Month: December 2017 | the Wakefield Doctrine - Part 2 Month: December 2017 | the Wakefield Doctrine - Part 2

FTSF -the Wakefield Doctrine-

December 15, 2017 By

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

Our first dog, Ola.
(perfect illustration of the character of German Shepherds, ‘big smile, large teeth’)

 

We are participating in Kristi‘s bloghop, Finish the Sentence Friday. It is a simple enough premise; all (who would participate) are provided an incomplete sentence and are invited to make it whole. And in doing so, reveal our inner most thoughts and feelings about life and such. No, just kidding about that last part. (Not really. There is much to the view that writing ‘fiction’ is, at its core, always autobiographical, have but we the wit and imagination to connect very pale and far-flung dots. But that’s for another post.)

Oh, yeah, one thing before we start. From what I gather the word wish is valid as a noun and a verb. I surely concur with the other writers in the meaning, implication, inference and consequences of the word ‘wish’ as a noun. Not that I’ve read any posts yet. Were I do so I would surely push the keyboard away and be content with reading feelings and thoughts expressed with maturity and eloquence. But! since I haven’t… I will say that, when I consider the word ‘wish’ as a verb, I find a door I forgot was there.

 

This week’s sentence is perhaps one of the most open-ended of sentence fragments. I suppose I’d best start things off and, once the process is started, everything will come together;

“I wish…”

“…no! wait! that wasn’t my sentence.”

Thank you, thank you very much.

(Who doesn’t wish for the kind of talent and skill with words to be capable of writing something as inspired as the apocryphal* Hemingway six word novel, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”)

However, brevity being the soul of wit and Friday being …well, Friday. I will finish the sentence thusly.

“…that I’d the opportunity to understand earlier that a wish is a child’s pleasure and an old man’s remorse. It is hope without faith.”

ok! thank you Kristi! my! thats an up-lifting FTSF post!

lol… I will add that I am grateful for the opportunity to have had the experiences that allowed me to replace the verb ‘wish’ with ‘hope’. It makes all the difference in the world. Hope, combined with faith (lowercase very much deliberate), is all that I need to keep to the path that is best for me.

Not that I need reminding (’cause of the faith element, right?) however, I need only remember my first encounter with the concept of ‘Three Wishes’**. As childhood lessons go, it’s surely as fundamental a learning experience as counting and Santa Claus….( no, wait, counting has a practical value.)

In any event, I was a clever child (aka underachiever) and when ‘my turn’ came to tell my contemporaries what I would do with Three Wishes, my reply was, “My first wish would be to wish for all the wishes I wanted and they’d all come true.”  Seeing the look of admiration of the faces (of those who would remain friends) and incomprehension on (those who would not), I twisted the thread within in a way that has taken most of a lifetime to un-twist.

Not that that’s a bad thing. I am, after all, typing this post in a comfortable home with a family and satisfying work. And …and! I’m at the end of the time allotted to spray-painting my psyche on the walls of our virtual town. So I will say, my wish is for you (collectively) and Kristi (directly, because….) to experience the most joyful and beneficial of holidays

 

* apparently there’s question as to who should be credited,

** you don’t want me to get on the tangent of the role and function of fairy tales as indoctrination of the very young… I mean, seriously. What is the point of allowing a child to believe in jinn or fairy godmothers or…or monkey’s paws1

1)  the cautionary tale bookend to the lessons of myths and fairy tales…ayiee

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SSS -the Wakefield Doctrine-

December 14, 2017 By

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

This is zoe’s Six Sentence Story bloghop. Each week, she provides us with a prompt word and challenges one and all to take the word and make the denizens of the metaphoric world of rhetoric totally green with envy at the fabulous stories we submit.

You know, we may talk funny ’round the Doctrine here and elsewheres… not pointing any fingers, (far be it from me to imply that Paul or Miz Avery or that English fellow, Keith… are among those of us who view the English language much the way a kitten sees a totally lit and decorated Christmas tree…. no, they all stand up folks what write real good and don’t even get me started on some the others like Mimi (who not only writes a mean Six, and somehow manages to make it part of an entertaining serial story)… and speaking of upside down, there’s that woman from clear on the other side of the planet, Irene and there’s Pat B…. I could go on and on, which might be the merciful thing to do this week. Given our Six.

Did we mention that sometimes the Six Sentence Story ends up being viewed as an opportunity to ‘practice the craft’…. (ahem! well, perhaps using the word ‘learn’ might yield a more satisfactory participial phrase.*) In any event, this week’s Six is from the next chapter in my other WIP, ‘Home and Heart’ (a Sister Margaret Ryan novel)

The prompt word this week is ‘TUNE’

 

“Alex, over here,” Alex Dumas heard the voice even as his eyes struggled to adjust; stepping in from a cloudless October noon, the pretend-nighttime lighting of the bar was like jumping off a dock into a cold blue lake, the secret lay in not panicking at the sudden change.

After six voice messages that consisted entirely of, ‘we need to talk, you’ll be glad you did’, Alex finally picked up his phone just as Phil Borastein was leaving his seventh; in what seemed to be a single breath, the man explained that he, among all literary agents in the world, was the only one qualified to make ‘The Nun and the Billionaire’ into a runaway bestseller. The ‘Nun and the Billionaire’ was the title of the series of articles the graduate student just completed for his college newspaper; chronicling the efforts of a novitiate nun, one Sister Margaret Ryan, to stop the foreclosure of her elderly mother’s home by a predatory corporation, by the name of the Bernabau Company, was by all measures a monster hit.

The bar was of a tried-and-true layout: a row of booths along windows that looked out over the street, creating a Hieronymus Bosch-painting–as-performance art i.e. a world of light and a world of darkness separated more by the nature their respective inhabitants than by any physical barrier.

The last booth was backlit in reflected neon red and silver that, like the shimmering waters of a fountain of youth (or failing that, a fountain of forgetfulness), the jukebox sat and released into the air, tunes that made one remember a past that should have been.

As Alex got nearer, stepping around the supplicants to glass gods of forgetfulness and forgiveness perched on lonely stools with heads bowed, looking at their drinks in quietly desperate attempts to find their way out of a world that they couldn’t remember seeking, the owner of the voice became clearer, or at least more visible; the young man’s immediate impression was that of a toad, not so much slimy as he gave the impression of being an animated pile of compressed fat with a toxic smile, wearing a worn-out suit.

 

* no, it’s alright, I admit to a shameless wikipedian binge in this week’s Six. That I risk totally inappropriate use of words and concepts of grammar is irrefutable. Much like a boy given 10 seconds in front of a candy counter, not only might I’ve grabbed items I have no familiarity with, I surely risk an upset stomach at the end of the day. oh well, such is the typical day in the fun house that is the internet.

 

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re-print…print Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine- ‘…famous moments in Doctrine History*’

December 12, 2017 By

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

I was going to use the old come-on that the networks employed a few years ago to pedal their re-runs, ‘if you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you’. I think that’s down right insulting. It’s as if they believe that the viewer a) will not watch any program unless it’s brand new and 2) is not ontologically sophisticated enough to appreciate the quality of enduring permanence of un-viewed episodes of ‘Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’. The nerve of them!

In any event. What follows is not only an informative, useful and straight-up Doctrine post, it’s also is a marker of significance in the development of our little personality theory. I speak of the ‘discovery’ of ‘Referential Authority’, an artifact found deep within the predominant worldview of rogers. What makes this discovery important is that while the principles of the Wakefield Doctrine are so robust as to allow us to experience the world as do the three types, there is a limit to how far in we can get.

How did this come to pass? The response of rogers to Option 3 in the scenario. When I asked a roger for their opinion of one of the possible responses, i.e. ‘go ahead and be helpful and clear tables’, the reaction was one of outraged disbelief that anyone could even consider taking such action. Seriously upset. All of them. The rogers, to a man/woman, said (actually, kinda yelled) ‘No way is that appropriate.’

The response was so powerful and consistent among rogers that that famous light bulb totally showed up over my head. (Alas, I weep for the young. What are they going to have appear over their heads when they experience an inspired breakthrough? …one of those sideways donut-shaped light things…. “oh, it’s so efficient!” So what if, by the time it gets bright enough to be able to count the fingers on your hand, you’re done with whatever your were trying to see. Oh, that’s right  your generation reads off your little cell phones. Your book or movie or imaginary friend is 4.5 inches (on the diagonal) and is all you need to see where you are going in life.)

In any event with a little more talking and exploring it was discovered that in the reality of the Herd Member, there is no higher authority than Referential Authority. (If you’d like further clarification on the practical application of this insight, you have but to ask).

On with the Reprint!

 

from May 9, 2014:

‘close your books, and we will begin the Test’ the Wakefield Doctrine’

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

("no, scott I don't think that…clark!! stop encouraging scott….roger, at least you seem to be serious about this!)

(“no, scott I don’t think that…clark!! stop encouraging scott….roger, at least you seem to be serious about this!)

Congratulations! You have completed Neutronium Week (at the Wakefield Doctrine).

…very well done

***Warm up Question: The personality type that is the best at giving Compliments:

  1. clarks… not! sorry, they are great at a lot of things but (see?! see!?!! right there!!! he’s making up the fricken Question and he can’t give a compliment without holding back…. jeez!!!)
  2. scotts  totally direct and enthusiastic and you will know that you have been recognized by the (local) pack Leader ( no! under no circumstances should you ‘join him/her up there in front of everyone and let everyone see what the fuss is all about!’)
  3. roger  yeah, pretty good at conveying a compliment… famous, in fact, (where is that wikipedia?…)  “…and Brutus is an honorable man.”   see?  rogers are great at eulogies and even bar mitzvahs !

OK  Everyone ready?

…begin

You totally need a job. You see an ad in the local paper. ‘Hopper’s All-Nite Eats’ needs help to cope with increasing business, call 212-666-1234 for an Interview‘.  You’re a little early for your appointment with the owner. The place is quite busy for 10:30 on a weekday morning, all but 2 tables are occupied.  The Owner is at the grill cooking, (this is an open kitchen design), he looks up as you walk in the door, waves a spatula in the direction of the empty table near the door and goes back to cooking. There is a woman standing at the cash register, ringing out a customer.  She looks up, frowns then smiles and says, “You must be Emily! To be honest with you, I’m really kind of busy right now, but I left an application on that table over there. If you want to get started I’ll try to get over to you in a minute. We’re really kinda swamped right now“. Looking over to the table, you see a single sheet of paper marked Application for Employment.

Do you:

  1. Sit at the table, (not before taking out a tissue and wiping off the table top) and begin to read the Application for Employment?
  2. Decide that the Owner should have paused at least for a moment, and come over to properly introduce himself and even though the woman at the cash register seems nice,  they are both being rude, so you turn around and walk out of the restaurant?
  3. Pick up the dishes from a recently empty table and take them to what appears to be the kitchen…?

OK

If you haven’t already done so, go to the  Pre-dominant Worldview Assessment and take the Test, come back and tell us how you did, ok?

* Yes! As a matter of fact I did capitalize the word ‘History’ to draw in our rogers…very good!

here, a little mind worm to get you started on the day… don’t say the Doctrine never gave you anything

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TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine- “…quite the week of words and thoughts, worlds and emotion”

December 10, 2017 By

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

‘Currier, Ives and …Puppy’

(Landscape orientation)
Phyllis’s treehouse on a snowy Saturday afternoon.
The trees are a frustrated child’s attempts to draw a straight line, up and down. The Number 1 soft-graphite pencil a not-so-un-witting accomplice in the filling of the page with dark lines. The snow on the ground matches the cloud-painted sky. We choose to see it as the sky, as it appears opposite the colorless ground.
We identify the ground because it supports the one element of color, the treehouse and it’s banner flag appended to the side at an angle.
The flag is a rectangle on end with it’s right edge sliced by gravity on the diagonal. We do see a Labrador-looking puppy in the center of this flag, poised, it might seem to those of us with less mental discipline, to jump to ground and play in the snow.

 

1) Climate-appropriate change in weather. Makes for interesting photos.

2) Phyllis and Una. Both are the ‘qua’ in my ‘sine qua non’ (being my all time favorite latin phrase)

3) the remarkable depth of writing over to Kristi Campbell’s ‘hop FTSF

4) the opportunity to wrestle with the everyday bindings of routine and, at times, gain enough slack in the life-colored ropes to practice writing, such as this week over to zoe’s Six Sentence Story

5) the Wakefield Doctrine (which, to get all allegorical (or metaphorical or whatever the cool sounding term is), was the bus ticket found at the side of the road one day that has totally taken me to a place I would not have gone.

6) The Book of Secret Rules (aka the Secret Book of Rules) the freedom to write whatever is enjoyable (with the stipulation that: “[w]hen shooting off on a tangent, the basis and a priori justification need be cited or otherwise referenced. Exceptions allowed to the (Rule), if and, conditional on the acquiescence of putative Readers, the writer clearly states, “well,  ….because! that’s why!”)

7) Video

8) hey! New(er) Readers and/or TToT participants!! Did you know there’s a (valid) concept referred to as ‘hypo-gratitude’ (or commonly, ‘hypo-grat’)  ex.  “Hey, it snowed yesterday! That’s a total hypo-grat on my TToT!” (note: as Josie Two Shoes (our hostinae) will remind us, there are no rules. There are, however, shared expectations. And first among these shared expectations is ‘good intent’. So (an) Item of Hypo-gratitudeness should contain an element of humor (whimsy is allowable as substitute)

9) photo (to follow)

10) SR 1.3

 

Touch this… (with your cursor)

 

somewhat way back in time… (yes, as a matter of fact, I did wear bell-bottom pants but did not wear a fringe jacket)

 

https://vimeo.com/230228225

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FTSF -the Wakefield Doctrine-

December 7, 2017 By

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

Today we head over to the most excellent of bloghops, Finish the Sentence Friday. Hosted by Friend of the Doctrine, Kristi and (for this Week) Hillary Savoie.

“Can you say, ‘ello there Miz Kristi, Ms. Savoie? Sure you can.”

The way this bloghop works: participants are invited to complete the sentence, the fragment of which is provided. Each week a different sentence fragment. When (participants) complete the sentence, in the manner of their choice to whatever length they deem proper, they add them to the list of posts to be found at Kristi and Hillary’s blogs. That way all are available for reading, hence the term, bloghop.*

I will join the others and invite you all to join in this week’s ‘hop. It’s fun and it’s interesting and, if you’re into the stream of consciousness school of post writing as am I, you might be surprised at the post that sits on your screen and dares you to hit ‘Publish’.

The Sentence to be completed:

“When it comes to belonging…”

“…the concept tempts me to believe that I know how might a blind man or woman feel, surrounded by well-intentioned people earnestly describing Niagara Falls and with each new narration of the experience, I smile in their direction and nod at the descriptions and metaphors, analogy and examples.”

The above is my immediate ‘Finish’ Arguably that makes it the most honest completion of this week’s sentence. I do, however, have a second, perhaps more… fun Sentence completion. But first a little backstory and, hopefully sufficient context to make my post more…fun?

The above complete sentence is what I think about ‘belonging’. My perception of myself, (hey, all the rest of what follows is an elaboration of what those four words imply. Not so much that the words themselves explain anything as it the way I describe the process underlying my response), is that of an Outsider. For me, the world is ‘out there’ and I am here. (One of the ways to spot an Outsider, aka a clark in the Wakefield Doctrine system) is to say, ‘Every day I wake up and try to figure out what I’m going to have to do with the world out there.’ It’s been my experience that a lot of people do not make that distinction between themselves and reality. They tend to be the people who belong.

Now the follow-up Finish (of the Sentence):

“…the closest I come to belonging is when this topic comes up and I sense others, who hesitate and look around the group, quietly, un-noticeably before responding. At such times I believe I can see the rainbow in the mist at the edge of Niagara Falls, if only for a second.”

 

 

 

* sorta… I suspect the etymology is far more involved (and interesting) than my suggestion, seeing how no one actually ‘hops’, not that that’s possible, being a medium that does not permit direct physical interaction. ‘though, that being said, there is nothin in the rules that forbids participants from hopping, at least that I’m aware.

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