Month: December 2017 | the Wakefield Doctrine

Six Sentence Story -the Wakefield Doctrine-

December 28, 2017 By clarkscottroger

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

This is (our contribution) to (zoe’s) bloghop, the Six Sentence Story.

Each Thursday a new prompt word. Each week a story, six (and only six) sentences in total length. (Thank god for semicolons!)

SUS_PEND

The hands resting on the open lesson planner were worn and wrinkled, with the exception of the nails and cuticles that were so perfect as to force the image of a young girl grasping an ancient tree trunk, fingers lying, protected, between the ridges and grooves of ancient bark.

Whispered exclamations and quiet laughter grew in volume in the corridor and, like broken houses ripped from the once-dry earth by flood waters, exclamations of ‘No way!‘ and ‘Did you hear about Zacharia?!‘ punctuated the sounds of a school’s worth of children returning from Christmas vacation.

Sister Cletus had learned, more years ago than her pupil’s parents had years, that the first students entering the classroom were never a reason to be on her guard, rather like a tsunami, it was the wave that followed the first hint of flooding that she needed to watch; her smile was an inner celebration with the generations of children who were the reason she enjoyed the privilege of teaching the sixth grade at St. Dominique’s school.

The source of the commotion was, to the nun’s surprise, Zacharia Renaude, who had earned, at a price beyond any adult’s understanding, a reputation for being quiet and deferential; she resisted the impulse to smile in secret recognition of the boy’s true nature, a frown was the gavel of her trade and symbol of authority as she prepared to bring order to the class.

Zacharia was looking down at his classmates in the back of the room as they began to file upwards along the four aisles of desks, like mercury in a row of thermometers, only in reverse order to their temperament and personalities; standing now, Sister Cletus could see the six inches of empty space between the floor and the boy’s feet.

He looked up with an expression both sheepish and proud, eyebrows rising in an appeal for approval; the very old nun smiled and said, “Mr. Renuade, if you don’t cease your shenanigans, I will have no choice but to suspend you immediately!”

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine- (lets get this shindig started! yo ho ho… It’s Christmas arrr!)

December 24, 2017 By clarkscottroger

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

Is it just me or does Christmas Day falling on a Monday feel odd, somehow?

Right now, though, it’s the weekend and that’s never an awkward time.¹ And, now that we’ve grown and matured and learned whatever life lessons we encountered, we can set on back and enjoy a weekend of writing about gratitude, Gratitude, to go out on a limb and ‘pronounce’…is the emotional manifestation of our acceptance that life itself is already complete, that we but have to open ourselves to it. Of course, ‘opening oneself (to life)’ is inherently risky. The problem being that accepting life does not, generally speaking, permit us to specify which parts, elements, features, people, places and things we want and which we do not want to acknowledge. Taking the good with the not-so-good appears to be the rule.

Enough of the metaphysics. It’s Christmas. (lol…. for my more agnostic friends)

Josie Two-Shoes is the hostinae of our weekly get together and she has, in the last year, done yeoman’s work in making this ‘place’ available and welcoming to all who would participate. (Which is only as the Founderette, L.L.² would have it.)

1) Total Number with a bullet The end of Winter. This week the shortest day of the year lay on our icy doorsteps, clung to our shoes and slowed the day until the very end. And that early setting of the sun marked the beginning of Summer. Because, if Winter is about anything, it’s about the retreat of life, hiding from the cold. The days become longer now, each and every day. Maybe just a few minutes a day, but I’ll take it.

2) Una

3) Phyllis I will credit with having an marked open-mindedness to the more….clarklike elements around the house. Especially this time of year. Christmas involves presents, both large and small, and, as we all know, presentation is a high value feature in the world of the Herd Members. And so, I make an attempt to join in. Phyllis keeps the wrapping paper and such in a closet and each year, I grab a bunch and attempt to wrap her presents in manner I hope she finds entertaining. I may have succeeded this year. Following is a group photo (of presents) and a close up of the apparent winner of the worst wrapping award (“Two years running! Thank you, thank you very much…”)

Nominee for ‘Worst Wrapped Christmas, 2017’
(Landscape Orientation)
The box containing the present is of a rectangular shape and is the center of the photo, sitting on a shelf, long side down.
The box is red and has the design of a belt and buckle on it’s top. The buckle is of a design associated with Santa Claus (broad black leather, the buckle is large, square and silver.)
The belt and buckle design is ‘across’ the thin side of the box, which it to say running up and down across the top.
The ‘wrapping’ consists of three pieces of silver reflective wrapping paper that has red and white spiral figures (against the silver background). These spiral figures shout ‘Christmas’ (with just a whisper of ‘Umbrella Corporation’ lol)
One of the three strips (of an un-even rectangle shape) is taped horizontally across the bottom of the top of the box. There is a second, almost wedge-shaped piece of the same wrapping paper, running on an upward diagonal. it extends to the upper right corner of the gift box.
The third element of this gift wrapping is more disturbing. In the upper left quarter of the top of the present, it is not laying flat as the other two, badly taped pieces of wrapping are.
This third thing is taped at one end but rises off the plane of the top and, with several folds, loops back down to touch the top of the box.
oh my

4) Very enjoyable call-in last night with Cynthia and Denise Q: How many layers of reality is required by a clark to ‘take a selfie’? A: photo below:

5) The writing thing. Mostly the part where I get to discover characters and, with patience and a willingness to suspend disbelief^3, watch the characters become kinda real. Example? Sure, real quick (and weird). So I was sitting around, not able to think of anything to write and I thought, ‘Sister Catherine, she’s about 45 years old and born in Ohio. I wonder where?‘ As luck would have it, as I googled Ohio, up pops Miami Children’s Home .. Next thing you know, I’m thinking, ‘She was raised in the orphanage.’ Ok. that’s not so weird, lots of fictional characters are raised in orphanages. Then, for god knows what reason, I googled ‘the 1960s in Ohio’ and discovered that the Beatle’s last US tour had a stop in Toledo in 1966. Naturally I thought, suppose, somehow, Sister Catherine’s mother snuck out of the house and went to the concert, met someone and got invited to the after concert party and, as they say in the Victorian novels, ‘ended up in a family way’. So, I’m thinking, ‘that’s pretty reasonable.’ And I clicked on this link and, I was ‘damn! how cool is this writing thing?‘

6) Reserved for Free Thankful Posting*

7)* (that’s where, if there’s anyone out there reading and not feeling up to writing a whole post, but has an Item of Thankful they believe everyone would enjoy hearing about, they need only send it on in (as a comment) and it goes right to Number 6!)**

8)** (we prefer the term, ‘Creative Item of Gratitude re-alignment and tre-classification… as opposed to, say, “Hey! that Doctrine guy just took one Item and turned it into three on his list! That’s not fair. Isn’t anyone gonna call him on it?!” Everyone else kinda stand around not saying anything; time, silence and positive energy combine in a most pleasing way (like a BLT) and, finally someone, zoe, perhaps or maybe Kerry turns and says, with a smile, “You’re welcome to talk to him. He won’t mind. We’ve all learned that a little tolerance goes a long way. Zoe here, once a very, very long time ago, tried to talk to him. The result was, shall we say, interesting. But, by all means go ahead, we won’t stop you! But…but before you go, you might want to look at the item at Number Nine? It’s quite an…. fascinating view on blogs and blogging.”)

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

10) SR 1.3

yeah, it’s like, a present… click this thing

1) unless you’re a clark, that is, in which case, it’s surely the best of times, the worst of times

2) yeah, there is a certain Victorian, Dickensian vibe to the initials

3) yes, I do realize that phrase is originally referring to the Reader, rather than the writer, but the fun is when you apply it to yourself as you learn about your characters.

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, relationships, the Wakefield Doctrine, Understanding Human Behavior

SSS -the Wakefield Doctrine-

December 21, 2017 By clarkscottroger

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

Six sentences is all it takes (and all that are desired) in zoe’s weekly writing jamboree, the Six Sentence Story.

This week’s prompt word: STAR

“The world really sucks,” 11-year-old Alan stood at the opening in the plywood-and-scrap-lumber tree fort, sincerity still a bit practiced; puberty not yet arrived to provide a reason to lose all restraint.

“I don’t know, it’s Christmas in a few days, that doesn’t suck,” Ethan kept the emotion muted, having learned to wait for the older boy to catch up to his suggestion of a debate of ideas, rather than yet another struggle for dominance.

Sensing challenges was integral to his relationship to the world, so Alan leaned out the window, grabbed the heavy rope suspended from above and levered himself out into open space, the backs of his ankles holding him to the enclosure; he saw bravery, his younger friend saw Hector being dragged around the city of Troy, he continued as triumphantly as possible, “there you go again with that goody two shoes crap about peace on earth, how many times I have to tell you, it’s a tug of war, good against evil.”

For Alan, instincts trump thought almost every time, they falter only in the presence of certainty, “Yeah, now ya gonna repeat what Sister Ryan said about the magical star rising in the East in time for Christmas,” his eyes betrayed the hope that his friend would hold up his part of the relationship and speak of things he felt.

“She’s right, though,” Ethan forgot himself and somehow became taller and stronger, fear was replaced with certainty, “a tug of war isn’t about two sides pulling on a rope, it’s about a line down the middle; we can’t hardly see it ’cause we’re looking at if from the sides. The star of the Nativity didn’t rise out of the ground, like the line that’s drawn in the sand for the tug of war, it’s been in the sky all along, waiting for one night to shine from above so that everyone, even those who weren’t looking for it, couldn’t help but see it.”

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

Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine- ‘the truly user-friendly day of the week

December 19, 2017 By clarkscottroger

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

There is a post (or two) somewhere in the archives that look at the ‘Days of the Week’ from the perspective of the Wakefield Doctrine and seek to identify the days that are ‘good days’ for people of each of the three personality types. Some are megaphone-obvious, like Saturday and scotts or Mondays and rogers or Tuesday and …everyone! But, especially clarks.

Why is that? Why does the sub-title use the slightly arrhythmic phrase ‘truly user-friendly’? Unfortunately the word ‘mild’, is nearly harmless, there’s absolutely nothing in what it implies that anyone could take issue with, “…and temperatures will be mild today.” “Don’t worry, your child is exhibiting the normal signs of the flu which includes running a mild fever.” It does, at least on the surface, seem to be a complimentary assertion (of the character or quality of a person or a worldview).

So what’s wrong with ‘mild’? What would cause a blog writer to begin a post with an apologia?

I don’t know. Nothing I guess. Don’t give it a second thought. Sorry I brought it up.

(Interruption for a Wakefield Doctrine insight. You know how we have descriptions (metaphoric and otherwise) of the world as it is experienced by those of the three personality types?

scotts ranging across the savannah hungry and impatient, take a moment to play with young pack members or sleep in the shade with one eye half-open;

clarks standing in the shadows, moving carefully, watching and, like self-animated marionettes, encircle their arms, hugging empty space in practice embraces, seeing more detail in the actions and plans of the others, the shadow-light allowing a closer insight and

rogers moving through the day, across the world, in unison of spirit, competing with the other Members of the Herd, not for supremacy, rather for positioning and increased centrality to the others in their local part of life.

To further our insight into ‘the other two’ worldviews we strive to infer from the actions, reactions, distractions and attractions exhibited by the person we are trying to better understand. It would seem that I’m implying that there is something about the quality of ‘mildness’, as it exists in the reality of a clark, that they (the clarks) feel is nothing to be overly proud of. But I’m getting off track. Back to the post.)

So Tuesday is the Mildest Day of the Week. Sure. I get that. Monday is over, Friday is a lifetime away and Wednesday, (‘hump day’ to rogers, they love to have almost-clever labels in their world. Know someone who insists their car has a name? roger…. unless she’s a girl…and it’s her first car…. and even then, she won’t really mean it. rogers will. lol (Go ahead, put your ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about and besides…and this whole Doctrine things isn’t anything but…’ in a comment, please.)

Anyway.

I did want to get in one other concept that carries weight, especially in the worldview of clarks: expectations and pre-expectations.

As we know from ‘the Everything Rule’, these two conditions exist for all three personality types. However, when considered in the context of clarks, they provide excellent illustrations of the unifying principle of the Doctrine, which is: ‘we use the perspectives of the Wakefield Doctrine to allow us to better understand how we relate ourselves to the world around us.’

That’s all we have time for this morning. Be sure to write in your un-answered questions!

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, predicting human behavior, psychology of personality, self-development, the Wakefield Doctrine, three personality types

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine- Sunday Edition!

December 16, 2017 By clarkscottroger

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

‘Unlike Time, a dog always waits …’ Landscape orientation
The scene depicts two things:
a) the endless struggle and temporary balance between opposites in Nature and
2) the innate serenity of dogs
First, the struggle (because this is being written by a native of Y Chromia (lol)

You know how I (often) do this thing, write about how weird we are here at the Doctrine, at the start of some posts? Well, today I’m feeling more, ‘the Wakefield Doctrine is so useful a tool for self-improving oneself that, rather than footnote a disclaimer to the effect of ‘please bear with us, we’re kinda weird’, I’ll express my feelings upfront.

Not so weird, this Wakefield Doctrine. Provided one enjoys alternate perspectives on the everyday world that we all inhabit. We used to refer to (this personal quality) as flexibility of intelligence. The willingness to entertain the notion that there is more than one reality available, if we are but willing to allow for a perspective that is different from our own. And that, if anything, is what the Wakefield Doctrine is: a(n) additional perspective on the world and the people around us. A tool for seeing the world as the other person (might) experience it.

Enough for the piles of words. This weekend we got hit with the ‘artsy stick’, big time! No! You laugh, wait till you wade through the following music vids, home vids and quotes from really cool people saying things I can only dream of coming up with myself.

1) Josie Two Shoes first! Hey! Lets all give a steady round of applause to she-who-opens-the-door-that-lets-us-into-the-asylum-but-does-not-lock-us-in. yeah!

1.1) “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” the very cool observation, attributed to Fred Nietzsche

Music you say? Heres an old Christmas classic:

2) Phyllis and Una

Phyllis and Una walking towards the tree house.

3-8) technology, free time on a Saturday morning, local climate, a lifetime of saving up scraps of interesting and the willingness to display the products of this celebration of a moment in time with friends. As exhibit A, I offer the following. (A total ‘damn’ out to anyone who, after watching these two short vids, thought…”Now lets trying watching the movie, ‘Wizard of Oz’ with the music playing…lol)

9) (photo to follow) enough with the artsy nature stuff… lets spend a few minutes with one of our favorite comedians, Jim Gaffigan

10) Secret Rule 1.3 (from the Book of Secret Rules, (aka the Secret Book of Rules) that states, in part: the completion of a List of Ten Things of Thankful constitutes an Item in and of itself, self-referencing as that might be. The Item, (frequently noted as, “Holy smoke! I’m done already! That was quick”) should, by tradition and convention, be placed in the penultimate position in the post.)