Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
The first weekend of March.
Hell, that’s an Item in and of itself! (No, I’m serious! Go ahead, scroll down, past Una and Phyllis and a couple of something somethings…. Item 7 See? Told ya I’d do it.)
Where were we?
TToT… of course. Started by LL, hosted by Wendy for a few years and now in Kristi’s capable hands. Share and/or cite examples of people, places and things that have elicited a feeling of gratitude. Anything.
1) Una (The photo above is very much Una. She enjoys the simple things. Given the opportunity, she will sit and consider the surrounding woods. We have a backyard, but it is fenced from tree-to-tree, the better to discourage un-invited lifeforms. Although the deer jump the fence for fun and the rabbits, well they have two or three exits (gaps in the fencing) that when they’re in a grey hound racing mood, will head towards. (The photo below? At the gate where the fence intersects Ola’s grave. Thats the Finish Line.) It’s a good workout for Una and an affirmation of the primacy of life and staying in shape for the rabbit.
2) Phyllis Member in good-standing of the Briar Patch Guild. (‘course one has to wonder how difficult it was, at first, growing up in the briar patch)
3) the Book of Secret Rules (aka the Secret Book of Rules) The BoSR/SBoR is a tool for reducing stress and enhancing the fun in writing blog posts. Check for yourself! (SR 3.25 sub chap. 4: “…[I]f you don’t want to get all locked up by writing properly, you don’t have to…(ibid. op.cit.)
4) Sunday Supplement
5) WIP ‘Almira’ excerpt of the Week. (Dr. Morgan is chief of medicine at St. Mary’s which serves the citizens of McPherson County, Kansas. It is located in Circe. Nurse Claire Griswold… well, she is someone…special):
“And, as our last stop, oh my, I mean the last place we will visit on today’s rounds, Ward C.”
Dr Thaddeus Morgan’s expression betrayed his enjoyment of the unintended witticism. He pushed through the double doors and was well into the Ward before he realizing he was alone. The charity ward appeared empty, ‘Of people’, he corrected himself, ‘these patients in the beds were… well, they were patients, not people’. The intern and the new nurse, who had been accompanying him on morning rounds, were nowhere to be seen.
“Well, I suppose they stopped to write notes of my diagnosis of terminal happiness for that boy in the children’s ward. Ward C has little to teach us. By the end of August there won’t be a patient left…”
“May I help you?”
Dr. Thaddeus Morgan was prone to spontaneous outbursts of emotion when surprised. His reaction at this moment, was anything but characteristic. He stood and stared at the tall blond nurse in the aisle that ran down the center of the ward. Her look in return was one of peaceful strength. Surprised that the words ‘peaceful strength’ would occur to him, he remained silent.
“I said, May I help you?“
There was something familiar about this woman. This observation had the effect of restoring the rightness of the world for Dr. Morgan. St. Mary’s was his, as he was the Chief of Medical Services and this woman, by her uniform, was a nurse.
“What is your name, young lady? Who is your Supervi..?”
His authority-establishing question hung in the air, as the intended object of his exertion of will was no longer standing in front of him. She was standing at the far end of the aisle. ‘And that’, he thought, ‘is not possible’.
Thaddeus’s first impulse was to demand she come back and resume her position in front of him. After all, he was the medical director, she surely would obey. Instead, while being certain to keep the tall woman in the center of his line of sight, he walked to her. He thought he heard a noise from the hallway outside Ward C, but for reasons he could not express, refused to take his eyes off the nurse as he covered the twenty feet to where she waited. ‘She’s waiting for me’.
He thought there was something important that he was forgetting, but it kept escaping his mind. “Sorry, I’m becoming forgetful in my old age. I neglected to introduce myself. I’m Doctor Morgan. And you are?”
Thad Morgan decided he liked this woman. She must be a new hire, although that made little sense, since he interviewed everyone hired at St Mary’s. Everyone. From the janitor to the newest surgeon, they all met with the Medical Director before being hired. And seeing this woman up close, he was certain he’d never met her. And yet, there was something familiar about her.
“I’m Nurse Claire Griswold. Now that we’re properly introduced, may I ask, again, what is it you want here?”
Thad smiled. Her disregard for status or rank was refreshing. He felt a responsibility to assert his authority. Even if he didn’t know this nurse, he was her superior and she would answer his question, “I was taking the intern and the newest nurse on rounds, for an initial orientation. I thought they were following me. It would appear they’ve lost their way; Not so surprising, here in the old wing.”
It dawned on Thad Morgan, with something of a shock, that he was babbling like a sixth-grade student trying to delay having to answer a question to which he should have had the answer. This Nurse Griswold was regarding him with a look that, had it been any other circumstance, would have caused him to stumbled over his words.
Her eyes were of a pale blue that brought to mind the wrapping paper of a present he received for his fifth birthday. It was a toy medical bag, complete with a stethoscope and a Diploma with his name on it. He remembered how his mother laughed when he put on the stethoscope and try to listen to heartbeats, of anyone nearby. His dog, Scout, was his most frequent patient.
“Do you enjoy being a physician?” Nurse Griswold asked, to the medical director’s unconscious relief, she remained standing where she was, when he last looked.
“Why I should certainly say so! I’m the Head of Medical Services! I’m in charge of all medicine here at St Mary’s.” Dr. Thaddeus Morgan spoke with a pride that made some men leaders and with a conviction that made others charismatic preachers.
“That’s not quite what I asked you, Thad.”
She was standing closer to him than he’d realized. Her eyes seemed to require all of his attention and though he’d noted that she was tall, he couldn’t understand how he felt like he was looking up into her eyes.
“Well, yes, I realize that. And no, you’re correct, I do enjoy my work…”
At that moment, there was a wobbling-whirling sound of gum-rubber wheels pushing through the swinging doors of Ward C. Ahead of the cart that contained mid-morning medications, was a young man and a young woman. Both looked somewhat sheepish.
“Dr. Morgan! We looked all over for you!” Sally Rowe spoke with relief in her voice. The young man beside her let her offer the explanations for their absence. Even as an intern, he recognized that sometimes it was best to allow the nurse to take responsibility. In case things did not work out as planned.
Dr Thaddeus Morgan caught himself turning back to Nurse Griswold, but, smiling, he said, “Well, let’s not dilly dally. The duty to heal waits for no one!”
As he led the intern and the new nurse out into the hall, he allowed himself one quick glance around the ward. It was as empty of people not lying in bed as he’d thought it would be.
6) Technology well…’cause this whole blogging thing? (Imagine the olden days of writing longhand. Though there are some rogers who insist they are much more creative doing it that way. Well, as creative as rogers can be*.)
7)…didn’t believe me huh?
8) * The Wakefield Doctrine has something called, ‘The Everything Rule’. It states, rather succinctly, that ‘everyone does everything at one time or another’. What it means is that although there are three characteristic worldviews, i.e. personal realities, all three are full of the same things. The Doctrine holds that, while a thing, say ‘creativity’ is present in all three personality types, how it manifests differs according to the worldview. Creativity manifests in the world of the Herd Members (rogers) as novel and attractive re-assembling of parts and components. clarks (Outsiders), on the other hand, experience creativity as getting something from somewhere that has never before existed.
9) THIS SPACE AVAILABLE (For anyone out there on the fence. Like the idea of a grat ‘hop. Have almost enough for a post. Send it in and I’ll post it right here.)
10) Secret Rule 1.3
video
getting a little heavier this weekend…song stuck in my head and it is the epitome of modern giant-guitar music (c. ’80s)
Great TTOT and you made me go looking for that book. :D
still ‘IP’…
Sorry, just re-read post… I have the word ‘tip’ at the start of the Item with the excerpt… what the hell is ‘tip’ supposed to mean!?! I meant to type WIP, as in, Work In Progress, of course….
have corrected.
the below is still appropriate.
hold that thought, I’m approaching the ‘beta read’ phase of editing (in a month or so), I may be asking
Way Cool!!!
Having grown up around medical people, some of whom thought everyone else was beneath them, i like Nurse Griswold.
yeah, I agree… this Nurse Griswold, wait ’til you get to know her better (one of the more enjoyable characters in the story)
“A furry apostrophe” I love that!
Is Phyllis’s tree house in the brier patch?
That is an interesting interaction between Dr. Morgan and Nurse Griswold. I suspect she may consider those in the hospital as first people and secondly as patients. Dr. Morgan may see things in reverse. They no doubt each have something to learn from the other.
Great description and one that I recall hearing…”a wobbling-whirling sound of gum-rubber wheels pushing through the swinging door.”
Not at present, but the thing about briars, they are very tough to get rid of… not a pleasant species at all!
You have a good sense of the characters… (he’s not all bad, she, however, is pretty much, all good)
OK, so my mom and I are a lot alike. Both of the phrases she noted stood out to me, too. :-)
lol
“Like mother, like daughter”?*
there surely must be a saying (to parallel the familiar ‘like father….’)
Una…a scottian dog for sure. She runs the place, you know. And you *totally* have your characters modeled after clarks, scotts and rogers in Almira. So very cool. That story snippet up there is fantastic. Scottian nurse, yes? Rogerian doctor.
As for the call-in, I’m thankful for that. It’s always fun to call into the Doctrine Radio. Hehe. And now…I should hop offa here to see what easy thing I can hunt down for dinner. 😂
dogs are innately/inherently scottian fer sure… the simple, here-and-now outlook, def role-models for that alone, if nothing else.
Yes I depend on the Doctrine writing Almira, if for not other purpose than the opposite-gender writing… (as we all know, the Wakefield Doctrine is gender neutral) I like to think it allows me to write a more credible character.
totally on the money for Dr Morgan…. (hold on until you read more about Nurse Griswold …not that there is not a scottian element, but perhaps a balanced clark-scott)
Totally see that about Griswold. When I was in college (the first time), I had a biz management internship with Enterprise Rent a Car. The Group Manager (the dude who managed the “Colorado Group of offices”) came in. I didn’t know about the Doctrine then, but now I can tell this story with a Doctrine perspective. All the rogers in the office fawned over him. Can I get you a drink? How are you today, sir?
I just looked at him with a smirk. “Nice tie, but I’ve seen better,” I joked. He blinked at me and kind of smiled. “You probably think I’m going to give you a Cadillac to drive around Colorado Springs with, but all I have in the lot is a Geo Metro. It won’t hurt you to be with the lowlies for a couple hours.”
From there, I told him his hair was too short. And that his shoes weren’t polished. All in good jest, of course. But I could feel the faces of angst of all the other guys in the office. I was friendly-insulting the guy who could fire me at any moment.
Yeah…he ended up taking me to lunch, along with my manager.
lol
the care and training of scotts… (aka the kick and pat approach…. insult them past the ‘ha ha’ stage and if they don’t hit you or fire you, compliment them… guaranteed to work… establish dominance, then reward. I have seen scotts do this in real time and in front of me…amazing)
#7…:D
My experience with rabbits and wire fencing is that rabbits can simply “pass through” wire fences with even the tiniest of squares. No really, lol I once watched a rabbit on the run get from one side of our wiring fencing to the other in what I can only describe as miraculous. Either that, or they’re gelatinous beings with the ability to squeeze through anything!
I remember Nurse Griswold. Like Mimi, I too like her. She is a wonderful character.
If I had to bet, the top characters (on first read) will surely be Almira, Nurse Griswold and Annie LoPizzo (but thats probably just me.)
We got our first dog Janet in December 2014, and one of the first things she taught us was that she liked snow… a lot. Must be a thing with dogs and snow.
Thank you for sharing those snippet of your work with us, I just met her and like Nurse Griswold already.
Have a great week!
As I always say, ‘Dogs are perfect lifeforms’. lol…. yeah, Nurse Griswold is one of my favorite characters in ‘Almira’
Have a good week your-own-self
Johnny Depp looking guy…hahahaha
yeah, I know, right?
Una in my main language (Tagalog/Filipino) means first. I especially like your first gratitude on Una and the black and white photo is the perfect beautiful and natural picture. Generally, I like many things simple and uncomplicated.
Dogs are, in fact, perfect lifeforms