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

Welcome back to our host, Kristi. She’s been away on an adventure. We all look forward to hearing about her experience and what she learned that may be valuable to us. (“No internet/social media. For a week. What?! Ten Days? Really? Well that’s just, I mean, what kind of vacation were you on? Club Dread? lol We will suspend our disbelief while you relate your adventure.”)

The list of things we, here at the Doctrine, are grateful for this week are:

1) Kristi for the work she does each week and making this ‘hop a welcoming place to write and share tales of the week/past year/lives before. And… as a result of my charming and clever ‘aside’ in my intro, lets me cite a passage from ‘Almira’…

2) [Kristi, now returned from a sabbatical from social media-and/or the internet}, provides us with a ‘set up’ to present a short passage Swift’s ‘Gulliver’s Travels’  that I employed as a ‘recurring motif’* in ‘Almira’.

Shutting the door over Mrs. Swaider’s endless recitation on the affairs of the seven other families in their apartment building, Idresca Ristani stepped over the wall of chairs laying on their sides and, gathering up her child, sat down on the floor and began to read from a book,

“[The author gives some account of himself and family. His first inducements to travel. He is shipwrecked, and swims for his life. Gets safe on shore in the country of Lilliput; is made a prisoner, and carried up the country.]”

Three-year-old children require a great deal of sleep. Most children this age, hearing the words of Jonathan Swift read as quietly as a lullaby, would have accepted it as an invitation to close their eyes and sleep. Almira, secure in the arms of her mother, listened to the words and stared at the open page. Her face, but for the softness of skin and gentleness of the curve of cheek, was that every explorer who ever stood tall and strained to see beyond the next horizon.

3) And, to complete the gratitudenal echoes, Kristi has provided me a certain boost, a renewed enthusiasm and energy to return to the remarkably daunting task of editing a very long, though quite wonderful story; the story of Dorothy Gale and Almira Ristani.

4) Phyllis who is out to buy a replacement for the CR-V (lol) When it comes to the manifestation of the free market/capitalism, the internet is more Forty Second Street than the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.**

5) Una: Were dogs capable of traveling through time, and I would be the last person to take the position they cannot, they would look something like this:

6) Open House! And…and! It looks like a rainy day. Perfect.¹

7) I am grateful for Phyllis in the following manner: she enjoys watching TED talks on youtube. She gets something meaningful and significant from watching TED talks. That is not what I admire (in her). What I admire is that she totally enjoys this:

8) Sunday Supplement

9) THIS SPACE AVAILABLE (Anyone ‘on the fence’ about participating, just send me a couple of Grats, I post them here and see what you think.)

10) Secret Rule 1.3

* I mean, I really hope thats the correct term

** ok, a little …strained, but it was fun looking up the word, place etc

1. this makes for the perfect opportunity to continue the serial story, ‘Interlude’.  (Hey! Pat... Mimi! Val, you know the story is at a point to leaves the future totally open. We have two distinct but very complementary milieus, the present day in Hobbomock (a small town on the ocean) and 1967 in Hobbomock (come on! 1967! you know you can imagine people from the day). What about ‘putting on a character’ and helping continue the story.)

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