Month: September 2016 | the Wakefield Doctrine

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine-

September 17, 2016 By clarkscottroger

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

(Hi! Lets join this Post, already in progress.)

So I’m sitting at my ‘desk’* Tuesday morning doing the final re-write on Chapter 24 of ‘Almira’, around about 7:00 am. Out the window I can see the backyard and the woods beyond. I realize this will be self-obvious** when you see the video, but frankly this writing jones has me by the throat and so I look at every damn thing I type in terms of ‘how effective a description is that’ and ‘does the reader sense the emotions of the POV character’…. and those are just the emails I send to set up showings to Buyers! (bar rump bump… seriously I am all into trying to learn to write real good.)

(yeah! no, you’re in the right place. This is the TToT weekend bloghop. It’s just that I went and almost completed the post you’re reading, but never got the chance to hit ‘Publish’… shh we’re coming to the good part)

…anyway, I see a disturbance in the woods. At about middle level of the trees, which might be 10, 15 feet up. My first thought was ‘Squirrel fight!’ but then I saw a shape moving between the trees that was the wrong shape and way to big for a squirrel. For some reason what came to mind was one of Carlos Castanadas’ books where don Juan is talking about an ally leaping from tree to tree. I thought, ‘damn! that’s weird’. It went away and I looked back at the computer. A couple of minutes later I looked up and here is what I saw:

So what is it we’re seeing here?

(While clark-from-the-past is figuring how to explain the nature vid in terms of the Wakefield Doctrine, let me just remind you that this is a bloghop that has been handed down through generations of the Lewis family (started, rumour would have it, by none other than CS himself! And this claim clearly has credence by virtue of how rumor is spelled at the start of this parenthesis?) Anyway, every week Ms. Lewis and the 8 co-hostinae invite everyone to stop by and share what gratitudiness things happened in the course of the week since the last TToT.)

1) First time totally has to be the license and latitude we enjoy when writing a List of Ten Things. The only requirement here is that there be Ten Things (or, lacking that, a clever and/or amusing explanation for the deca-deficiency). That is not only very liberal, but if you’re in a hurry and don’t have the time to make up something clever and/or amusing, we have a Book of Secret Rules (aka Secret Book of Rules)!!

2) the BoSR/SBoR is, like, totally full of exceptions, explanations, excuses and emergency exigencies (for example this last Item? SR 3.12.chap;12: ‘A[n] Item is valid and can be counted if the writer checks online dictionaries and, despite not reading the entire entry, uses one of those weird square parenthesis, like in the middle of a word! What could possibly be the grammatical rationalization that legitimizes such things/ …op. cit.

3) Phyllis and Una We went for a walk this evening. She enjoys the walks because she can stick her head out the window and sniff all the scents along the way (this is Una we’re talking about).

4) I better let the Post explanation have some time, otherwise this Post won’t make any sense.***)

Well, it was kinda depressing. It looked, (from my window) to be an injured or tangled up hawk, all, can’t-get-off-the-ground-and-fly-away, so I got up and headed downstairs to go out and see what the problem was. As I got to the doors out to the deck, I decided that I could get a blanket and maybe wrap the thing up, at least if it turned out that the bird’s feet were tangled up in something….

(yeah, yeah, yeah, Clarks gonna go all Marlin Perkins here… I should tell you about this week’s Almira, do a co-hostinea featured spotlight and let everyone get on about their weekend…)

5) so we have a cliff hanger in Chapter 24 of Almira…. if you missed if I’ll wait. …go ahead, click on the Chapter 24 link

6) Featured co-hostinae of the Week: Lisa (here’s a joke/cultural reference that no one will get without googling…’Lisa the Writing TToT’er’) Anyway Lisa has a website, two cats and a family and doesn’t live in a part of the country with: alligators, 8-inches-across-spiders, never-ending-waves-of-grain, the birthplace of a writer that more than 6 of us would recognize by the title of one of their works. She was (according to my interpretation/understanding**** of her ‘real’ life story) a teacher and now is totally full-time writer. She is the owner of both a 2015 Gravity Challenge and a Wakefield Doctrine tee shirt. And, I believe she was a English major. (yeah, I did that on purpose). And, of course, a cohostinae here at the blog that Lizzi built. Go totally mess up the bandwidth on her site: The Meaning of Me or her Facebook Page or her Twitter

7) damn… running out of time, lets get back and see what happened when our courageous blogger went out into the back yard. )

So I stepped out on the deck and we both stopped moving. Me and the hawk, (or falcon or whatever brand of bird of prey it was) looked at each other for a second. Then it occurred to me, I have the Wakefield Doctrine! Total guidance for all of life’s situation and puzzles and such! So I ran a quick (this bird is clearly scottian, I’m a clark…what to do, what to do) reflection and …..

8) Work has been muy stressfulito this week, but I’m grateful for the aforementioned Wakefield Doctrine in that it always allows me some ‘reflex breathing room’ in situations where bad might turn into worse. Thanks! Wakefield Doctrine

9) Item of hypo-gratitude (as clearly permitted by SR 1.78.4) ‘the ending of Summer’

Charging off the back deck I yelled (well, raised my voice) “Hey! bird!! What the hell!!” And, the thing totally flew off into between the pine trees, up off and out of sight. I waited around a minute or so, hoping that it would, like fly overhead and dip a wing in gratitude, which I would totally include as an item in this week’s TToTrainwreck, but no. It just flew away. Probably to kill something small and photogenic.

10) SR 1.3 y’all 1.3

* actually my ‘desk’ is one of those banquet tables with the fake wood tops and the ‘H’ shaped legs that fold up (that, in high school, a clark would know about how to do and tell a scott, who would actually do it… total lunch on the floor. ha. ha.)

** I claim that phrase… just in case you hear it out there, in the ‘real’ world, remember, you heard it here first. (Hey it could happen! I think I’m hearing “That’s not right” (where the inflection takes the phrase from a judgement of correctness and certitude and applies it to an everyday occurrence. ex: You drive away from Dunkin Donuts and your friend realizes that they put cream instead of milk in the coffee. You then remark, “That’s not right!” (As if the mistake was a direct affront to truth, justice and the american way.)

*** yeah, I know!

**** well, this is the blogosphere it’s all about the story we tell the ‘world’ around us

Your hosts

A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall, Amycake and the Dude, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting Literal, I Want Backsies, The Meaning of Me, Thankful Me, Uncharted, The Wakefield Doctrine

Join the Ten Things of Thankful Facebook Group

An InLinkz Link-up

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, psychology of personality, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine

Six -the Wakefield Doctrine-

September 15, 2016 By clarkscottroger

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

Yeah, one of those Six Sentence Stories. In my (partial) defence I will say, this writing thing has become all about practicing. But then again, zoe, the curatoress of this collegial collection of curious and captivating life commentaries and observances (whew! ‘Mr Thesauras don’t fail me now!’) never said we couldn’t use this weekly Six Sentence Story to practice the craft. With the skills and imaginations of the participants here, one cannot help but become a better writer.

BArk

Like a slow-motion film of an avalanche on a snowy mountain side played in reverse, the approaching car begins to slow as it nears the exit, the number of cars entering the shopping center is nearly perfectly balanced with those leaving it. It is not perfectly balanced because cars are leaving more rapidly than they should, given the traffic conditions. It’s early afternoon, the sun is mercilessly bright and over-bearing, if for no other reason than in September it has no competition from summer-afternoon shower clouds and is every bit the schoolyard bully when the teacher, suddenly called back into the colored-constuction-paper prison of brick and linoleum, leaves her young charges un-guarded.
He sees himself in the shinyhard-glass windows, safely slid up, reflected in the averted eyes of the drivers and feels a memory stir, the figure etched in coated glass familiar, but barely recognizable.

The window is down on one approaching car and from the back seat a dog barks a warning, head and forward-leaning ears projecting from the opening of the still moving vehicle.

As the car draws abreast, the driver looks away, the dog stares curiously, tongue now lolling and relaxed and does not bark, the man stares back and sees the acknowledgment of his presence in the simplest of terms, one life to another, the dog does not judge and the man feels the echo of a memory stir, the car moves out into traffic, the dog maintaining eye contact until the car turns away and the man turns back to face his shrunken world.

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: Personal, personality types, psychology of personality, relationships, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine

TTo(reprint)T -the Wakefield Doctrine- ‘…like sand through the hourglass, these are the grains of our lifes’

September 10, 2016 By clarkscottroger

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks scotts and rogers)

Reprint from the First Year August 20 2013 … or maybe August 2001… and you totally need to click here for the really cool part

(Did you click on some of the links of the participants? Mr Peabody be totally eating his heart out.)

So, the reprint is from 2013, that’s 3 years times 10 equals 30 Items!

1) minimus cum irreductibile: Ms L and her co-hostinae and this here bloghop here

2) Una and Phyllis

3) Gravity Challenge… this is the second year, can you believe that?!

4) ‘Almira’ Chapter 24 due out this weekend. Very cool this book writing thing. This time last week I was all, ‘oh man! what am I gonna do?! There’s Dorothy and Eliza marching into St Mary’s, all bold as can be, to see the woman who is in the Charity Ward and here we are, that woman, or rather her story from when she was 16 years old in 1912. How the hell do I account for 27 years? Lucky for me I discovered that Cyril Sauvage (Emily Gale’s older brother who died in the Battle of the Marne in 1918) went to Dartmouth before he enlisted! So the rest is…well, you’ll have to read the Chapter. If you want a preview (sorta) try this Six Sentence Story. (you know… it’s an established fact that Cyril and Sterling went to Dartmouth… and, even as I type, I’m picturing the dates for this to work and… and they line up!… well, how many readers had relatives come and visit them at college, with, say a younger brother or sister come for a Fall Homecoming Weekend or something… maybe go to the Mixer…meet someone…. damn! I’ve said too much already)

5-8) the Reprint below (especially the old links)

9) Book of Secret Rules (aka the Secret Book of Rules)

10) SR 1.3

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

I am ‘happy’ to have another Post to contribute to the Ten Things of Thankful bloghop. Created by Considerer with the aid, support, encouragement and participation of Christine and them, this is not your typical bloghop. While there is nothing wrong with the ‘typical’ bloghops (I participate in the Twisted MixTape Tuesday run by Jen (My Skewed View) and Kristi (Finding Ninee) and Finish The Sentence Friday Janine ( ‘mommyholic) and Kate (‘bottle of Whine) and Stephanie (‘for Real) and Kristi.

What makes our TToT different is that it is a true ‘weekend blog hop’. By that I simply mean that it starts this morning and ends tomorrow night. If you want to participate you can do so at any time this weekend…and (here’s the difference) people come and read and Comment throughout the weekend, so if you have trouble today (I am a great example, I have to work today, so I’ll get this Post in and read who ever is around…later in the middle of the day, I’ll pop in and see whats going on…then the end of the day and so on). And… Comments? thats a little different here too! Jump in anywhere we totally believe in cross commenting. So… I think I have put this off as long as I can… my List of Ten Things:

(…yeah, I know!)

(too late to quit now!)

(…lets wrap this up!)

Ok… I had fun doing this…. (did someone just imply that they were….?)

Number 10 I am grateful that I am able to submit the above as my TToT of this Week.

We’re here all weekend (‘try the veal’) Be sure to tip your Waitress… and Comment (‘dammit! Jim I’m a Wakefield Doctrine writer, not a videographer!)

Kinda cool, no? All the ‘old posts’

Your hosts

A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall, Amycake and the Dude, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting Literal, I Want Backsies, The Meaning of Me, Thankful Me, Uncharted, The Wakefield Doctrine

Join the Ten Things of Thankful Facebook Group

An InLinkz Link-up

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, predicting human behavior, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine

Six Sentence Story -the Wakefield Doctrine-

September 8, 2016 By clarkscottroger

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

well, getting a way early start this week! In my defense, I think it’s Tuesday.

The word that zoe has given us is ‘range’. And, this being the Six Sentence Story, our (collective) jobs are to write a story incorporating, referencing or have something to do with ‘range’. Pretty simple, isn’t it? No, not so simple at all!

But fun in a ‘hey, that kinda worked!’ way.

Range

“I don’t understand why you have to do this, Sterling; maybe your college buddy Cyril Sauvage has something to prove, with his parents coming over from France and all, but you have a family… well, you have me,” Almira’s hand drifted over her mid-section as she stood washing the same dinner plate over and over, through the window at the sink, she watched the darkening of night steal the life from the day.

“It’s not just him, Almira, the whole world is at risk and if Germany defeats France then England is next and then where would our family be,” Sterling Gulch sat the kitchen table, back towards his wife, staring into the adjacent living room, its wide picture window that looked out over Narragansett Bay was slowly turning into a mirror, as night surrounded the house and the only illumination came from the kitchen as he and his wife fought the not-yet-felt ravages of war.

“You’re so close to having your degree, I’ll be teaching in a year, isn’t that enough?”

“It’s more than enough, it’s everything I could hope for but, I need to do this…” he fell silent as the words that connected him to his wife were stalked and eaten by the wolf of aggression and politics, friendship and fear of not-measuring-up, claiming it’s ransom.

Almira Gulch looked at the window before her, the light of the kitchen created fairytale-like reflections of herself and her husband sitting at the table in the center of the room when a subtle motion drew her eye to the living room picture window in which two people showed, seemingly withdrawing from one and other, farther and farther apart, beyond any true dimensions of the physical space.

A shudder ran through the young woman, a distant calling from somewhere within her fought to be turned into sound, “…Private Gulch, the very first thing you do is determine the range of the enemies weapons and try and stay outside of it, until, that is, your commanding officer tells you to crawl over the barbwire into the next trench, do I make myself clear?“

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: relationships, the Wakefield Doctrine

Tuesday that feels like Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine- as practical a personality theory as you might ask for!

September 6, 2016 By clarkscottroger

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

(why, yes! you do see a clark and a scott and a roger)

As promised. a Doctrine post that does not consist of six (and only six) sentences and is not particularly gratified.

Quick Pop Quiz (Who Said it Category):

“I really get tired of listening to that guy talk about himself, he’s so self-absorbent”

clark or scott or roger?

So what does this have to do with self-improvement?

Hey! Chapter 23 of ‘Almira‘ is on the streets! Smart money says this story is gonna go extra innings. (Everything I read about getting a book published is all, “maximum 90k words unless you spell your name with a ROWLING or a KING in it.) Thing of it is, I’m liking the characters and the story they’re telling. What am I supposed to say, ‘Hey! hurry the hell up! Tell us how this all comes out!…. well, no, not you Eliza… everyone enjoys your scenes… shit, don’t let Almira hear you, she mess you up!’

So I will continue as I have, writing one chapter each and every week until the story of Almira is told. There are worse ways to spend one’s non-working hours. And, of course, I get to be the first to learn things about our friends, for instance: You all knew that Almira and Sterling just happened to pass through Eminence, Missouri on a fateful day in March, 1925, right? (When I say ‘passed through’ I mean, ‘chased out of town by angry pentecostalists, right into the path of the deadliest tornado in history’) and, you ….

Wait! I’m supposed to be writing about the Wakefield Doctrine and how it can be of benefit to you in the course of your day today! Sorry. This is, in fact, the reason for my resolution to write more frequently here, take a breather from the world of 1912 and 1939.

So, here’s some very practical advice: if your boss is a roger, never ask him/her a question in public* that the answer is anything other than proof that he/she is the best of all managers. If you want or need something for real, ask in private. And when you’re doing that, don’t ask the question straight out of the box, always preface it with a, ‘Excuse me/hey, have you got a minute for a quick question?’

Where are my damn manners?!?! Here I am starting out the week with a Doctrine post without a simple statement of the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers! Pardon me, New Readers. I beg your forgiveness, I’ve been off the regular Doctrine Lecture circuit far, far too long.

The Wakefield Doctrine is a perspective on the world and how we relate ourselves to it. The Doctrine maintains that we, all of us, have the potential to live in one of three characteristic (personal) realities and, at an early age we settle into one (while retaining the potential of ‘the other two’) and grow up and develop and live. The personality types of the Doctrine reflect the strategies and coping mechanisms we develop to deal with the nature of the world that we grow up in. In other words, the behavior and characteristic views on life that identify me as a clark are, collectively, my best effort to live in the world as I found it when I was but a child.

The three worldviews:

clarks (the Outsiders) they are odd but kind, fearful and courageous, giving and needy. clarks try to hide but hate to be ignored, you have at least one as a friend (unless you’re a clark yourself, in which case, you know several, but never hang out just with them)
scotts (the Predators) holy smokes! you totally have a scottian friend (unless you are one, in which case, you have several, but, for the most part, they’re like the ensigns-without-a-name who are included in the away team in the beginning of the last Star Trek episode you saw (they ain’t beaming back up)…. scotts are the life of the party and cause you to say on more than one occasion, ‘…but, she’s/he’s my friend since I can remember! Sure he/she goes a little overboard at times, but, look! we got through it without the (police, ambulance, parish priest, CPR, grace-of-god)!!’ scotts are generous to a fault, brave without sense and do they ever look great in heels
rogers (the Herd Members) the majority of the population, they are the reasons that the planes don’t fall from the sky, (as opposed to being flown into things or never leaving the runway). rogers are creative in the sense of clever use (and) re-assembly of components, wicked good musicians and are the sole reason that we’re not all still living on the savannah hunting in small packs and/or hiding in the underbrush. rogers are kind but at a price, bold (in a group) and the glue of social continuity (a quality at first so prosaic as to be disregarded, until you’re at a high school party at someone whose parents are away for the weekend and the liquor cabinet is discovered un-locked.)

Ok, that should get you started.

Questions?

* ‘public’ being defined as anyplace that there’s more than two people, or in a location one might imagine that you’re being overheard or, hell, overseen (as in standing outside in a courtyard where no one could possibly hear you, but can see the two of you talking…. that’s being in public to a roger