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Part Two/Drugi del/Deuxième partie/भाग दो/第二部分

April 11, 2010 By

So we begin…the second half (of the beginning) of this thing of ours…

Expect significant changes in the layout of this blog in the coming weeks, changes that reflect function as well as form.  Posts will continue to be central to the blog, but we will be creating separate areas dedicated to on-going features, including but not limited to: ‘Case Studies’, activities at Millard Fillmore High, Interviews by and with Progenitors and Downsprings, and other fun activities.

The reason for the change is simply, it is time.

This will be the place to learn about, express, correct and add to the Wakefield Doctrine (aka theory of Clarks, Scotts and Rogers.)
This theory proposes that all people have (from the start of life) three distinct ways of relating to the world.  
It is a given that we are all  born with the qualities (of each form) as potential.  At some point a predominance/predilection for one (of the three) forms expresses itself.  A clark or a scott or a roger is born.  No one is simply a clark or a scott or a roger.  Just mostly.  As a clark, as a scott or as a roger. ( June 25 2009)

(That was from our very first Post.  Not that we are much clearer on what it is we are trying to do with the Doctrine, but we are having more fun trying.)

In the original ‘plan’ for this blog, the Pages were to contain the facts/information/knowledge of the Doctrine.  The Posts, on the other hand, were thought to simply provide a place for Commentary.  However, in the process of writing the Pages and the Posts…

…what’s that?…good question…What is the Objective of this blog?… What do you mean?  Haven’t we addressed this  yet?…we haven’t… shit.
……..I apologise.

Been so intent on writing Posts and trying to come up with different ways to talk about the Wakefield Doctrine, that I have not noticed that, for longer than I realise, I have been  ‘talking to strangers’.  Before this blog, the Wakefield Doctrine was simply the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers. (As in: ‘hey don’t get him started about his thing about how there are only three kinds of people in the world named after his friends, you won’t be able to get him to shut up).
The Objective, the goal, the reason and the point of effort is to get as many people as possible to understand and apply the Doctrineto their lives. So, not such an ambitious goal, is it? It comes down to seeing people benefit from knowing the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers.

You do know that this is not really a theory, at least not as commonly defined:
1. A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena; 2. A belief or principle that guides action or assists comprehension or judgment

Hey!, wait a minute now,  maybe I will hang my hat on #2:  ‘a belief…that guides action or assists comprehension’. 
Yeah, I can live with that definition, a belief that guides comprehension. If you know how a scott is experiencing the world, you will know how they will act in any situation; same is true for clarks and rogers.

 So, back to those changes.  Soon this blog will have 5 sections: (a) Post; (b) Principles of the Doctrine; (c) Examples of the Doctrine; (d) Application of the Wakefield Doctrine; and (e) Fun Stuff.

Not certain about how it will actually look, if anyone has any suggestions about the layout, feel free to leave a Comment.

You know,  this is all about you (the Reader) having the experience of hearing someone (in your life) that you have not mentioned the Wakefield Doctrine to, hearing them say, “jeez he is such a roger” or “that’s not too scottian is it?”
Think about how much fun that will be!  Until then we will keep coming up with new, different and fun ways to present the Wakefield Doctrine, (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers).

You know you’re right! What’s a Post without a contest?  …why a hat (for your damn head) what else would we be giving away?  Lets make that a 3 part contest!*

To win simply let us know:
A) Who (of the three)  you think you will hear an (unprompted) reference to the Doctrine from in your own world? (your clarklike friend, your scottian or rogerian friend);
B) What you would want to read (on a shirt). (Sorry I already have mine in: “I (heart) Janie Sullivan“);
C) Go over to (friend of the Doctrine) Mel’s Spatula in the Wilderness and get him to give you a free t-shirt/shamwow/emergency mop, document that to us and we will give you a hat (for your damn head).

So until the next Post… Hey what’s up with the visiting only on Wed/Thurs?
No!  We are not giving up on Janie and the kids at MillFill High…(I did say there would be a section called Fun Stuff)

And always with the videos….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yRdDnrB5kM

* Contest ends sometime Tuesday, limited to the first 10 entrants (as if…)

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the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers

April 7, 2010 By

‘Hey, you got a minute?’

(Now is it all cultures that imbue this totally innocuous phrase with such bad ju ju?
Or is it only this culture?  Not really sure.)

You know by now that the Wakefield Doctrine is a unique and fun and productive way to understand why people act the way that they do, right? And, you know that the Wakefield Doctrine (aka the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)  offers you  tools with which you can change how you interact with the world, so much so, that the very course of your life can be altered?

Well, it does, and you can.

Just wanted to get that out there.  Sometimes it seems that we are writing the same thing over and over.  Pressure to come up with Posts that are funny or amusing, provocative or at very least, holding your attention through one more Post; all this in the never-ending effort to build the Readership of the blog.  To this end we have come up with a fairly odd array of themes and characters, (literary devices) and Polls and quizzes.  And vidoes, my god, if it were not for youtube.

I think that we have reached the halfway point of the beginning phase of this blog.  The actual Doctrine is understood by our Readers, and a style of presenting the information that supports the WD,  has evolved to a point where we are reasonably comfortable (sort of) writing these Posts.

So, why the weird vibe?

Well, to begin with, this is the 108th or 107th Post of this blog.
In the course of writing these things, we have tried to not only illustrate and demonstrate the principles that comprise the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers, but to do so in ways that Readers will find interesting, amusing and most importantly engaging.  I have the advantage in that I speak to most of the people involved in (this) process of writing Posts.  I speak of the group refered to as Progenitors and Downsprings, an odd collection of friends, relatives and others who have been drawn to this thing of ours.  Some are active in the blog on a daily basis and others are included on the basis of name only, but there is a group, as it seemed (in the beginning) to be necessary for this to be a totally collaborative effort.  Finally, there are the Readers, between 25 and 30 people in the world who come to the Doctrine on a regular basis.  I mention this because I am constantly looking for this blog to ‘take off’.  Sometimes I think, if only I could get the people I talk to, to ‘talk’ to everyone else, through Comments or Replies or even writing Posts,  then there would be the energy that I know is there but often think is not coming across to our Readers.

When I say that I talk to everyone, I mean everyone.  Real people, friends, work associates and people that I would otherwise have never have met, were it not for this blog, people like Mel and Jason, Pixie and Kino. (These are people I have met online, they are writers of blogs and citizens of virtual worlds.)
And the only reason I am talking to them and getting to know them as people, is the Wakefield Doctrine.

Given that the most frequent ‘voice’ you hear on these pages is that of a clark, can there be any doubt that the Doctrine is ‘a useful and productive (and fun) way to understand those around us’?
(And did I say changing our lives?  I did, didn’t I?  Can I get a big amen).

At times when I question what we are (trying to) do with this blog and whether or not it is coming across, the answer I am left with still comes out the same: the Doctrine has legs.
A major part of the process of writing a blog, (at least for me),  is trying to keep the ‘pride thing’ at bay.  I read the site visit stats  and everytime I see ‘good numbers’, I get all humble, like “yes we must continue to serve humanity and carry the message of the Doctrine to people in all the lands”.
And then there are the days when there are a grand total of three vists by noon and I am all ‘wtf? why do they forsake me, maybe I am overdoing the Janie thing, maybe they all are getting bored and what will I do with my life now’.
(Am being totally serious here, I mean last week or whenever the change over to the self-hosting occurred, there was a lag of a few days when the Wakefield Doctrinewas effectively offline.  I still can’t believe how bad I felt, lol.  As the oddly quaint expression has it, ‘I was beside myself’.  Damn it was un-comfortable.)
But then I will force myself to ignore all that and write a Post, even when, especially when, I totally do not feel like it.  And then I remember why I do this thing. 

And the preceding, little parenthetically top-heavy paragraph is the ‘proof’ of the Wakefield Doctrine.  If the Doctrine can permit/allow/encourge/enable me to do this thing, then it can do anything  to improve your own damn lives.

So, come on down folks!  This way to the Wakefield Doctrine carnival of understanding.  ‘Doesn’t matter who you are as long as you are here.’

Soon to appear in a computer near you: an Interview with a rogerian Reader (MJM), the second installment of Downspring#1’s Case Study, another Advice Column from Ms AKH and, of course, more from everyone’s favorite, Janie Sullivan and her friends at ‘ol MillFill High.  We will now conclude this Post in the (approximately) usual fashion, with videos. (I really can’t explain vid #1, I have never been a fan of the Dead but the goddamn thing has been in my head since I started writing this Post.  Worse than usual, I had only a fragment of a lyric, ‘this long…something’.  So I had to go through a ton of clips, did I mention that I am not such a big fan? “The Pain, OH the Pain” (Dr. J Smith LIS).  Oh! and hats (for your damn head) there will be so many contests.

…and then there is George…

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Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad

April 5, 2010 By

Case Study 1
(being the practical application of the Wakefield Doctrine to the workplace)
(…this had better work…)

We often talk about presenting the Doctrine in a context that offers a practical application (of it’s principles).  Today we begin a series based on a ‘Case Study’ of the Wakefield Doctrine as it can be used to understand and change a real life situation.  First a definition, a ‘Case Study’  being:

‘Case study’ refers to the collection and presentation of detailed information about a particular participant or small group, frequently including the accounts of subjects themselves.  A form of qualitative descriptive research, (a) case study looks intensely at an individual… drawing conclusions only about that participant or group and only in that specific context….(CSU definition)

(As all our Readers know, the Wakefield Doctrine has a number of writers and contributors referred to as Progenitors and Downsprings, this little case study comes to us courtesy of one of our Downsprings).
Downspring#1 is the subject of this ‘Case Study’ and she will be sharing her experiences as she attempts to apply the Wakefield Doctrine the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers), to her (new) employment situation.  We will follow her adventures and will have commentary from (other) Progenitors and Downsprings.

Downspring#1:

“My employment odyssey began with a box of saltine crackers.  I was in need of Saltines, noticed that Groceryland had a very good sale on them and immediately drove to the store for my purchase.  Walking up to the store, I could not help but to notice a sign on the door stating that (Groceryland) was hiring “for all positions”.  After buying the Saltines, I went to the Customer Service Desk and asked for an (employment) application.  Somewhat uncharacteristically, I asked the woman behind the counter how the turnout was.  She appeared to be a bit at a loss for words, clearly wanting to use the word  “loser” to describe most applicants,  but settled for “not sensible”.  She told me that when I brought back my completed application, I was to ask for a Mr. Rogers.  I thanked her and returned an hour later, employment application in hand.   Mr. Rogers looked over my resume and asked what position I was seeking.  I gave him a list of what I thought I wanted to do, the last item (on my list) being ‘cashier’.  I was then informed that ‘everyone started as a cashier’.  Thinking to myself, ‘why did he even ask what position I would like?’ and refraining  from saying I could handle the District Manager position, I agreed.  He closed the interview by telling me that he would call me the next day.  (Turned out it was 2 days later), but he did call and told me I was hired provided that  I passed the background check and the drug test.   Five days of training later I was on my way to becoming a cashier.”

“I was hired at the end of February as a cashier,  to work at the local branch of Groceryland’s.  I am one of over 50,000 associates employed.  It has been an organization committed to”giving back” to the community since their first store opened in 1925.”

“Groceryland” corporate headquarters are located in Jacksonville, FL.  The store I am employed in is located further south on the east coast of FL.  The market we serve is somewhat diverse.  It is a beach town and although there is a small affluent population we primarily serve the blue collar demographic of town.  The store is open 7:00 am to 11:00 pm 363 days of the year.”

“As a part time employee, I was told my hours would be anywhere from 15 to 30 hours a week.  Hm.  My first week was about 35 hours. (and have been called to come in on my day off to fill in twice) I have never worked less than 29 hours/week so far.  The schedule is rather varied as I gave my availability as full range 7:00 am to 11:00 pm.  Yes, it does wreak havoc with sleep and life in general.  Consecutive days off are rarely given.”

“A full month plus has now passed since I entered the employ of “Groceryland” and I must ask myself several questions:
1) How can the Wakefield Doctrine benefit me/my interactions in this particular environment?
2) Or put more directly, What is the value of the Wakefield Doctrine to me in the situation described above? ”

There we have it,  a real person in a real-life situation asking if the Wakefield Doctrine has any damn practical value.
It is nice of Downspring#1 to ask us how the Doctrine can be used to help her situation, and to show how much we appreciate her interest, we will bring in a scott and a roger.  It is a basic tenet of the Doctrine that all people have the qualities of each type (clarks, scotts and rogers) and that it is only a predominance of one (of these three) that accounts for any of us being what we are, i.e.  clark or a scott or a roger.  Further, the Doctrine is based on the notion that each of these three types perceive the world differently.  It follows that getting a different perspective on a situation/problem is the only reasonable approach.

It has been said that the Wakefield Doctrine is a tool by which if we can identify a person as a clark, scott or roger we then know how they view the world and if we know how a person views the world we can know how they will act/react to that world. (“twew, its twew” Madelaine Kahn  Blazing Saddles)

So in the next installment, Downspring#1 will present us with a more detailed account of the workplace she finds herself in, with attention to (her) interactions with her co-workers as well as her managers and supervisors.  So stay tuned….

Also coming up this week, an Interview with a Reader that we have not heard from before!
MJM, a rogerian Reader who is an occasional contributer to the Comments section, will be talking with the Progenitor roger.  Being from the generation that grew up in the late ’50s, her ‘take’ on the Doctrine should be quite interesting.
Also in the works, more from Ms. AKH (possibly another edition of her Advice Column, ‘…like I care…’) which has been generating a good amount of commentation.

So tell a friend to read this thing!
If any of you Readers run into any of (our) Slovian friends, tell them we really want to do an Interview with them. (And the Doctrine now has a translation function for each Post so no reason not to share it with the whole village, or family, or collective or whatever the hell social unit you guys are dividing your culture into).

 

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a question is the hook of a demand F. Perls

March 30, 2010 By

As promised, kind of rushed, but here is the first set of questions that will form the basis of the clarkscottroger personal diet schedule (CSRPDS)(copyright pending).  This is just the beginning, a format will be developed as we go along but, as always, do not hesitate to Comment and/suggest additional questions.  We have Downspring Joanne to thank for the compilation of these questions.  (She has been elected Mistress of Testifying by the Progenitors and DownSprings; big round of applause!) (Readers take note, plenty of opportunity for advancement here at the Doctrine!)

You hear a knock on your door at home during the day. Without looking first, you open the door and see 2 Jehovah Witnesses/Mormen folks.
Do you:
a) slam the door shut
b) invite them and hope that they do not think you keep a sloppy house
c) invite them in and make fun of them as they give their presentation

You are driving during the day and see a car off the road, obviously in an accident.
Do you:
a) immediately pull over and see who is in the car
b) continue driving and plan to call 911 if you don’t see anyone else pull over(in your rearview mirror)
c) pull over and start directing traffic

You are in a busy supermarket check out line, six people in front of you and someone cuts in line.
Do you:
a) tell them in a loud voice to get in back of line and the others in line back you up
b) you start by pointing out to (another line member) what a jerk that person is and proceed to incite the crowd
c) complain until the culprit notices and then back off.

You’re in a convenience store and ask for 2 packs of cigarettes. The cashier brings only one and when you ask for the other pack,
she gets it while saying quite rudely “you only asked for one.”
Do you:
a) insist that you asked for 2 packs
b) say you’re sorry
c) ignore the comment.

You’re in a plane with a window seat and the passenger next to you hogs the arm rest, elbowing you in the process.
Do you:
a) elbow him back
b) say excuse me or
c) pretend not to notice while you squish yourself against the window.

You’re working in a store and a mother comes in with 2 unruly boys who are noisily running all over the place
and disrupting other customers while the mother completely ignores them.
Do you:
a) tell the mother to control her kids
b) kindly but sternly tell the kids to stop running around or
c) pretend not to notice the kids

OK, still way rough and general, but it is a start.  What you will see in coming weeks will be more questions, but we will be presenting them in a more ‘interactive’ manner.  Hopefully will get one of those apps that lets you (the Reader) take the test and get the answer/score right away.
The score?  Why whether you are a clark, scott or a roger, of course!  We know what you are pretty damn quick if you would write a Comment, but the idea is to help those more Doctrine challenged (yeah, I’m talking to you rogers) We know that the clarks simply cannot resist a test and the scotts will always sniff a bright shiny object, especially if it is simple enough and they (the scott) can get others to take the test. (yum, yum).

So, I will ask our Readers, take the damn test, already!  (Hat? always with the hats…)

OK …free hat (for your damn head) for the first 5 Readers* who complete the test (must submit your answers via the Comments).  Contest ends at the end of this week.  So hurry on down.

OH Sloviansss! I know you guys are reading the Doctrine…(it’s in the little visitor thing on the right).  We are serious about an Interview Post.  Not to worry about language, we can get one of those translators, if you are concerned about language gap.  I know that Janie keeps asking when you people are going to get in touch…we can arrange for her to do the Interview.

OK that’s a wrap for now.  A little video and out.

(Hey Ronin, Mel, Jason, did my new url make the transition on your blog rolls ok?  If not let me know and I will send it on over.)

(Hey, it’s got a dog, Jimi Hendix and attractive young people…what’s not to like?)

(*of course, you Downsprings and Progenitors are not eligible!  Besides you all have (or will have) hats for your damn heads)

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say it soft and it’s almost like praying

March 28, 2010 By

(hey, be careful put that box over there…) (Did anyone see the box full of metaphors?…I don’t know I guess I would say it looked like…) (Janie…someone tell me that Janie was packed and the box clearly marked)…(No, I don’t think this blog is a spacious as the last…don’t ask me….)

Oh.  Hello.
Still in the move transition-state.  I trust you all got through the week,  it did get a little dicey for a while there, Doctrine in transition-wise so to speak.  If you checked-in at one point mid week, you would have found one of those beginner blog themes with a desperate plea to ‘come back, don’t get scared please come back’. (Save that, it will be worth something someday on the collectors market along with Howard the Duck action figures and Clifford Irving autographed copies of Me and Moe.

For those of you who did not get the Memo, the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers) has moved from a WordPress free blog to what is called a ‘self-hosted’ blog.  The free blog was very nice and gave us the platform to get the Doctrine out of our heads and into the world.  It was a user friendly and a simple to operate blog platform, and did I mention it was free?  But it had  limitations, mostly regarding the kinds of ‘programs’ that we could use on the site.  These limitations were not onerous and it was a low maintenance blog.  But eventually, the need for features and tools that could help the Doctrine grow outweighed the convenience of the free blog.

So here we are.  Self hosted (we pay to be online), but cost (should be) offset by being effectively unlimited in the kinds of things we can do with the site.  The list includes more useful polls and questionnaires, features and applications that can be utilized.  All of this will take time, so while we get comfortable in our new digs, we are trying to keep the ‘look and feel’ of the blog as close to the original as possible.  Clearly the layout is different, not too different, but not the same. (Did I mention it was different?).  At some point we will start to work on the look and utility of the blog, (hey maybe a contest! which theme is the prettiest).

(hey! hey!  watch the couch there, no that is clearly marked PLATES, so it does not belong here… it belongs there) (whats that noise? coming from one of the boxes!  damn I gots a feeling you-know-who is packed up in there, shit  lets hold off a minute before we un-pack our favorite high school student, yes?)

My apologies, I just re-read the last Post (I do enjoy reading them) and realized that I promised everyone that we would start of the Case Study series with this Post.
Damn.  Not gonna happen, unfortunately.  Too much moving in, figuring out what goes where, what the new buttons do (on the ‘Dashboard’ where I am writing this from), that sort of thing.
‘Fraid that unless Roger comes through with something today, we will be talking about the move and what to expect.  Promise to get to the new stuff as soon as possible.
On that note, a shout-out to MJ, who wrote asking where the Doctrine was. I re-stated my offer to help her write a Post (she is such a roger), and maybe if we all give her a hand, let’s git her up on the stage…(slow applause)…’come on up’…grace us with some rogerian words of comfort, learning and intrigue’…

While we wait for her to make up her mind…I see Slovenia in the HOUSE!!!  Sloveniiaaannnnnnssss!
Hey, guys good to see you made the transition.  You know what I would totally love?  A Post that includes an Interview with a Slovenian.  Seriously, that would be a good thing. You can have a choice of who poses the questions, etc (look at old Posts see what we have done with Interviews.)
But, I really would like to see that.

So, got to unpack.   (Hey who packed ‘the Janitor’?  in what box?…Labeled ‘BAGGAGE FROM THE PAST’  very funny!  lets see, pull this tab, cut this tape.…)

Yes!  Mr. B  would you be so kind as to…I know it was a little confined…no, packing characters together in a box would not be…appropriate.
…Would you be so kind as to find us a video to get out of this short little Post?  Yes upbeat and old would be a good combo, will leave the choice in your capable hands.

 

So watch for changes and fun and a Questionnaire and the start of the Case Study (featuring Downspring#1) and of course much, much more from those madcap little scotts that we like to call Ms. AKH and Glenn.

 

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