We have a treat today, an Interview with (Friend of the Doctrine), Mel Thompson, creator of the Spatula in the Wilderness! (…cough…cough…) who has taken time out of his busy schedule to talk with us…(…I have a question!!… ) As everyone knows, the Spatula was the first blog to put the Doctrine on it’s blogroll and certainly has helped our efforts to bring the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers to the world. (…ahem…they can see me…even if you don’t… ).
After having consulted with the Progenitors and DownSprings, what we have today is (…imaginary?…define imaginary! hey this guy has a whole staff with…no, I do not intend to sit down and listen…well alright…since you ask.. )…what harm can it do?…alright Miss Sullivan, here are the questions….yes, you can leave the parentheses at your desk and come up here…(…what?, ok I’ll stay in brackets…please…now if you will, the Readers are waiting….)
CSR: Hello Mr. Mel. Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers). We appreciate your ‘coming by’ and talking to us about blogs and such things.
Mel: Thanks so much for ‘having me over’ to talk about blogs. I also would like to thank all of you for the kind words regarding the firstaversary (nice term you’ve coined with that one) of Spatula and for mentioning my blog in your post The Wakefield Doctrine (…”The Time Has Come,” the Walrus said, “To Talk of Many Things”). You’ve been extremely supportive of Spatula over the past year and I really am grateful to you and your readers for all of the visits and great comments.
CSR: So, If I may start by saying am a big fan of Spatula in the Wilderness. Is this your first blog?
Mel: Again, thank you. This is actually not my first blog. Five years ago I started a blog which took off too quickly for my own good and I pulled the plug on it. In my naivety, I fired off an e-mail to the administrators at the Big Friendly Corporate Entity asking them to promote my blog after the first week. To my surprise, the site advertised the blog generously (more importantly, at no cost to me). I busied myself with the running of the blog and stopped composing quality posts. Live, and/or learn, I guess.
CSR: Are you working on your own there? (other than Otto and them)…and just where is there (geographically speaking)
Mel: Cue Eric Carmen’s All By Myself. The imaginary chimp typing pool and inflatable editor aside, the blog is just me. When anything with the blog goes wrong, I’d love to be unaccountable and pass the buck, but I am responsible for the whole shebang. Geographically, I’m writing from the Southwest corner of Michigan. I live and work about 20 minutes from the lovely campus of Notre Dame University and a little over an hour East of Chicago. Saint Joseph, the lakeside community I call home, is situated adjacent to the tough little town of Benton Harbor (the strained relationship is portrayed in Alex Kotlowitz’ book The Other Side of The River).
CSR: (I gotta ask)…Where/how do you get your ideas (lol) We have mentioned it in the past Posts, the volume of your work is rather impressive.
Mel: Oddly enough, there is a process to writing the Spatula. I usually trundle over to the computer shortly after 5:00 in the morning and sift through headlines on The Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and maybe a few minutes of Morning Joe. Usually, I let ideas rattle around for a day, or so, unless there is some story that feels immediate. Many times, I put the topics on a whiteboard and just walk by them until something clicks. NPR ran a story the other day about a guy who’d been run over in a cross walk and the name on his driver’s license was Lord Jesus Christ. While it would have been fun to riff on that for 500 words, I am learning not just to shoot fish in a barrel. Most days, personal pondering and my befuddlement with the world trumps anything in the news cycle, anyway.
CSR: (the Progenitor roger is working on a semi-solo project, a ‘written in installments’ novel/story thing (contributions on a rotating basis by other DownSprings and Progenitors) and he asked me to extend an invitation to you to join in on one or more chapters or segments. I will get more info if you think you might want to join in the fun…(work in progress, I have it in the Features Column as Chronicles of roger (working title)…
Mel: I’d love to be involved with contributing to roger’s solo project and it would be a lot of fun to add pieces. ‘Looking forward to hearing the details.
CSR: You work alone?…that sounds so relaxing (relative to working with, say…Progenitors and DownSprings)…(if ever you would like to borrow one or two…just ask..)
Mel: Writing alone can be cathartic and helps clear the board if I’m extremely vexed. Having said that, I am working out a way to take on contributors this year (details to follow and invitations will be forthcoming). I would love to keep on with a pace of three to four posts per week, but I think the blog suffers a bit. It will be exciting to post quality writing by others that fits into the Spatula cannon.
CSR: Do you get much culinary related emails? From what I see out there food is a popular topic for blog writers…
Mel: I still write often about ‘food porn’ and the industry’s push to sell unhealthy products at any cost. Those posts generate some mail and I’d like to keep going with the theme. When I started last year, the idea was to write a cooking and recipe related blog, but I squashed the idea. This was at the time when Julie Powell’s success had a Sgt. Pepper effect on blogging. Becoming a chef and writing the next food masterpiece were just a mouse click away, and there seems to be a renaissance of food writing on the internet. I respect the recipe bloggers tremendously, but it does present an unrealistic vision of the restaurant and hospitality industry. It’s a joy to see someone’s elaborately produced dish on a website, but I always want to ask if they can produce it 25 times a night exactly the same for months on end. I always refer anybody who is serious about cooking to Bill Buford’s book Heat and Anthony Boudain’s Kitchen Confidential.
CSR: One of my favorite Posts at the Spatula (which sounds awful now that I see it in print), was “Wedded Bliss” (loved your answer to the question (paraphrasing here) about favorite marriage related movies: being Burning Bed.) Did you get much mail on that one?
Mel: Wedded Bliss was one of the only times that I post-scripted a blog with a retraction the next day. My wife Lori was really ticked at the time, because I made fun of the class. When I said the line about Burning Bed and Kramer Vs. Kramer, my friend, a local morning hard rock deejay, was sitting beside me in class and afterward said “Dude, I wouldn’t have even gone there.” I squeaked out of that blog post without too much negativity and got out of the doghouse at home fairly quickly.
CSR: Speaking of real life, how is it for your friends and family in terms of support for your work…(‘clark! can you complete a single sentence without the words Doctrine or gottafinishthisPost, is often heard around my house…)
Mel: I go through the same issues at home. For instance, what led to the birth of ‘Daisy’ started with one of those conversations involving “You love your blog more than us.” Overall, though, I’ve had a lot of support from my wife and her family, my little group of friends in the community and friends from high school and college on Facebook.
CSR: Well, thank you very much for coming by! We are still working on the fashion center and we look forward to adding any Spatula Fashion if that is possible.
(oh!, oh! sorry, DownSpring#1 wants to know if you want a hat (for your damn head) and she says “yes, you do have to pick one of the three”)
Mel: Oh, I absolutely want a hat! The hats (I dig the #3 headwear) are great and I totally want to wear, with pride, some Wakefield Doctrine swag! I will send along shirts when they are ready mid-summer. Again, I appreciate you having me here and your questions.
CSR: Any parting advice or tips to any or the Readers out there (can translate to Slovenian if necessary) on blog writing, life, cooking or all of the above?
Mel: On blog writing, I can only repeat some good advice I got several months ago and that’s to just write often about whatever moves you on a particular day. The response from others is often surprising. Life boils down to what one of my college professors was famous for saying: “You’ll have a good day, whether you know it, or not.” Stay positive, and don’t let negativity rule your existence. Finally, as for cooking, go with medium heat. Turn the dial down and let the food cook. See you around the Doctrine!
Thank you Miss Sullivan, thank you Mel. We do appreciate your being round. We will be getting a shipment-lette of hats (for your damn head) and if you will email a mailing address, we will ship it off straight-away. And once we get our Fashion Center into a more ‘professional’ looking’ layout we will welcome any Spatula clothing items to put up there. (Now where did that janitor go?) Mr. B!! Our guest has a request ( …lol… ), would you mind putting down the viola and find the video. (…you had your shot at that career…hey a scottian wife is worth more than that, isn’t she?)
About clarkscottroger
A nickname for Mel—Spatchmo.