On February 08, 2006 Macleans Magazine, Canada's version of Newsweek published a story of my photo read I did of the former prime minister sitting with the new prime minister of Canada for. A bit of the story writeen by SHANDA DEZIEL after her interveiw with me is below.
www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/
article.jsp?content=20060213_121419_121419
"Stephen is symbolically stepping on Paul," "You can almost see the movement, see it happening. And it's in combination with his hand position I would love to know what was said." "In that particular foot positioning,the toe would normally go down. But it's both up and facing slightly toward the former PM -- that is very telling. And that hand motion is a power motion. It's not done a lot, unless you're Italian or maybe Arabian or during public speaking, where you bring your hand flat down like that. It's done when you're admonishing somebody and when you're very emphatic about a point.""there isn't equality between the two of them. One feels much more in a position of power." Martin, looks as if "he's the one losing this negotiation or losing something in this interaction." She gives the former PM a toe-to-head reading. "He's doing a very unusual 'locked cross' with his feet. They're so twisted shut, which shows a very strong need to protect himself against attack. The way he has his legs positioned is also unusual. He's pressing them together, which is protection, and has them angled to create a wall between him and the new Prime Minister. The legs pressed together is very symbolic -- that's a man afraid of being kicked in the . . . . "
Wood says it's the lower part of a person's body that is most honest, because it's "under less conscious control." And while she feels Martin's doing a slightly better job of relaxing up top, there are a couple of other indications of "his need to protect and slight feelings of aggression." Like his right hand. A relaxed person's hand will fall much closer to the knee than Martin's does. "The elbow and the arm are about four to six inches further back on the leg than normal," says Wood. "His shoulder is raised up, showing tension and a need to retreat backwards." And there's the loose fist -- "it's more defensive than aggressive." The same can be said of his facial expression. "If you look at his mouth position," says Wood, "he has his bottom lip and his chin jutted out slightly -- again that's defensiveness, pouty defensiveness." From one picture, Wood comes up with the following personality assessment of Martin: "The posture and facial expression are so vulnerable, almost like a lack of maturity -- I wonder if he was very emotional when he was in power, if he had outbursts?"
She finds Harper doesn't give off as many "body language cues," and his face isn't revealing -- perhaps lending credence to the robot theory? But her overall impression is that he's "attractive and confident." He crosses his legs in a way that gives him more height, and his shoulders and face are relaxed. But she warns that the outside world may be put off by someone with so much power having such youthful features. And Wood, who gives workshops on how to improve body language, has some suggestions. "I would say that the new Prime Minister be a better listener and more empathetic. He also might be too consumed with image." Having also studied the photo of Harper shaking hands with his son after dropping him off at school, Wood concludes: "He should be a little more aware of being more real."
