Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
Famous (and Doctrine fav) painting by Maximillien Luce. Man sitting on a really rudimentary bed, almost a cot (or to use the more archaic, ‘pallet’) judging by the really spindly legs under the bed which has an orange blanket the appears (in this image) to be tufted, but that wouldn’t be right for the era. The man in the photo is sitting on the edge of the bed, adjusting the cuff of his trousers (which are brown). He has on a white(wish) shirt and a tie. He has one shoe on (right foot) and the left shoe is in profile to the right of his left foot. The shoes are black and they are of a style that would come up over the ankle. (‘High tops’ would be not only anachronistic, but ‘flippant’ as the man in the painting is serious about getting dressed.) The room also has a narrow table with a blue pitcher on it. There are four pictures on the wall, the lower half of a skylight and, I can’t explain it, but what for all the world appears to be a rubber chicken suspended from the ceiling above and behind the man. The man has a beard. His eyebrows are a touch arched, one could be forgiven for thinking, ‘a roger wakes up and wonders when the world will recognize his contributions.’ This photo courtesy for the Metropolitan Museum and there is a description on the page this image was copied from:
‘This intimate scene depicts Luce’s close friend and fellow painter Gustave Perrot “getting up” and dressing as morning light streams through a garret window. Luce enlivened the traditional subject of an artist in his humble living quarters with a vivid palette of red, orange, yellow, and blue, applied in stippled brushstrokes, in keeping with the newly minted technique of pointillism. Little is known about Perrot, aside from the fact that he died young. In 1892, his brief career was remembered in a fifteen-work tribute held at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris.’
(For the record I neither painted nor do I own this painting or any rights to it. image courtesy The Met.org)
Each week(end) Josie Two Shoes opens the doors of her blog and invites one and all to participate in the bloghop, Ten Things of Thankful (TToT). In the simplest of terms, theme is to recount/share/relate and retell recent, (and far distant past), experiences that have elicited a sense/emotion/feeling of gratitude. It’s easy. It’s enjoyable and, sometimes, in some circumstances, it can be quite beneficial.
The people, places and things for which I am grateful this week are:
1) Phyllis: she has the capacity to achieve and accomplish much in the world of the everyday work and life and such. She has, somehow, succeeded in maintaining that element of herself that is not bound to the concrete, conventional, objective everyday world of work and life and such. She has a tree house and enjoys the very idea of such a thing.
2) Una: those not familiar with the life, canine, might be forgiven for thinking, ‘yeah, but she’s just a dog. Nice, but not a human. She can’t talk, is limited to the things a dog does which is sleep eat, bark and need to be let out twice a day’. Una is a dog. She can communicate (with those for whom a relationship exists), does only the things that a dog every life form does, sleep, eat, make noise and ask for assistance. She lives her life to the fullest in each moment. I should be so fortunate to have even a 10th of her capacity to make the most of life.
3) The Wakefield Doctrine: a serendipitous intersection of perception, inspiration and reflection that resulted in a coherent perspective on life and the world and everything. It’s been a while since anyone asked, so following is the ‘Eureka Moment’ of the Wakefield Doctrine:
One day in 1981 or ’82, I was visiting my friend Scott at the music store where he worked, doing repairs on musical and electronic equipment. While I was there, a man came in with a double cassette recorder, put it on the counter and said to Scott, “This thing is brand new and it doesn’t work.” Scott looked the recorder over, noticed that it’s controls included a Volume control for each of the two cassette recorders and a single Master Volume control. The Master Volume control was set at ‘0’. Without a word, Scott turned the Master Volume up to ’10’, took a piece of black electrical tape and covered it over. He slid the recorder back over the counter and said, “All set.” The customer plugged it in, ran it through its paces (it allowed recording from one cassette to another) and everything worked perfectly. The man thanked Scott profusely and left the store. At that moment I realized that all reality is, to a degree, personal. The ‘solution’ that Scott came up with was nothing even close to what I would have thought to offer, in principle or in execution. It was, however, clearly consistent with the way that my friend interacted with the world. The Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers) rose from that moment of insight.
4) Writing. It’s fun, in a horribly, painful-until-its-not and then it’s, like more fun-and-satisfying-than-almost-anything.
5) The community of the TToT (and the Six Sentence Story) and the Gravity Challenge. The internet does one thing better than anything else: it allows realities to exist (for a second, for a lifetime) that simply would not have ever existed otherwise.
6) Work. (most of the time). I watch ‘How It’s Made’ a lot. (I’m a clark, so, duh.) There are times when people are shown working at a task both simple and repetitive. At this point, I always say to Phyllis, “8 hours a day, 5 days a week.” I’ve worked at such jobs. Phyllis’ profession is of a much more…varied nature than the operation of a punch press or picking thousands of fish off the deck of a boat. This does not mean that Phyllis doesn’t work just as hard as the Peruvian, chewing coca leaves and happily weaving baskets of straw. As a matter of fact, the Wakefield Doctrine maintains that, ‘Everyone works just as hard as everyone else.’
7) ‘Home and Heart’ working on Chapter 15 for the weekend. (This will be an ‘interlude’ chapter. Sister Ryan will be creating an more and more effective social media campaign to pressure the Bernebau Company into stopping their foreclosure of her mother’s house. Drusilla Renaude and Arlen Mayhew are in the middle of getting the marketing up and running for the biggest development Crisfield MD has ever seen. The two efforts have a common point, one Cyrus St Loreto. They will be in conflict.) Go to jukepop and read and vote, please.
8) Book of Secret Rules (aka Secret Book of Rules)
9) (garden photos tomorrow)
details at 6
10) SR 1.3
Click on this here icon here and join them whats writing and reflecting on the gratitudinous things in life.
About clarkscottroger
This was a particularly enjoyable TToT from you Clark, no short-circuited brain wiring on my end! :-) I really liked that Phyllis and Una held the top spots this week and that you told us a bit more about both of them, what makes them special to you.
I had not about the beginnings of The Doctrine before now, so that was interesting too! Now I am curious, did he charge him for the “repair”?
Writing and community go so hand in hand in the blogsphere. We could all write independently and never share our words, and how lonely that would be. Instead, we’ve formed these marvelous relationships with what would otherwise be complete strangers, and our worlds have expanded exponentially. While I have always written, and always will, it is the people who keep me coming back.
Your link of work in that it has some variety, new homes and new clients to work with, and you are free to schedule it as it works best for you. At one point I used to think that assembly line work might be nice just for the predictability and lack of stress, but now I realize that it also would be mind numbing after awhile since a certain amount of attention to detail is required and I am prone to let my mind go wondering off on it’s own adventures.
You are now 15 Chapters into Home and Heart, and I am 14 behind. I think I am losing ground here, and really truly want to read this novel. Perhaps my best option would be to devote a day to feet up, cats in lap, reading. Hmmmm, that sounds rather nice. I am happy that the words continue to flow for you in this endeavor, and envious that you can make it appear easy.
I shall return for #9, it just wouldn’t be Clark’s TToT without these for #8 and 10, and that always makes me smile. I love that you stick to the rules, invented or otherwise! :-)
Have an awesome weekend and holiday week ahead!
Rules are invented, so why can we all have fun? lol All that is necessary (imo) is that one be willing to put the effort into creating rules to expand choices, as opposed to shape (or worse) limit choice.
Nope. Just did it as an act… wait, Scott is a scott, so it would not have been an act of kindness. Make that, ‘a decent thing to do’. It still amazes me how the full range of characteristics (among the three personality types holds true. I’m still amazed when I see a roger or a scott or a clark, out in the world, act ‘just the way they’re supposed to’. lol I catch myself wanting to say, ‘hey! did you read my blog?!’
But, at the heart of the Doctrine is relationship. Or, to be more precise, ‘how (a person) relates themselves to the world around them’ With that as the basis for a perspective, it’s still amazing how much we can learn about the people around us.
Have a ‘Bridge Reconstruction Project’ beginning. Will post photos. Also the garden is approaching the point where it will produce stuff. lol
I’m happy to see that Phyllis and Una each have their own thing of thankful this week. Because as we know each is. The cassette story is one I remembered from the first time I connected with the Wakefield Doctrine.
True dat
I can’t wait to meet Una. :) Glad for the Doctrine, your cool job, and all that. As for the way I would have reacted if someone gave me a non-working cassette recorder with two dials for volumes? Similar to Scott, actually, BUT, I would have smiled and said, “Hmm. Let me try something.” You know, to be nice. That’s another difference between Scotts and Clarks…or at least me…I always want to make a person feel good no matter what’s happening. LOL.
I am going to try to call in this evening. Here’s what’s up: my BIL and his wife just moved back here. They are staying with MIL with their five dogs and three cats (!). Vinny usually goes and hangs out over there when we’re traveling, but he’s a “solo” dog and alas, since he’s a reactive guy, we can’t board him. So, he’s going on the adventure with us. :) I’m actually glad, though we had to change some of destinations: no Mt. Katahdin for Vinny in Maine: he’s not allowed in Baxter State Park. Who knew? (I didn’t until I researched it). Thing is, if he meets another dog while having something to do (such as while hiking, for example), he gets along with just about any dog. He just needs to be doing something. LOL.
In any case, since BIL just finished moving yesterday, they’re having a celebratory dinner at MIL’s house. I told them I gotta call the Doctrine. Haha. But…there’s a chance that we’ll get all caught up in cooking and end up eating at 9pm, which happens a lot. You put a bunch of clarks together (most of John’s family is composed of clarks, the scott BIL, well…conversation and thoughts and all that meander all over the place and dinner – usually planned for 7pm – ends up being at 9pm. Happens around our house a lot, too. Haha.
Looking forward to finally, FINALLY meeting y’all in person!
But dogs do talk…they communicate. As you have pointed out. I will reiterate – that for those with whom they have a relationship, dogs can communicate quite well :)
#5 so well articulated. I couldn’t agree more.
I am enjoying Home and Heart. Good read.
Pleasant TToT this week. Look forward to garden pics.
You guys are finally meeting Cyndi!!!??? How cool is that??? Una is wonderful in person , but really its the three of you all together that makes it worth the trip!
IT is very cool. She is the perfect hostess …so is Phyllis lol
I could not finish watching a film starring Owen Wilson and his dog Marley because I was so afraid that Marley was going to die, which was an unbearable thought. So I turned it off.
And speaking of watching TV, I like the travel channel and the food channel.
Great post today, Clarkman. jeaneyah
hey Jean! Pretty much all that’s left thats watchable (besides, How It’s Made, of course).
Thankee
I never took a course in art history or seriously studied the paintings at museums, so I found your description of the painting interesting. It made me question how long it took the artist to complete that painting using that style of painting. Oh, so many little dots! Now that you have suggested a rubber chicken hanging from the ceiling, I’m unable to see anything else. A rubber chicken it is!
I love that Phyllis has a tree house. Everyone should have a special place to sit and dream, or create.
Even my centenarian mother with Alzheimer’s still enjoys watching a “How to. . .” video or tv show, especially where people are building something or remodeling something.
Your garden crops are coming right along. I hope you get the needed sunshine for those tomatoes to ripen this summer.
I’ve hand friends with talent (and skill) in art, amazing what must go on in their heads, love to watch them turn lines (or dots) into something or someone.
I can’t imagine why the artist would have a rubber chicken in his painting!
We are taking a low-stress approach to the gardening. Water each day and let nature decide the outcome.
Third option: maters
ah*
Hey! Glad you stopped by, your site does not seem to be open to Comments!! I tried to leave a clever, heart-warming, insightful and laugh-outloud comment but there were two problems…
* as in, “ah! and which set of options were you referring to, unless, of course you were speaking Latin.
lol
Cathicng up still.
That piece of art sure sounds interesting. Things I wish I could see…as I listed on Facebook recently, this includes art and I did not include it there.
Love how you see your two girls. The treehouse speaks volumes about the kind of things that matter and add character to your home.
Love that tape deck story. Fascinating.
Writing – painful and satisfying.
It (the painting) has popped up at the Doctrine a number of times over the years (funny about that… surely a reflection of my own taste in paintings and the arts and such).
The tape deck story still amazes me after all these years, how such a simple event can shape the course of a life.
yeah…