1.   After nearly a half hour of deliberations, the verdict was in, and Carol Gresser, the former president of the Board of Education, ascended the stage.

2.   He makes the gesture, she waits, samples public opinion, then ascends the stage to say no.

3.   Mills ascends the stage, like a graduating senior.

4.   She looked uncomfortable posing, but all that vanished when she ascended the stage.

5.   The packed arena swells with triumphant music as he ascends the stage and waves his arms in a victorious semaphore.

6.   Yet even with all of that, De La Hoya learned how quickly it can change when half a year passes and you do not ascend the stage.