Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
It’s that time of the week… Friday Evening! …. the Best Night of the Week or the Worst Night of the Week. You know? I believe that I don’t have to spell it out for you. I’m of the opinion (tonight) that you’ve read enough to understand the Wakefield Doctrine so you won’t need to have me explain what a clark or a scott or a roger is, ’cause you can picture ’em in your head. All I have to do is make a statement about how the three personality types might view this ‘evening of evenings’ and you can come to your own conclusions regarding the Question: Friday Night is it the best of nights or the worst of nights (of the week)?
clarks: relief and hope1
scotts: excitement and calculation2
rogers: anticipation and satisfaction3
So on with the Weekend Grativities!
1) Grateful for literary license! Otherwise I would’ve felt the need to re-write this Post, seeing how I started it last night and if one were literal in (one’s) interpretation of the rules, guidelines and directions of the TToT, I would have had to have started with the much less intriguing phrase: ‘It’s that time of the week…Saturday Morning!’ Clearly that does not have the, the… vigueur dramatic that ‘Friday Night’ does. Besides, I’ve already written the definitive treatment of Saturdays and how we all see them in a Post a couple of years ago.
2) speaking of nice things to say, I am grateful to zoe (or Zoe) for her little comment last night, that I only saw this morning. (see? see??!! there it is again! the message that the past, while enjoyable for a number of reasons (reflection on error, nostalgic remembrances of younger days), is not the same thing as the present, the here and now. Just thought I would mention that.
3) …while it does appear, Christine, that I am going into ‘write this Post as a weird-assed list’ mode, I am recalling a brief conversation with Lizzi that I had just last night about this very topic, how to write the kind of list Post that all of the hostinae write so well each and every week. Yeah, I get that there is no requirement or preferred form of TT0T Post of the Week and my Y Chrome-natural ‘drive to compete’, notwithstanding, I do have a genuine desire to learn to ‘sound’ as… normal, gracious, everyday, insightful, secretly-sexy, funny, infuriating in my writing as I see/read in everyone else’s each week. So Lizzi and I talked about this ‘thing’. (Mostly I typed furiously, trying to anticipate objections and neutralize them before she could get to mentioning something that I had not thought of… lol) We did end up talking about finding, within my own writing, things with a certain…emotional content, that perhaps, using (this part of my self) as a springboard/ foundation* I would find this… ‘voice’ that I am looking for in my writing.
4) ok, by the clarklike standards of revealing personal feelings, I will now award myself 4 free Items. (Anyone got a problem with that?… you say something Daynne? I’m pretty sure I heard you say something… what’s that you whispering back there Richard??! you want to share that with the group?? Come on up here… tell the Readers what it is that you thought was so interesting that you couldn’t’ wait to tell Kristi until after I finished typing my heart and soul out up here.)
5)… 6)… 7)…8)
9) please give Mr….Rumple your undivided attention everyone:
10) Lou Reed died this week… I felt…not so much ‘sad’… as diminished… and it’s not that I was a total fan of his music (though I am including ‘the’ song of his here today), but his music was such an integral part of me during a totally significant time in my life… the late 60’s and 70’s. I’m not, of course, talking about the cultural landscape of the decade, but the things I went through as a person growing up and trying to learn to be a real person. as clarks out there will recognize, there is a time in all of our lives that we really….really want to be a real person. (To a clark, this ‘drive/desire/ambition’ suggests two possible paths: a) to act as much like the people we love and hate, admire and value as friends, hoping that, by looking and sounding like them, we can feel the way that we believe they feel, have the normal passions and excitements that we observe, unable to resist the thought that familiarity breeds acceptance or 2) to stop being such a weird-assed outsider, to maybe just maybe, give it a rest and stop trying to figure things out and perhaps then the ever-present fear will, somehow go away… it’s not like we’re afraid of anything, but every time we step into the light, talk to someone, ask another person for help, reach out to touch a person…the fear is there. So, it’s only reasonable that if we stop being ourselves, then there would be no need to feel fear). You know, like that.
You knew I couldn’t resist, didn’t you? lol
1) free of the demand of the week, be it work or school and therefore able to convince themselves that, without the restriction imposed by said School System or Job, things are going to be better…there will be an opportunity to make it worthwhile
2) not that they ever, actually, like slow down, but Friday is a clear demarcation between the trotting-behind-and-to-the-left-of-the-herd-of-wildebeests and an outright sprint as one unfortunate African ungulate trips and stumbles and ends up being left behind by the erstwhile safety of numbers that is the Herd
3) the quiet satisfaction of the orderliness of the workweek has a gradual end on Friday evening, but it is a joyful transition from being told what to do to creating the schedule that will tell you what to do… pay bills, shop, buy groceries, do laundry, go out with friends…everything in time, all at the right time
* ok… honor system contest here: if you had a visual of a falling concrete house foundation…with or without imagery from: the Wizard of Oz, Twister, or the Planet of the Apes I will totally send you a nearly-free Wakefield Doctrine docTee**
** only have ‘clark’ shirts left ….in medium but still!! cool, non?
About clarkscottroger
Lou Reed passed away! That’s sad. I’m not a total fan either, but he was influential! Thanks for sharing.
Michelle
funny about (some) artists, they have an influence on the people who become an influence, so that we may not assign them the credit and yet they play an integral part in the development of a musical style. If I had better musicology chops today, I might attempt to explain my statement further, but better leave it that…
Didn’t know Lou Reed passed away either. But must admit from the first line you had me nostalgic for summer just a bit. We change the clocks tonight though, which other further proves the point that it is indeed not summer and not even close by a long shot! But still it is the weekend and a time to take it down a notch and relax. I hope you get to do that just a bit and wishing you a great weekend ahead now, Clark!! :)
Janine
aiyee the daylight savings time ‘take back’ damn you agrarian culture-based rogers!
these ‘notches’ they are easy to locate on one’s person? lol
Now where the hell did my comment go? Where, I tell you? I had been talking about Rich – a loner? I’d never considered it, but dang, now that you mention it…HAHAHA
Cyndi…think of the ability to make comfortable conversation… I’m thinking roger
“it’s only reasonable that if we stop being ourselves, then there would be no need to feel fear)” Easy for you to say. LOL
I look forward to “hopping” today. It’s been a long time….got to get re-aquainted. Hm..wonder how it will feel. I’m not the same person I was 11 days ago.(the least of which is my ability to spell!)
I will venture out into the rogerian filled day and embrace the day that comes after Friday. See if I can feel it differently.
Now I have to write that list…
Ah, but you did well :) and we’re all pleased to have you back amongst us this weekend :D
Thanks for the thanks…your welcome. I must confess I lack the understanding to figure out the four free items…maybe Im just too confused myself this week.
You gotta love Lou Reed. I know what you mean by “diminished.” Also he characterized your other statement as a…”weird-assed outsider, to maybe just maybe, give it a rest and stop trying to figure things out…” I just remember reading an interview with him in his later years before the liver transplant and him saying pretty much exactly this. The whole bisexual thing and family rejection etc… He just decided at a certain point to go with himself instead…gotta respect that. Ok enough of the schmaltzy ( see it is a rogerian twist I’m harboring.)
And under-30 me asks: who is Lou Reed.. This may not be because I’m under 30, maybe the upbringing in a household of utter horrible taste in music (my mom’s) and a pretty awesome LP collection that never got to be played (my dad’s) did its part in that. Friday night rules, because it means two days off!! (with a potential to sleep in)
Stephanie
I could cite the era and name the bands and the socio-cultural context, but I might sound like I am reaching outside my area of expertise… 2 people come to mind, I will link them here… they is way learned of the music of that time (not that I wasn’t there and such, but to do justice to such a significant influence on the music of the times (then) and now I would prefer to mention Friend(s) of the Doctrine Jen Kehl and Linda Roy they know the music of that era as I do, but they have better ‘splainin skills! lol
now, about Friday nights! lol that we can easily deal with.
Doot da-doot da-doot doot doot doot
5, 6, 7, AND 8?
Dyanne
“…hey sugar, take a walk on the wild side.”
Um, you took more than 4 freebies, there Clark…
I don’t know how, but I have heard that song before. Enough to know the refrain. I really like the beat/music/whatever, I’m no musician, part My eyes about bulged when I listened to the lyrics of the entire song.
When I got to the linky part I thought, “But Clark, you forgot the notes!” Silly me. You would never forget the notes.
Christine
well, it was the 60’s 70’s (before your time and all)… thank you! you just solved an embarrassing problem… I (now) know what zoe was referring to ‘four free items’, don’t tell anyone, but I re-read my own Post to see where I might have mentioned something in terms of 4s missing the obvious (me? a clark miss the obvious? say it ain’t so!).
yeah, Walk on the Wild Side, I suspect is one of those songs that has such a strong ‘hook’, that people can enjoy it for years without necessarily hearing the lyrics… (Rick James’ ‘Super Freak’ is another song like that).
Just ask Clark, no need for embarrassment…Some days its hard enough being a clark without the added insecurities… LOL =)
I think most bloggers understand literary license; I know I have written posts before the scheduled post date. Remembering to say “yesterday” when I’m writing about something that happened “today” isn’t always easy!
And yet, it’s not so much the case that you’re being someone else, rather accessing a lesser-used part (which may well feel ‘Other’) and using it in ways you perhaps haven’t before. To write in an unfamiliar aspect is weird, but also pleasing, and I think your #3 was a bold, wonderful effort. I totally support your #4 (and 5,6,7,8…(which makes me want to line-dance (I wonder if anyone outside England will get that?)))
“it’s only reasonable that if we stop being ourselves, then there would be no need to feel fear”
On the one hand yes. On the other hand no, because if you stop being yourself, whoever you ‘be’ instead will have their own fears. Different ones, but still real and valid. All you would be doing is NotFeeling THIS fear. And in true Doctrine style (as I found last night, when I arrived at the party, and there was a red carpet in the entrance, and a hall full of women in their most glamorous gladrags, watching me arrive, and thought “Fine, I’m going to make an ENTRANCE, because it will be the ‘done thing’, and everyone else has done it, and if I come in like a mouse, I’m going to remain a mouse”. So I went in like a tiger, and everyone was suitably impressed. I exuded confidence and self-assuredness and got given lots of lovely compliments. I small-talked, I joined in, I sought people out to chat to. And before it all went wrong at the end, I was TOTALLY RightThere. With a tiny clark-like bit of my brain reeling in incredulity, running round in circles shouting “EUREKA!”
I took notes. While I still could ;)
Lizzi
sounds like a very good night… and we always enjoy hearing from one of our own doing things that, while we know is potential within, it is of a quality-removed to ‘witness’ it. This witnessing is about knowing the person is ‘like us’, some refer to it as ‘identification’, whatever your preferred term, it is power.
Yes. Exactly like that. And haha for sneaking in the missing four at the end there! Also, whose gonna tell me what? Also, I like the you that is you exactly as you are even though you feel like you’re an outsider other person. :D
Kristi
precisely! lol, you do have a way of cutting out my complications and such… and there is this v cool benefit of witnessing the acts of power of other clarks
The Power of Other Clarks is incredible and amazing and we WILL RULE THE WORLD (or watch as Scott does, knowing that we’d do a much better job). ;)
Kristi
when I was ‘younger’ I had a saying (well, more of a variation of an existing expression) my version being: “I can’t, you can, I think I’ll try to get you to…” lol
I love a rule breaker! Bender might be more accurate.
Joy
is sho is more fun, ain’t it?
Hmmm – I like the idea of taking a few freebies on this hop. I may “borrow” that idea…as it might result in me not skipping for so many weeks again….
And yes – very sad about Lou Reed.