three opposing faceoff men to stifle Withers that day. 

So, he didn’t come full circle on his talks with Stanley. Instead, he learned what being tough really meant. He saw he isn’t much different than the tattoo on his arm. He too is a fighter. 

“(Stanley) just kind of taught me that no matter what’s going on in your head, what’s going on in life, big or small, you always just kind of pushing forward, keep trucking along,” Withers said.

#shotclockon with Jake Withers. Age? 23
Hometown? Peterborough… | by Lacrosse Center

Age? 23
Hometown? Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
HS Attended? Thomas A Stewart SS
College Attended? THE Ohio State University
Academic Major? Economics
Current Team? Rochester Knighthawks/ Peterborough Lakers/ Atlanta Blaze
What year did you start playing lacrosse? 2000

Withers (#18) winning a face-off against The University of Maryland

Q: How did you get into lacrosse?

A: My dad.

Q: What has been your favorite lacrosse memory so far?

A: Winning the 2017 Mann cup.

Q: What are the top 2 schools you considered playing at?

A: Wasn’t very highly recruited. OSU was the only real consideration.

Q: What made you choose The Ohio State University?

A: The people. The tradition. The excellence.

Q: What is your weapon of choice (fav stick setup)?

A: FO Stick — STX Duel with lightweight STX mesh.
Regular stick — StringKing Mark 2V with lightweight STX mesh and a StringKing Metal2 shaft

Q: What is some advice you would give to a kid aspiring to play lacrosse in college?

A: Go to class. Handle the academic side, play hard whenever you’re on the field and you’ll be noticed. Don’t overthink the process just do what you know you have to do.

Q: Do you have any pregame rituals?

A: Naps.

Q: A six-year-old child asks you if Santa Claus is real…. What do you say?

A: Of course he’s real.

Q: You’re on death row, what would your last meal be?

A: Caniac combo, no slaw extra toast. Extra canes sauce. Coca Cola.

Q: Would your mom be upset with you if we played your ‘Recently Played’ list on Spotify to her?

A: iTunes music guy but nope.

Q: Everyone has a good app idea. What’s yours?

A: Pass.

Q: What do you want to be doing with your life in 30 years?

A: Sitting on a beach on the coast of some European country with a beer and a bag of chips beside me.

Check out Jake’s pregame face-off warmup routine below!

Thunderbirds’ Jake Withers dominating the X

When it comes to face-offs, Halifax Thunderbirds’ third-year defender Jake Withers is the best in the National Lacrosse League.

But to his teammates, he’s more than just a specialist.

“Everyone looks at his face-offs but if you really look at him as a whole, he’s a great defender, he goes hard to loose balls and he has a heart of a lion,” said Thunderbirds forward Austin Shanks. “It’s his work ethic outside of face-offs that has made him such a great, world-class player.

“What makes Jake Withers is his energy, his heart, how he battles and his ruggedness. You can’t teach that. It’s something we don’t take for granted on our team.”

Watch a Thunderbirds game and you’ll likely witness Withers, low to the floor, dominating nearly every draw. In Halifax’s last home game – a 16-15 overtime loss to the Saskatchewan Rush last Saturday – he was an un-Withers-like 22-for-35 at the X.

He still won more face-offs than lost. In their previous game, he was 22-for-24.

Through eight games, Withers – who surpassed 700 career face-off wins in Saturday’s game – leads the NLL in face-off percentage (.764) and is second in wins (159), 14 back of leader Trevor Baptiste of Philadelphia, who has played two more games.

“It’s something I pride myself on,” said the 26-year-old Peterborough, Ont., native who’s also third in the league in loose balls (97), trailing Baptiste (108) and Colorado’s Robert Hope (101 in 11 games).

Jake Withers celebrates the first goal in Halifax Thunderbirds team history just 10 seconds into a game Dec. 7, 2019 at the Scotiabank Centre. – Ryan Taplin

“If I can get the offensive possession as many times as I can through the face-off, that gives us an advantage. But I think I can bring a lot more to the table on the D end and pushing transition. As much as I do my best on the face-off X, I think I pride myself in being a good lacrosse player and chip in wherever I can all over the floor.”

He’s been chipping in ever since he entered into the league as the second overall pick of the Rochester Knighthawks in the 2017 NLL Entry Draft.

Withers went on to capture the league’s rookie of the year award in 2018 and established himself as the game’s premier face-off specialists on the league’s biggest stage.

In his post-season debut, he won 15 face-offs and chipped in two assists in a 15-11 win over New England in the ’18 East Division semifinal. The Knighthawks advanced to the NLL Finals versus the Rush. In Game 3 of the best-of-three championship, Withers collected a finals record 20 loose balls and won 23 of 29 draws. He finished the post-season with team playoff records for loose balls (56) and faceoff wins (88).

He perfected his craft during his four collegiate years playing field lacrosse at Ohio State.

A teammate of Shanks and Thunderbirds forward Eric Fannell with the Buckeyes, Withers was just the second player in program history to pick up 200 ground balls.

“The field game is a lot different than box,” said Withers, a four-time Ohio State scholar-athlete. “In field lacrosse, there are face-off specialists. A lot of guys take the face-off, try to get their team possession and then run off the field.

“When I got to Ohio State, I went in as a two-way midfielder. But we needed guys to take the face-off. I took on the role and I caught onto it quickly. It gave me some playing time on the field. I worked at it and got better and better each year. Now it’s a big part of my game and it helps teams win.”

In his senior year at Ohio State, he served as team captain, ranked fourth in the NCAA and first in the Big Ten conference in faceoff winning percentage (.647), earned his second consecutive Big Ten specialist of the year honour and was named a second team All-American.

His final college game was the 2017 NCAA Division 1 national championship which the Buckeyes lost to Maryland 9-6 before nearly 30,000 fans at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Even in football-mad Columbus, there were fans that gravitated to lacrosse.

“Football and basketball obviously dominated,” Withers said, “but hockey, wrestling and lacrosse had some popularity. It’s a niche sport but we had a really good fan base.

“As I say to everyone else, it was the best four years of life. I miss it every day; I wish I could go back. I learned a lot there and it’s where I grew into a man.”

Colorado Mammoth’s Jordan Gilles, left, and teammate Tim Edwards knock sticks with Halifax Thunderbirds’ Jake Withers for the airborne ball early in the first half of play at the Scotiabank Centre on Jan. 11, 2020. – Eric Wynne

While he’s a professional player on the weekend, Withers is studying to become a firefighter. During Thunderbirds’ bye weeks, he’s a youth coach for The Faceoff Academy and has done clinics across North America. Two weeks ago, he travelled to Portland, Ore., and San Francisco.

After a 6-0 start, the Thunderbirds have dropped two in a row, including the setback to Saskatchewan which saw Halifax battle back from a nine-goal, third-quarter deficit to force overtime.

“After we scored the 15th goal (Shanks’ tying marker with 25 seconds left in regulation time) and I was waiting to take the face-off, the ovation we received was one of the most thrilling moments I have ever experienced in all of my years playing any sport,” Withers said of the rousing ovation from the 8,833 fans at Scotiabank Centre.

“This fan base is not fair weather at all. They’ll show up thick and thin and they seem to have faith in us. That’s something that goes a long way for us.”

Slow starts have plagued the Thunderbirds this season and Halifax trailed Saskatchewan 7-3 at halftime. Withers said they need to get out of the gate quicker in their next game, this Friday night at home versus the North Division-rival Toronto Rock.

“What kind of hurt us all year are our slow starts,” Withers said. “Our second halves obviously have been better than our first halves. Against a team like Saskatchewan, it was a valiant effort in catching them but it wasn’t enough.

“We had a stretch where we didn’t have the first goal of the game since the opener. We have to stop coming out of the gates sluggish.”

The Thunderbirds and Rock are tied atop the division at 6-2. Toronto handed Halifax its first loss of the season, a 12-9 decision on Jan. 31.

“Toronto always plays us hard,” Withers said. “We have to come prepared and hopefully get off to a stronger start. If so, the rest should take care of itself and we’ll pick up win No. 7.”

jake withers | Fr Player For Ohio State | 2014

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#18 Jake Withers

Ohio State (6-8)

Grade: Fr

Position: M

Season: 2014

2014 Season Totals

Jake Withers Archives – Lacrosse Playground

On this episode of the Pro Lacrosse Talk Podcast, Hutton Jackson is joined by Cannons LC attackman, Georgia Swarm forward and 2020 NLL MVP Shayne Jackson. He discusses playing college lacrosse at Onondaga Community College and Limestone, winning the 2017 NLL championship with the Georgia Swarm and joining the PLL this summer as a member of the Cannons Lacrosse Club. He also discusses his MVP season, playing with his Swarm teammate Lyle Thompson on the Cannons and excitement to see other Georgia teammates for the first time since the NLL season was shutdown, and signing with Epoch Lacrosse this past offseason.

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90,000 Paul Dano divorced Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan

When a celebrity announces that he is going to make a movie that he has long dreamed of, the press often reacts with skepticism. Everyone remembers how John Travolta’s coveted film “Battlefield: Earth” came out, how “Isle of Thugs” ditched films about pirates and the careers of director Rennie Harlin and actress Gina Davis, or how Will Smith dreamed of filming with his son and almost buried M.Night Shyamalan’s fiction “After our era.” In general, the story is not new.

But Paul Dano does not face such a fate. His Wild Life is a quiet yet highly poignant film about how the Brinson family’s relationships deteriorate amid the raging fires in Montana in the 1950s. As fire eats trees, circumstances drastically change the family idyll of a pretty couple. Janette (Carey Mulligan) and Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) got married 14 years ago, they have a son Joe, they move frequently and are relatively recent in a small town in Montana.Janette became a housewife and Jerry works in a golf club. Quiet and shy Joe (Ed Oxenbuld), unlike his peers, does not like football, communicates with only one girl at school, but it seems that he does not really need friends. Joe has enough parents, with them he has a very warm relationship. But one day Jerry loses his job, Joe will watch how the father and mother move away from each other, and will understand that adults are not omnipotent and do not always know what to do.

Wildlife

Dano, like the hero of the film, is a very observant storyteller.He likes to hold the camera on close-ups of the artists, but sometimes he moves away from them, and when dull landscapes come into the frame, it becomes clear how depressing life in a small and boring town can be. For the second year in a row in Toronto, the hit “Sundance” (“Wild Life” debuted at this festival in January), in which Mulligan finds himself in a godforsaken place, is shown on the first day for the second year in a row. Last year, her character also moved from town to the wilderness in the drama Farm Mudbound. However, unlike that film, the actress is nominated for an Oscar for “Wild Life”.In Dano, Mulligan plays a woman who is completely entangled in what is happening and is trying to find a way out of this situation in her own way. “It gets colder every time we move,” she tells her husband, flashing a smile from the former beauty queen. Gradually, the bright Janette mixes with the dullness of the environment, and we must pay tribute to the film’s dresser Amanda Ford, who emphasized the fading optimism of the heroine with outfits that flash in the frame with bright blue or yellow, then lose their colors, becoming pale pink or brown.

The film is based on the novel of the same name by the American writer Richard Ford. In an interview with KinoPoisk, Paul Dano told how he asked the writer to give him the rights to film the book. Read about it closer to the Russian premiere of the film, which will take place on 18 October.

“Double Lives”

Speaking of the French director Olivier Assayas, it is often indicated that he is a former film critic. In “Double Lives” the director himself does not hide this at all, and the funniest joke is connected with “White Ribbon” by Michael Haneke and “Star Wars”.This film was supposed to be called “Electronic Book”, and when Assayas started with the project, the plot was vaguely communicated: “Several sketches from the life of employees of one book publishing house.” Now that the tape has been shown in Venice and Toronto, it seems like a very clear description.

Indeed, everything in the film revolves around the books. The main characters are a publisher and a writer with their wives, who are connected a little closer than necessary. Leonard Spiegel (Vincent Maken) is a scruffy bearded man with a bald head who once wrote several bestsellers.A distinctive feature of his books is that, if desired, all the characters can be recognized in the environment of the author. “I write auto-fiction,” insists Leonard, considering his characters to be fictional. Spiegel’s next novel is called The Stop, but his regular publisher – the elegantly graying Alain Danielson (Guillaume Canet) – is not eager to print it. Alain informs Leonard about this head-on after a somewhat awkward dinner. The writer is upset, but cannot find solace in his wife, the determined Valerie (Nora Hamzavi), who seems to have escaped from the social dramas of Stefan Breeze.Valerie has already suspected her husband of treason for some time (Leonard writes about this in his books), but does not know that he has been sleeping with Alain’s wife, actress Selena (Juliette Binoche) for six years.

“Double Lives”

In Deconstructing Harry, Woody Allen played the writer Harry Block, who took inspiration from his life. People, recognizing themselves, were offended and tried to settle scores. Assayas’ heroes are much calmer. Even after learning about the betrayal of a partner, they do not throw a scandal, perceiving what is happening philosophically.About 99% of the film is occupied with dialogues – biting remarks about the modern reader, social networks, bloggers and, of course, books and publishing. “Twitter is when people exchange witticisms in four lines. Very French. ” “My novel sold poorly, but we didn’t destroy many trees.”

The director was not going to shoot a comedy, but in the process of editing he noticed that the film was developing ironic, and did not restrain himself. It’s hard not to laugh at the film, but as the most famous reading cliche says, it will definitely make you think.

Withering of the “collective West” – Strategic Culture Fund

Biden’s 100 days of presidency were greeted by the democratic media in the United States with restrained optimism about the president’s level of support and his relatively high confidence ratings. According to various estimates, 52 or 54 percent of all respondents continued to trust Biden.

In principle, American presidents in the first year of their rule had more, but other presidents did not live in such a split country, did not experience a two-year “pandemic”, did not come to power in the wake of racial riots.Moreover, Biden’s recent rival and now his main opponent Donald Trump in the same first hundred days had a trust rating even lower – 42 percent, which did not prevent him from withstanding impeachment and being two steps away from a second term.

From the very beginning, the Trump administration was shaken by hardware scandals, the president was forced to fire his first national security adviser in the very first days, and the liberal press never stopped harassing him.

Anti-Trump Protests.Photo: REUTERS / Brandon Bell

In this sense, Biden is still relatively calm. No one left the ranks of his administration, no one made a harsh statement, no one became the object of legal proceedings. It is possible to mention, perhaps, only one, but indicative scandal that has happened recently. London-based broadcaster Iran International released an audio recording with the voice of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, in which he, referring to information received from Biden’s environmental adviser, former Secretary of State John Kerry, said that Israel was secretly undertaking more 200 “secret” actions against Iran’s positions in Syria.Of course, the right-wing press immediately launched an attack against Kerry as an enemy of Israel and the chief architect of Trump’s ruined Iranian deal. Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan, one of the oil industry lobbyists, has demanded the resignation of the environmental adviser … Nevertheless, the potential of this scandal is clearly insignificant in order to shake Kerry’s position within the Biden team, and even more so the rating of the latter.

The blows from the Republicans, of course, will follow, closer to the midterm elections, in which the Democratic Party will certainly have a hard time.And the main problem for the donkey party will be the relative weakness of political philosophy with which it came to the White House. This political philosophy will have to change. But for what?

And what, strictly speaking, is this weakness?

Biden and all members of his foreign policy team at the beginning of the year said many words that they intend to breathe new energy into the “transatlantic relationship” destroyed by Trump; moreover, they want to strengthen the alliance of Western states, held together by common democratic values.Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the international situation today is determined by the rivalry between “techno-democracies and techno-autocracies.” He was echoed by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who argued that there was no more important task for the United States than maintaining a “transatlantic alliance” against China. Even before Biden’s victory in November 2020, liberal experts, recognizing even Trump’s merit in his anti-China course, reproached the 45th president for unjustifiably weakening the US allied relations with Europe, necessary to “contain China.”

Secretary of State Blinken strengthens transatlantic ties. Photo: REUTERS / POOL New

Many people are writing today that the United States should choose the good old “containment” policy towards China. The only problem is that this is the very policy that the main European powers do not accept. In particular, France and Germany. The European Union, which is run by the two powers, entered into a comprehensive trade and investment agreement with Beijing in December 2020, opening the door to China’s $ 120 billion in investment in the continent’s economy.Euro. The agreement will enter into force only in 2022, it will still have to be ratified by the European Parliament, overcoming the resistance of the Greens, but in any case, now the conversation about “transatlantic unity” and the “collective West” looks dreamy, unjustified.

In 2017, the brilliant American political analyst Michael Lindh came out with a landmark article “Block Politics”, in which he predicted the division of the world into three or four spheres of influence. They talked about the American bloc, the Chinese bloc and possible Russian and Indian blocs.Unlike Huntington with his “Clash of Civilizations”, Lind did not link the boundaries of the blocks with the areas of traditional confessions, rightly pointing out that the identity of a given block can be determined not so much by the historical roots of its peoples as by the image of the future. It is difficult to call today’s Euro-Atlantic Protestant-Catholic, and in general Christian, which does not mean that it does not have a certain identity (more on that below). However, even today’s China can be called Confucian civilization with great doubt.

Street in China. Photo: REUTERS Carlos / Garcia Rawlins

Lind assumed that only by dividing into blocs, the great powers would be able to agree on the boundaries of their geopolitical expansion without creating explosive situations like the Ukrainian one. At the same time, the blocs will have to suppress separatism on the part of national states that do not want to give their powers to the supranational level, sacrifice their interests in the name of some supranational goals.Quite frankly, after reading “Blokopolitika” in 2017, I became an ardent supporter of it, seeing in Lind’s theory a model for resolving conflicts between Russia and the Euro-Atlantic. It seems like you have a block, we have a block, let’s live peacefully, but separately.

Perhaps Biden proceeded from something similar, but, as we know from the work of the military strategist Liddell-Harth (1895-1970), the path to a goal does not have to be accompanied by a public announcement of this goal. Simply put, if Biden wanted to form a bloc against China, he needed to speak in a very different way.He needed not to seek friendship with Europe, a little currying favor with her, but to act like Trump: blackmail Europe, frighten Europe, threaten Europe. To lash her with a whip, promising sweet gingerbread in the future. In the meantime, all of Biden’s speeches are surprisingly similar to Gorbachev’s rhetoric about socialist choice and a renewed Union, that is, to the rhetoric of deliberate weakness.

Biden returned to the Paris climate agreement and made environmental issues the core of his diplomacy.Here, of course, he had to go beyond the framework of the West proper and invite representatives of those powers with whom he was going to enter the bloc war, that is, China and Russia, to participate in the summit. He tried to support Zelenskiy in his attempts to return by force at least part of the territory of the rebellious Donbass. Russia, by deploying military exercises along its western borders, made it clear that any act of violence by Ukraine would lead to a tough response on its part. Biden backed down and offered the Russian president a meeting for two.The desire to come to an agreement with China in Anchorage turned into a diplomatic fiasco.

Vladimir Putin took part in the climate summit organized by Biden. Photo: kremlin.ru

On the whole, the “collective West” looks even weaker today than it did during the days of Trump, who allegedly destroyed it. Talk about some kind of “summit of democracies”, with which Biden began his presidency, sounds strange today – the promotion of democracy as a goal in America seems to have been forgotten.

The “Collective West” is in a clear crisis. As they say, something went wrong. The Euro-Atlantic is not going to come together, and we are not talking about some national populists who are hindering it from living, which have almost been forgotten, but about the solid globalists Macron and Merkel, who do not want to play the Cold War with the Chinese and refuse Chinese money. in the name of “transatlantic friendship”.

Let us now try to imagine what the steps of Biden and the entire segment of the Anglo-American ruling class for which “containment” of China is a matter of life and death, and they will not be able to retreat.

There are two options. They are, to a certain extent, opposite, but also complementary. The first option implies the need to negotiate with other countries, including non-Western and undemocratic by Western standards. The United States once defeated the USSR by entering into an alliance with China. Today, the US is increasingly talking about partnership with its recent adversary Vietnam against China. By the way, the Americans will have to tear away from China and Iran, this major supplier of oil and gas to the Celestial Empire. And, of course, Russia is the holder of Arctic assets and the only land power capable, in American terms, of “holding back” Beijing in northern Eurasia.Able, but not having the slightest motive to do it. To seduce Russia into joining the Containment China project, the Americans need to either change the government in Russia, which is impossible, or enter into partnerships with it, giving a damn about Ukraine, Navalny and so on. Trump has already tried to move in that direction; everyone knows how it ended for him.

New identities overseas are gaining strength. Photo: REUTERS / Tom Brenner

The second way is quite different.The West may try to unite again. But this requires a different ideology, which will make it possible to re-consolidate the transatlantic unity, to emphasize the cultural difference of the Euro-Atlantic from other civilizations, to raise it above the traditionalist periphery, as it were. Here, of course, ecology comes to the fore. Therefore, it is already possible to predict a new rise of green parties throughout Europe as the political clientele of democratic America. To this I would add the whole complex of ideas and attitudes, which is called “new ethics”.We are talking about a very harsh removal of socially significant figures from the public field for certain statements or actions that do not fit into a certain moral or ideological canon. In principle, this “new ethic” has always operated within academic institutions, in the leading colleges and universities of the West. She was previously called political correctness. Then these norms of political correctness from internal corporate became national, in order to become general civilizational at the limit.Many aspects are intertwined here, but we will highlight the aspect of civilizational identity. The new ethics is not identity in itself, it is the generation of ideological rigidity necessary for the future.

Biden’s America will have to go several ways at once. You will have to enter into pragmatic alliances with ideologically “dubious” countries and at the same time strengthen the value unity of your bloc. This is how America behaved during the Cold War with the USSR; it will probably behave in the same way in a situation of conflict with China.The collision of these lines will create tension, relatively speaking, between the new realists and the new ethical fundamentalists, but a consensus may also emerge.

The latter will take time, which is likely to be filled with global initiatives. Today the rhetoric of “transatlantic unity” seems exhausted and, frankly, non-functional. Republicans will likely lobby for the old Anglosphere idea, hinting at a special partnership between the US, UK, Canada and Australia, but Biden would have to be a bit of Trump to accept that view.It’s hard to say how much he can do it. Today we are dealing with a “big pause”. With some civilizational stalemate, a way out of which, perhaps, a new generation will seek.

Cover photo: REUTERS / POOL New

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Satellite – @ diaries: asocial network

Alexandra comes from a respected family of angels.Parents are eager to join the political elite, so they had a child because of their status as well. Those who gave life are highly revered in all angelic circles. At first, the parents were still engaged in puella (note: a girl) . They gave love, took care. But at a certain moment they decided that she had grown up enough and they could not stand on ceremony with her.

She hired teachers of etiquette, magic and writing. Sandra thought that her parents stopped loving her and decided that it was necessary to return that parental tenderness.She tried very hard to study diligently, attended services with her parents. However, in the collective of peers, the puella was a cut off slice. Although she tried to study, a lot was hard for her, she had to work for a long time to achieve the perfect result, and the teachers and parents did not have enough patience. Sandra learned to endure reproaches and was obedient so as not to annoy her elders.

Upon reaching a certain age, Sandra found her specialization in energy, began to study this topic in depth herself.At that time, she was already allowed to attend readings (note: free attendance school / university) , freely walk through magical territories and go to libraries.

Her behavior became more secretive and constrained. The friends did not understand her attraction to the unknown. The parents decided to have another child.
And the only angel that suddenly became sympathetic to her – did not pay any attention to her.

The guy’s name was Mikhail. He was older and came from the oldest family.But that was not why he did not pay attention to the girl. Among other things, the angel was very versatile and read a lot. Therefore, in addition to her appearance, I was looking for an inquisitive and broad-minded girl (note: looking into his mouth) . Sandra sincerely tried to win his favor.

After puer appeared in the family (note: boy) , the parents paid all their attention to him. Sandra was in pain and she closed herself even more deeply in herself and began to disappear in the library for almost days.It was difficult not to notice such agility, and Mikhail began to communicate with a pretty, but very modest girl.

The relationship with my brother did not work out. They did not like each other and did not even try to fight this hostility. Having found a common language with Mikhail Sandra became a little more open. On the square, where angels gather in between readings, one could see her in the company of ‘friends’. And sometimes you hear subtle jokes, jokes and laughter.

As soon as Sandra relaxed a little and began to enjoy existence – Jake appeared.He was not the most popular pu-erh, but his charm was almost legendary. Jake was an officer in one of the squads, serving alongside Mikhail. After observing Sandra, he decided that if he simply spoke to her, he would not be able to get into the soul and displace “this snob” in her heart. Therefore, he went the other way – he began to pin up and joke about her every time they crossed (and he tried very hard to make this happen as often as possible) .

At first, Sandra was perplexed.Then she began to avoid annoying pu-erh. Realizing that such a tactic did not work, she began to respond with hairpins to his every joke. After a series of mutual picks, both realized that they were interested. However, it took Jake some effort to invite Sandra out on a date, the girl turned out to be insanely obstinate.

After spending a considerable amount of time together, Sandra realized that interest in the unleavened Michael had disappeared, as if he had never existed. In place of this fire, a fire broke out by the name of Jake. It was impossible to pull further.The age of marriage was close, and their long period of dating could be condemned, nevertheless, Sandra had a family. So she invited Jake to meet them.

As soon as he introduced himself, he was “politely asked” to leave and never appear in the life of a respectable person from a noble family. (Jonathan Blake was not born, but became an angel after death. Such creatures were despised by the “high world.” Therefore, Sandra’s parents were categorically opposed.)
It hit them hard.Jake was angry and tried to figure out how to get Sandra back. Sandra tried desperately to explain to her parents that Jake was the best for her. However, they were adamant.

For the best result, they decided to send their daughter to “clean up”. They believed that this angel without family and tribe defiled and tied the essence of their daughter to himself, since she could not forget him. Sandra disappeared without a trace for a period of time.

Jake couldn’t see her even out of the corner of his eye. He became more worried. After talking with his fellow warriors, he learned that Sandra had been seen at the “lake of purity.”Jake was shattered. There were many stories about this lake. They said that it took away memory and “softened” the character.
When he saw Sandra soon, he hardly knew.

It was a faceless shadow with empty eyes.

Jake had to cut back on training for a while and visit the library more often. Together with Mikhail, he slowly began to restore the girl with whom he had once fallen in love. Slowly, piece by piece. And he did it. After a long time, Sandra regained her memories.And she left home, married to Jake. Parents gritted their teeth, but they could not do anything, not every union can be blessed like Sandra and Jake. (They could not get married at the sacred altar without the blessing of their parents. And so they went to the sacred mountain. / Honestly – rarely did anyone survive after turning to the creator on the mountain, so ngels did not do that. Cowardly creatures /) Brother Stu I envied her very much. The one that walked around the house as a shadow and carried out his orders again became a strong, wayward girl.

Replenishment of memories was not enough. Jake saw her fade. And he offered an interesting option – to go to the detachment. To do this, Sandra again took up books on magic and also began to learn the art of fighting with Jake, Mikhail and their friends in her free time.
The exam was passed and Stu joined the ranks of the warriors. There were not so many girls in the detachment, However, they were all first-class warriors. The Steworth family, invited to the dedication, was not delighted with the fate of the eldest. The younger brother, who had already failed several selections and was no longer allowed to see them, began to hate his sister.He was jealous. But he was too cowardly and stupid to compete with the detachment.
Sandra was happy.
Only friends were present at the engagement (informal) . The family was not informed.
A long life awaited Sandra in Space. But. Despite the generally accepted concepts and rules, Sandra, like many of the detachment, saw how their world was rotting. Like angels, whose thoughts should be open and pure, they closed their consciousness and hung on themselves illusory spells. How their desires pushed them to meanness, and insidiousness and bloodlust forced them to conflict with demons.Many of the detachment were not silent. The warriors could not hide the truth from everyone. The top of the power needed to be shaken up, a variety of ideas wandered among the warriors. Many whispered about the revolution, but they understood that this was not what was needed, that other measures were needed, that war should not be allowed.
Preventing war was the only thought that united all cosmic beings at that moment.

In memory of the wolf. Writer Tom Wolfe died in the USA – Snob

Tom Wolfe has shown that serious prose has two paths: either turn into fantasy, or turn into honest documentary investigation.He convinced us that the line between journalism and literature is subtle, and was the first to make reporting a fact of real literature.

Tom Wolfe succeeded in the impossible: in the presence in American prose of another Thomas Wolfe, the great prose writer, whose redundant prose does not fit into any framework and withers away from the editorial touch, he approved his own literary name and if he did not overshadow his predecessor, then at least became with them on a par.It is another matter that in relation to Tom Wolfe, most often they recall white jackets, the term “new journalism” and the titles of his first, far from the best books – for example, “The Electrocooling Acid Test” – but these are the costs of any fame.

Meanwhile, “new journalism” is a somewhat more serious phenomenon than is commonly thought: it is not a literary fashion, not an advertising label, not even a sign of the era, but one of the most serious milestones on the path of literary evolution in general. Wolfe was fortunate enough to come up with a term and write several books like that, firmly associating the expansion of non-fiction with his own name and making some powerful, often-cited claims – like the novel is going downhill.

But the tendency behind all this tinsel is serious and has not yet been properly understood by anyone; the situation is somewhat darker, or at least more radical, than is commonly believed. In the early sixties, major American prose writers either fell silent, like Salinger, or experienced a deep crisis, like Heller, or committed suicide like Hemingway, or died like Faulkner, or went into frank fiction like Updike. The smartest and most tenacious, like Capote, just went into a new journalism, which began in the States with the novel In Cool Blood, although the term was invented by others.Capote was generally not good at coming up with terms – he wrote, while others interpreted and imitated.

Tom Wolfe poses during a photo shoot at his home, New York, 1988
Photo: Ulf Andersen / Getty Images

The problem was that realistic prose is essentially a compromise phenomenon – not only has ceased to exist (this is its extinction we are witnessing now), but it has revealed its compromise. It became clear that describing fictional characters in real circumstances is not so interesting and, most importantly, not entirely fair.An insurmountable error arises that prevents us from considering reality as it is. Literature can no longer get away with palliatives and must become either the final and irrevocable fairy tale, which it was originally, or documentary evidence, almost a reportage. Then she will both entertain and expose.

This crisis also had one more underlying cause that appeared in the late 1980s. XIX century, when, in fact, the new journalism first declared itself; His homeland is in fact Russia, she did almost everything first, but she does not care about herself that either does not notice this primacy, or she is more proud of her troubles than her achievements.The founder of the new journalism was Korolenko, the author of the “Multansky case”, “Sorochinsky case”, “House No. 13”, “Everyday phenomenon”, “Beilis case” and other outstanding documentary investigations. Korolenko, in the opinion of his contemporaries (it is sometimes true), was both verbose and tearful as a fiction writer, but as soon as he took up documentary prose – where did this cold brilliance, crushing irony, flair for details come from! Korolenko seemed to be embarrassed to invent, but when life itself had already invented everything, he had no equal.

New journalism is not just the use of journalism techniques in a literary text, not just a documentary basis, but a consequence of the writer’s collision with an unusual situation in which psychologism is powerless. You cannot put yourself in the shoes of the peasants, who, after the murder of Konon Matyunin, accused the Multan Votyaks of everything and, driven by bestial xenophobia, began to drive them out of their homes. And you cannot put yourself in the place of the pogromists: psychology is powerless here, human nature is deeper, more terrible and more brute than it seemed to the humanists of the Enlightenment.(The Enlightenment and its ideology were especially deeply rooted in Russia, perhaps because the need for enlightenment was one of the most urgent here.) Korolenko was the first to encounter fascism, and in understanding the psychology of fascism, we have not advanced further, despite all our efforts Arendt and Fromm, Freud and Frankl; in general “there is much in the world, friend Horatio …”

Cover of Tom Wolfe’s New Journalism
Photo: Wikipedia Commons

New journalism is literature that has abandoned the claim to understand and depict certain movements of the soul; in essence, realism is not needed at all if there is no psychology in it, that is, an attempt to understand.At the end of the 19th century, it became clear: there are things that are impossible to understand, or they require psychiatric rather than writer’s experience. There are things that can only be described. For example, the Chisinau pogrom. Korolenko understood this – and abandoned attempts to fictionally describe what was happening, although, it would seem, what kind of material! This is how the prototypes of the future novels of Capote and Wolfe appeared in Russia, where all the signs of the genre are already present, and the main one is humility. There are things that can only be described in the cold language of facts.That is why the main masterpieces of new journalism are descriptions of crimes (“Ten Days That Shook the World” by John Reed is no exception).

This is the aforementioned novel by Capote about the murder of the Clutters, and “The Executioner’s Song” by Norman Mailer, and The Tarnished Eye by Judith Guest (about the incomprehensible and senseless murder of the Robison family). Tom Wolfe just said aloud that serious prose has two ways: either to turn into fantasy (and the expansion of fantasy happened simultaneously with the proclamation of the era of non-fiction), or to turn to an honest documentary investigation.And he gave remarkable examples of this investigation: the description of the Californian counterculture and drug addiction of Ken Kesey, for example, in the famous “Test”, or the huge social novel about the life of the metropolis “Bonfire of Ambition”, with its strictly documentary basis and far-reaching generalizations.

Just Wolfe is not the brightest representative of the genre (Mailer is much better, and Styron’s prison essays, recently combined into a section of his nonfiction posthumous book My Generation, are more written and influenced more American human rights).Wolfe’s case clearly proves that the best results are achieved by a writer who has gone into journalism, and not a journalist who is striving to become a writer. It is known that Wolfe dreamed of writing all his life, and took up journalism only because, as it seemed to him, the shortest path to the profession, and from the very entrance at which there was the least competition. This is true: Dreiser believed so too – and it was precisely as a reporter that he entered big prose.

Tom Wolfe, New York, late 1965
Photo: Jack Robinson / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Everybody wants to be a prose writer, but almost no one wants to be a journalist; at the same time, professionalism is not necessary for a writer (or, at least, it is difficult to formulate what it is), and for a journalist it replaces everything, sometimes even talent.And nevertheless, the writing talent is a completely different matter, which was confirmed by Wolfe’s prose, which was not particularly successful: he really was not given a psychological portrayal of the characters, they were flat like a newspaper sheet, and just enough convincing to forget about them the next day. It is one thing when a writer deliberately refrains from psychologism, because he is inappropriate in a specific story, and quite another when he simply does not know how to do this. “Test” is a wonderful description of Kesey himself and his commune, but how this man could write his novels, Wolfe does not explain, and does not undertake.And even “Bonfires of Ambition” with their wonderful portrait of a modern city, where everyone lives not his own life, because from a certain moment he is not able to control it, only very good sociology, but not the kind of literature that shakes hearts. Wolfe was – and remained until the end of his 88-year-old life – the king of reporting, and a good report could well be literature, which was again proved by our Gilyarovsky and Doroshevich. But real literature needs a writer’s structure of the soul, and Wolfe had it as a reporter, which is why he was so sensitive to the main tendencies of the moment; no one noticed what he saw, and although he was not always able to comprehend, he could always notice.And this is also a high art.

Wolfe was the first to achieve mass confidence that the line between journalism and literature is subtle, and perhaps even illusory; he was the first to make the report a fact of real literature, although not only writing skills, but also PR strategies played a role here. The main thing is that he was the first to record that the path of literature now inevitably bifurcates: either it will go into a festive and irresponsible fiction, or it will learn from journalism a rigorous and impartial study of life as it is.It is to him that we owe the biographical boom and the flow of journalistic books about oligarchy, perestroika, or the great unsolved secrets. It was he who proved that the ability to interview is sometimes more important than the ability to paint a landscape or penetrate the secrets of someone else’s psychology. It was he who reminded writers of the importance of professional skills – and raised to new heights the laborers of literature, journalists, interviewers, investigators collecting material for the upcoming masterpiece.

The upcoming masterpieces will not be canceled anyway, but journalists are pleased.After all, they wrote all the most readable things in the last two centuries.

90,000 British artist has posted on the web the evolution of his work from 2 to 24 years old Editorial articles

British artist Jake Lockett has released drawings made by him between the ages of 2 and 24 for everyone to follow the evolution of his work.This is reported by Mashable.

Most artists prefer to hide their early work so that fans do not see the raw material that became the basis for their mature work. However, the British illustrator, designer and animator Jake Lockett did exactly the opposite – he published almost everything that he has preserved.

His elder sister instilled love for drawing in Lockett. He did not give up his business throughout his life, so the process of his creative development can be traced in as much detail as possible.

The artist also did not attend any special classes and courses, but “stewed in his own juice”, inspired by what he sees around him. For example, after watching Jurassic Park, he became seriously interested in dinosaurs, and from 13 to 15 years old, all his attention was absorbed by science fiction.

From 16 to 21 years of age, Lockett’s drawings became gloomy, and by 22, bright colors returned again. In addition, the images show how the young man gradually learns new techniques, gains a sense of perspective and supplies his work with more and more details.

Locket refers to his early work in accordance with the chicken-and-egg paradox. He doesn’t know if he’s good at what he’s doing because he painted all this, or if he painted it all because he’s good, but he believes that each of the versions is “partly true.”

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90,000 Festival de Cannes – 2013: An ode to candelabra

Here the Cannes audience watched Matt Damon and Michael Douglas kiss, sit in the same bathtub and lie in the same bed.And oh what baths they are, oh what beds! The competition featured Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra (oh, what candelabra!), The story of the relationship between the famous pop pianist Liberace and his young lover Scott Thorson (who wrote the memoir that was used to make the film).

Probably only the Russian press will say that these are bold roles for two Hollywood superstars. After Brokeback Mountain (Jake Gyllenhaal + Heath Ledger), Harvey Milka (Sean Penn + James Franco) and I Love You Phillip Morris (Jim Carrey + Ewan McGregor), homosexual love stories performed by traditional actors are not look heroic.But they are very effective and reveal in the courageous stars that side of the actor’s nature, which requires such a glamor and brilliance for everyone to close their eyes.

This is not to say that Michael Douglas’s play is straightforward “hello, I’m your aunt!” In the Las Vegas show of Liberace, everything sparkled and sparkled, it was his corporate style (it was he who first of all aroused suspicions of homosexuality among secular columnists, which the artist rejected to the last).The same superfluous, vulgar luxury in the film fills Liberace’s entire life.

Eighteen-year-old Scott Thorson got into his dressing room in 1976, when the pianist was already 57. Their life together lasted five years. Thorson was officially considered Liberace’s chauffeur and drove his Rolls-Royce around the stage. The artist promised to adopt a lover and even persuaded him to undergo plastic surgery, which made Thorson look like a young Liberace. As a result, according to Thorson, a cocktail of anesthetics prescribed by a plastic surgeon led him to addiction, and the pianist, tireless in pleasures, found himself a new boy.It all ended with Scott Thorson trying to sue his former lover for $ 113 million, the case was hushed up for $ 95,000, two cars and two dogs (the plaintiff loved animals and dreamed of becoming a veterinarian). A few years later, Liberace died of AIDS.

Soderberg does not try to find out who is right and who is wrong. He paints a portrait of a boy in a golden cage. And Matt Damon plays this role excellently (for which, it is possible, he will receive a Cannes prize). His reincarnation is not as theatrical and grotesque as that of Douglas, but the character of Damon’s hero is more mobile, he is going through this story.No less important for the film is the entourage, the flashy interiors that make you forget that outside the 70s, a completely different style, different music, a different era. In this sense, “Behind the Candelabra” is a picture of a time travel in which Liberace sends a lover, making him look like himself in his youth and placing him in a glittering prison of his own past.

By the middle of the festival, it always becomes clear what stylistic and thematic plots are being built by the compilers of the Cannes program. Soderbergh’s film rhymes tangentially with both the Coens’ comedy Inside Lewin Davis (where the hero is a musician) and Jimmy P.”Arnaud Desplechena (male duet of Benicio del Toro and Mathieu Amalrica), and with the” Great Beauty “(La grande bellezza) shown the day before by Paolo Sorrentino, grotesque fresco, without false modesty and unnecessary coquetry referring to Federico Fellini.

Actor Tony Servillo plays a rich and famous 65-year-old writer, fed up with the sweet life, whose only masterpiece came out forty years ago. Now, as a media star, he interviews for glossy magazines, but mostly throws parties for the artistic beau monde.And philosophically observes the vanity of being, a comic fading against the background of Roman splendor, which does not give life meaning, but after many years of training the gaze allows at least partly to come to terms with its own transformation into ruin.

Part 3 – Chapter 3 – Married by Passion – Nicole Jordan

He bypassed the players: although he had already cooled down, he could hardly have supported the company. Instead, he sat down at a table at the opposite end of the room and gestured to a woman in a bright red low-cut silk dress standing behind the bar.She hurried to the table.

Della Perkins was one of the easy-going individuals known throughout Greenbrier. Able to survive in almost any conditions, she looked pretty, but fierce with the hardships of life – like a flower caught in the frost and already starting to fade. Della was black-haired like Kat, but that was where the similarities ended.

She gave Jake a warm, feminine smile, revealing a hole from a tooth knocked out with a heavy fist from one of the tipsy saloon patrons.

– What can I get you, cowboy? Della asked in a husky, coaxing tone that softened the last of Jake’s anger.

He answered her with a lazy grin.

– A bottle of your best drink www.formulablud.ru. I’m waiting for my brother.

– I know. Sloane dropped by a few minutes ago and gave us the good news. Congratulations, Jake. I always knew you were innocent.

Rage burned his soul again, but it was not Della’s words that caused it, but thoughts of Kathleen. Some whore believed him more than the woman he wanted to marry.

Della returned to the table with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

– Help yourself, dear.

With a calculated movement, she bent down so that the bodice of the dress dropped slightly, showing Jake’s lush breasts and protruding nipples. Jake perked up. Della’s attention was a balm for his offended dignity, and her half-naked charms reawakened the throbbing pain in her loins left by her unexpected meeting with Kathleen.

Della casually ran her fingertips over Jake’s arm.

– Would you like to visit me? My room is upstairs here.

Jake looked at her thoughtfully. Despite the fact that Della is a poor replacement for Kat, with her he will find the necessary oblivion.

Della leaned over to kiss Jake and he automatically parted his lips. She smelled of sweat and cheap perfume, just what it takes to drive Kathleen’s scent away.

– Come on, honey, – Della whispered, – let’s remember the old days. Reaching out, she put her hand to the bottom of his belly, stroking the hard bulge.- You have always been a cut above the local slobber. You know how to please a girlfriend.

– Why not?

Grabbing the bottle of whiskey by the neck, he stood up. Della immediately put her arms around his waist, almost hanging from him, and led him to the wooden stairs.