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TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine-

March 31, 2018 By

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

Una (world traveler) looks out from her private (and portable) cabin during a layover in Frankfort.’

A quiet sort of TToT post this week. A lot of the (potential) Grat Items piling up in my head are, in fact, of ‘the world virtual’. Prompted in no small part by the FTSF ‘hop of yesterday. It gave us licence1 to spend some time in the past, more specifically, the past here in the ‘sphere. Which is kinda where my head is at this morning. The blog post in question is from 2009. It was like, all of the fifth month I’d been writing this blog, but for reasons I’m just beginning to understand, it stands out in my memory. Phyllis asked something about the post, along the lines of how ‘everyone’ reacted. That triggered a total flashback episode, (do your own wavy screen), of the very early days, not something a clark is not naturally predisposed to do. Of course, the reason I started a blog was the Wakefield Doctrine.2 In any event, I think that the post was one of the thresholds necessary for me to cross that I might continue to write; like a clark.

So, I will get all referential3 and list what I remember as the path (or, like an adult returning to a childhood home town, I’ll point and insist (convincingly, it is hoped) that promontory, from which I jumped into ocean, was much higher than it appearss or that the walk to my old elementary school only looks like a single, sidewalked block.)

The thing about this blog, (and me and the internet), is that it was all driven by the Wakefield Doctrine. I was talking to a young clark yesterday, which is a treat (like getting the next-the-last-spelling-word correct) and I recounted an Easter story from my past that I often relate to other clarks. (The thing about the story is that, while everyone feels sympathetic, a clark will respond on a visceral level.) It was the Easter Egg hunt story.**

Okay, I jumped my formatting a bit. So, let’s try to get things back on track. So I wrote blogs ’bout every day in the first few years and, in the name of getting the Doctrine in as many people as possible, I got on ‘the Facebook’. Thats when I began to meet the remarkable people who I now count as friends. The aforementioned Finish the Sentence Friday bloghop was the first of my active participation with people in the virtual world. So, here’s one of my favorite photos5

So the rest is the present. I’ve been totally lucky in encountering only people of good intent. Interesting, when I first ventured out, I was all, ‘Lets see them try to attack and/or make fun of me and this Wakefield Doctrine.’ The thing was, they never showed up. I was, for a while, all, ‘Oh man! I’ve got to get better exposure. No one is challenging my on the efficacy or effectiveness of the Doctrine. I’m failing in my mission.’ Slowly, (am a clark, remember?) I realized that it is possible to hang out with cool people without the occasional ‘what the hell are you doing here, you don’t belong.’

Lets close this out. Una, she totally gets her own footnote.

 

 

  1. the founderess of this very bloghop, Lizzi Lewis who lives in the future, (well, relative to us, here in the States, she’s at least five hours ahead; if you get a text from the UK cap-lettering that there are Four Horsemen heading east, you’d do well to back up those old posts and clear your browser history) and in Great Britain. A typically un-assuming village by the name of East Hollandaise o’er Hardtack, in the Medium Low Counties (Village motto: ‘articles?! we don’t need any articles, any freshman at university could tell ‘ye that!’)
  2. call it the ‘sine qua non’ (yeah, go ahead, this is the Doctrine where, as Humpty Dumpty reminds us, words are our friends.) Or, if so inclined, get tangled* in the debate that this is a Doctrine blog or merely my blog about the Doctrine. I’d be willing to take either side.
  3. sometimes it seems like we’re all, ‘rogers are a pain in the neck’, but, as we know (if, that is, we’ve been doing our Wakefield Doctrine study) if it weren’t for rogers we’d live in a world without stable cultures, electronic devices, over-bearing laws and a judicial system. We’d totally be trying to remember how the ‘8 times table’ goes and hoping that the scottian designer of the airliner we’re riding in didn’t just spot the new intern and left the backup safety design to the clark who really thinks that couches and a bathroom for every passenger makes sense for transcontinental travel. In any event, rogers do this thing called a rogerian expression where they take a word and use in a way at once improper and totally amusing. Here click this to the page that includes a list of rogerian expressions.
  4. I am grateful for this story. It (now) elicits a feeling, an actual emotional feeling (lol) for my fellow clarks. Sure, I identify with clarks and see, in how they relate themselves to the world around them, myself and by doing so improve my-own-self. But I feel a love and admiration for them knowing that they got through events like this and are still fighting the secret fight to become a real person.
  5. Cynthia
    *
  6.  Una (top photo, of course!)
  7. Josie Two Shoes (if you realized how often I’ve had to go between ‘text’ and ‘visual’ to keep the formatting from careening off the page like a car in an old time movie, you’d be saying, ‘Well, at the heart of this post is the person who puts in the time and effort to make it available for those with too many words in their head.’ Thanks J.)
  8. THIS SPACE AVAILABLE!  (If you’re out there and have not yet participated in the TToT but really want to, send a Grat Item***
  9. Sunday Supplement
  10. Secret Rule 1.3

 

* the rhetorical equivalent of a nice, over-sized quilt used for mid-winter afternoon naps… ‘tangle’ isn’t always a bad thing.

** so, I was, like five years old and there was an Easter Egg hunt in Oak Bluffs. There was a large, rectangular field and on the street end all the children were lined up with their parents and families behind them and the Starter stood on the forward left edge. The eggs were, of course, up in the field which actually was mostly grass. I’d spent most of a sleepless night planning and rehearsing in my head how I might do best. For some reason, a reason now lost in the litter of a lifetime of memories, I started running before the official start. I got a pretty good distance before I realized something was wrong. (lol… yeah) I finally stopped and turned around.    ….they waited for me to return to the starting line.4
*** Subject to the Book of Secret Rules (aka the Secret Book of Rules), some restrictions may apply


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TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine- ‘a Ten Item List in Three Sections’

March 24, 2018 By

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

‘Queen’s River Baptist Church’
(landscape orientation)
A simple, single-story church. The steeple that doesn’t show in the photo is as simple a design as the rest of the structure. If I knew more about religions (in particular this sect of Baptist) I might venture that the attitude reflected in the architecture is surely ‘right attitude’, (as my Buddhist friends might opine’).
Like they say, ‘A church is not a physical ladder to Heaven and it is surely not a invitation to come visit. Those that spend 100 years of time, empty the coffers of the poor and twist the lives of the families of the devout are no different than the psychotically-vain pharaohs of antiquity, building towering stone cathedrals. Like a desperate host going overboard in the gilt and pressed lettering of the RSVP, some religions appear to hope that, by appearing to be more than they are, the God they insist holds dominion over all will be impressed and attend. And, of course, guess who expects to be standing at the door to greet the guest of honor. (Sorry, Kerry, got even more carried away than normal with my ‘descriptions’.)
A Simple, peeling-white-paint church in the middle a field set on the edge of a modern paved highway.

Section 1 The photo here is illustrative of:

  1. My gratitude for the blogosphere and them what inhabit it, in this case Pat Brockett
  2. (On the Finish the Sentence Friday this week), she used a couple of old timey photos* which, naturally, caused me to go all clarklike on the topic and in my comment, (eventually), raised the idea of the relativism seen in photos of the past, specifically in terms of where we build our houses and churches. The church in the photo is on Route 138 in West Kingston RI (Actually, it’s in a section of West Kingston called Usequepaug**)
  3. My work that allows to me to drive around a lot and a) know that this church was where it was, all right there on the highway and such; 2) be able to take a side trip to get myself a photo to make my point and the technology to share it with the mass-ettes. Total Grat.

Section 2 Of the virtual world, both real and imagined:

  1. Over to the Finish the Sentence Friday bloghop this week, I got to tell an Ola story. What causes this seemingly mundane event to make this list is all about how I felt when I told the story, not typed in the post, but out loud to two other people.
  2. Six Sentence Story was fun this  week. Haven’t tried it?  What the hell! Head right over there and check it out. All three administrae are represented in the stories to be read. Josie and zoe and (current) Denise. Tell a friend too. (No, better yet, trick someone you’re not overly fond of into committing to writing a Six. Total, no-lose-proposition there.. lol they’ll either love you or hate ‘cha. Its a fun ‘hop)
  3. Speaking of Josie Two Shoes, she-who-makes-this-TToT-possible/available…. thanks!

Section 3 Una, Phyllis

 

  1. ‘Una watches as a turkey walks up the driveway to catch up to his/her two friends. Seemingly oblivious to the protests of the Chodský pes standing guard on the back of the loveseat at the picture window.’

  2. ‘Phyllis at her computer.*’
    She wants me to tell you that those are the new flowers she bought for Easter.

9) THIS SPACE AVAILABLE  (no, really, it is. If you need a hand over-coming the inertia of not-posting a TToT, put that little darling in a comment and I’ll post it here.)  Friend-of-the-Doctrine, Cynthia  ‘has the floor’:

I have a thankful! That phone interview lasted three times longer than it was supposed to, but I got an offer of acceptance to the McLean Meditation Institute to become certified to teach meditation. Me iz happy! :) I start as soon as I fill out the enrollment papers. I usually call the Doctrine around the middle of the month but alas, the interview time went into Doctrine time. Not sure if I’ll be able to call next week. It’s another ROAD TRIP! :) Going to see family in AZ, NM and CO. Along the way, some sights and sounds. Will post pics! Hope you’ve been well. Tell Phyllis her flowers are gorgeous, and tell Una she won’t ever catch the turkeys but they *do* love to be watched, so she should keep doing that. lol. Also, interesting description of the church up there. LOL. Great thoughts. Happy Sunday!

10) Secret Rule 1.3 (which states, in part, “the completion of a Grat List is, in and of itself, a valid Grat (Item); [mathematically speaking, it might best be expressed: G t minus Item 1-9 = ~ !0

* highly technical photography term, ya know

** The Usquepaug Road Historic District is a historic district near the village of Usquepaug in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. It consists of a collection of properties, mostly on the south side of Usequepaug Road (Rhode Island Route 138) between the Usquepaug Cemetery and Dugway Bridge Road. Although the area began as a rural, agricultural area, it developed into a modest rural village, with a church, school, and cluster of vernacular rural houses. The schoolhouse was destroyed in the New England Hurricane of 1938. (Wikipedia)

Thanks Val! (for the commentversation that totally reminded me of this vid)


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Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

February 27, 2018 By

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

The Wakefield Doctrine is a perspective on people, (and how they behave); the world around us, (and how we experience it) and of our ownselfs, (how we relate ourselves to the world around us).

Rather than claim to have developed categories of behaviors, traits and inclinations into which all people fit, the Wakefield Doctrine takes a different approach to the business of personality types.

The Wakefield Doctrine proposes that when we, all of us, are born, there are three realities by which the world is manifested: the life of the Outsider, the reality of the Predator and the world of the Herd Member. For reasons not yet understood, we, all of us, ‘step into one’ (and only one) of these three realities and grow and develop, mature and learn, in order to thrive and prosper. Our behavior, (public and private), our social styles and strategies, (professional and personal), our coping mechanisms (how we get what we want and survive what we do not desire) are a reflection of the character of the world, as we experience it.

(Those italics? Totally intended to emphasize the fact that, according to the Doctrine, we experience the world, reality and everything else, on a personal, but very real level.)

So, you’re young. Real young. You look around and you realize the world, (and the people and the things) are that of the world of the:

  • Outsider. You’re included in the activities and the interactions of the people around you. They look at you and say almost the same things that they say to each other. But you sense there is more to the conversation than you hear. You notice there’s a certain ease among them that you do not feel. They don’t seem to be wondering about things. You decide that you must have lost the instruction manual and start looking for it. You ask the others about it, but they look at you in a way that feels like you’re different. You stop asking. You keep searching. You’re on your way to developing the personality type we refer to as (a) clark.
  • Predator. Holy shit! Things happen fast! The surprises are constant and you aren’t nearly as thrown by them as the people around you. You must be good at this. Things happen so fast that there’s no time to figure it out. Run away or attack seems to work. The others notice you. They point out how much energy you have, clearly they are impressed. Besides, you wake up and there’s alway something to do, to fight, to love, to run away from, whats the point of worrying about tomorrow. Besides, you already know about tomorrow, there’ll be someone doing something that you like or don’t like and can do something about …or to. You’re on your way to refining your personality as a scott
  • Herd Member. Time. There is endless time because you’re not worried about it. Everyone around you confirms that there is time. Everyone will let you learn to do the things they do, as long as you don’t try to rush them. You wake up from dreams of doing something better than anyone, without ever having to change. The world is good and your life is complete. There are those who are in a hurry and lack the understanding of there being enough time and they make you laugh. Sometimes. There are those you know who worry about time, about not having enough time and they hide. Sometimes. They make you glad you know what you know, (that) the world is a knowable, learnable place and life is good as you practice being a roger.

Those are the three personality types of the Wakefield Doctrine. They reflect the character of the reality the individual experiences. Know the nature of the world the other person is experiencing and not only will you know more about them than you have any right to know, you will know how they will act in the future.

Note: We’re all born with those three realities? And we are what we are because we grew up in one of them? The ‘other two’ are alway there. We live in only one of the three characteristic worlds, however, we never lose the potential to survive the other two. This doesn’t mean we can instantly assume the traits and style of the other two personality types. Think about it. Our premise is that a child grows up and develops the style appropriate to one of the three worldviews. As in, ‘practice for a lifetime’. But you can, especially under duress, exhibit traits and instincts of the other two. We call these ‘secondary and tertiary aspects’ and that’s for another post.

Learn about the characteristics of the world of the Outsiders, the reality of the Predator and the life of the Herd Member; go out, watch and observe those around you. You will see people acting as if they’re running across the savannah about to overcome their prey, you’ll spot the person who is so comfortable and self-assured that you wonder why they can’t stop talking about themselves and, if you’ve studied hard and are vigilant, you’ll see the person who wasn’t there a moment ago. Just for a second and then the conversation seems to shift and they’re nowhere to be found.

And that’s just the start of the fun.

the ‘everyday fun’?  A moment ago, while I was getting Coffee#2, Phyllis said, “I have very vivid dreams.” In my best Jules Winfield, I said, ‘Example.’ Phyllis paused in her breakfast preparation and said, “Well, I was in a dorm room in a school in Boston. The other girls in the room were there already and there was nowhere to put my stuff, their’s being already on the beds and the bureaus. We had to go to church in part because there was food there.’ I said nothing but felt the pull of those elements: people, communal living space, and the stress of unpacking and said, “In my dreams, its about having to take a final exam and realizing that I had, for one reason or another, not gone to any of the classes.”  We both enjoyed the reflection. Before leaving the kitchen, I added, “scotts? Their legs kick in their sleep.” We both laughed and came back here and decided to tell the story as best I could.

New Readers: Phyllis is a roger (with strong secondary clarklike aspect). Me, I’m a clark.

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Tee Hee o T -the Wakefield Doctrine- “and a side of arrrts”

February 4, 2018 By

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

‘A street sign taken to heart. Car and canine pause, the world waits.’
(Landscape Orientation)
A photo of Una ‘riding shotgun’ as we begin our walk.
Una is in close profile, the left side of her face illuminated from the sunlight coming through the car’s windshield that makes up the entire left half (from top to bottom) of the photo.
In the center top of the windshield (or, perhaps it would be better to say, ‘through the windshield ‘) there is a ‘Stop’ sign, every bit the municipal lollipop that you might imagine, were we all to end up in a good-natured Bosch painting (or perhaps an updated version of the animated movie, ‘Yellow Submarine’ (which, for the record, you couldn’t not love, at least not while claiming to still be young))
The Stop sign is all octagonal officialdom and the street that passes perpendicular to the street we are on is visible as a smooth, grey-blue patch against the winter browns of the hay in a field on the far side of the street. To the right of the ‘Stop’ sign there is a square stone column. Not quite a tower or battlement, it’s the kind of decorative structure that used to be popular at the entrance of residential developments. There would be a pair, one on each side of the street. Perhaps it gave the residents a feeling of security that, should the need arise, a tall gate might be closed, the two stone structures providing a secure anchor point. Or something. For all of the popularity of gates on a residential neighborhood, an actual gated community in this part of the country is more the exception than the rule. As well it should be, what can keep strangers out serves just as well to keep people in. A prison is that which separates some from the others. The relative numbers determine the virtue.
Yes, Una is sitting in the front passenger seat and we can see her face for a change. As luck would have it, we are driving into the setting sun. The light provides the opportunity to see her face. The light causes her to rest (and protect) her eyes. They are nearly completely closed.
One can be forgiven for venturing, ‘A dog, do they ever completely close their eyes?’ And, (as) one, I might say, “a lot less frequently than you might think.” Even lying on the couch (or the bed or the floor) dreaming of slow-running rabbits, the activity in the eyes of a dog is surprisingly consistent.

Humor is a funny thing. (Remember in college, the discovery of new music and art was like that second step into the waves at the beach, the one that just preceded throwing yourself in to the water, knowing that the fun had to do with coping and not doing? In that case, the waves were there already and the fun was, (hopefully), to do what makes swimming in the ocean fun. Finding new music was, at that time, much the same… “hey! you gotta listen to this band, this song..wait  wait  this part coming up.” And you look at your friend with hope, as they get to the part you found so amazing and they’d get a look on your face that, in the alchemy of the friendships of the young, was a look of gratitude and brother/sisterhood as they discovered that you share one more thing in life.)

…yeah like that.

Stephen Wright

Woody Allen

(Sunday morning… 10:58 am)  ‘Hey I was just watching this with Phyllis and saw something that I never noticed. Diane Keaton (and her character Annie Hall) are the epitome of clarklike females. I won’t go into a long discussion other than to say, “Watch the scene (1:09 turn up the volume) where her parents suggest that Dwayne drive them to the airport. Annie leaves the scene but you can still hear her talking…” This Doctrine is truly a wonderful thing.

 

Jim Gaffigan

One Two Three

arrts

Thanks especially to Val. In one of her recent posts did some excellent poetry which reminded me that poetry is not necessarily distantly inaccessible. Shout-out to Carin who can actually do a whole TToT in verse. (damn!)

this guy

Over the wintry

forest, winds howl in  rage

with no leaves to blow.

(Soseki (1275-1351)

and maybe a painting or two.

oh man! A(nother) chance to illegally reproduce one of my favorite paintings!

Nighthawks is a 1942 oil on canvas painting by Edward Hopper that portrays people in a downtown diner late at night. (Wikipedia)

We better stop and take a count!

lets see… five plus Una and Phyllis minus the Sunday Supplement minus the Free Grat Item and minus SR 1.3 Holy Smoke!

6) Phyllis

7) Una

8) Sunday Supplement (check back tomorrow)

9) ‘Your Grat Here’  (anyone in a position of really wanting to participate but are not able to do a whole TTOT post…. you can borrow one of ours! No, serially, send it in and we’ll go right ahead and post it. We’re the Wakefield Doctrine where you can never be 100% of a lot of things. ya know?)

10) Secret Rule 1.3

We’re done!

Wait…. gotta shout out to Josie Two Shoes  hey! Josie! thanks for puttin on the ‘hop this weekend.

So you know how I keep saying, ‘learn the basic characteristics of the three worldviews and then look at the people around you?’ And, of course, by ‘people around you’ I mean anywhere, including music videos. And by characteristics, I mean, ‘by their posture and attitude, actions and reactions, from which of the three realities (that of the Outsider, the Predator or the Herd Member) would they seem to be relating themselves to the world around them?’

I submit this video. Good song, great illustration of the three worldviews. In the three lead guitar players you will see a clark, a scott and a roger.

https://youtu.be/aPHr71auAzY

The roger and the scott might at first be a little tricky. The clark? lol

 

hey! this is the TToT


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January 1, 2018 -the Wakefield Doctrine-

January 1, 2018 By

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

‘Una and Phyllis sitting on the bridge at the pond on a single-digit temperature afternoon.’
(landscape orientation)
Three quarters of the photo is of winter-bare trees, background woods and a snow-covered bridge identifiable as such by the repeating divisions of the top surface, as the snow is so light and dry as to allow the gaps between each plank to show dark. Una and Phyllis are in the lower right quarter of the photo. Una is the triangular shaped fur-covered lifeform who appears to be smiling, if for no other reason than she has the quality of living in the moment. Phyllis is the blue, black and grey shape to Una’s left. Phyllis is smiling as she is practicing the way of life that permits such a response, despite the conditions of the external world at the moment.
I am behind the camera assuring both that ‘that’s a great shot! it’s a wrap’.

the Wakefield Doctrine is a perspective; inherent in all perspective is a new way of understanding.

the Wakefield Doctrine is a tool; (one definition) of a tool is, ‘an artifact created to enhance and multiply the intended effect of an effort’.

the Wakefield Doctrine is fun; fun has been defined as ‘the byproduct of relating ourselves to the world around us in a manner that meets the external demands of the world while leaving the opportunity to be creative‘.

Thanks and a big shout-out to Friend of the Doctrine, Cynthia for her ‘first of the year clarity statement’ Which simply means that, as a clark, she has captured the spirit shared by all clarks.

Two and an eighth clarks….*
Cynthia and Una and John.
Una is sitting in her chair at the head of the table. Cynthia is standing to Una’s right. John is on the left side of the table, mostly ‘out of frame’.
No one is looking at the camera.
…of course

As per the above definition, the work in the Summer of the years past illustrates that one (circumstance’s) effort (and labor (and expenditure of energy)) is fun when those involved contribute (creativity includes assembly) to producing a thing of utility and value.

And so, in the time that unfolds into the next culturally arbitrary division of time aka the ‘New’ Year, we here at the Doctrine will take up our friends challenge to have an effect on the world by finding ways to become a more and better self.

(Clearly that admonition is hypo-grammatical both literally and figuratively.)

The third ‘definition’ of the Wakefield Doctrine above mentioned fun. It is. Fun. For example, from one of the earlier posts in the blog, a discussion of jobs.

All jobs, employment, occupations, avocations, professions, missions, crusades, escapades and ways that we chose to earn money fall into one of three categories:

Scientist, Salesman and Machine Operator.

  1. Scientist is (for our purposes) the one who wants, no, make that needs to discover the unknown and upon discovery wants to share it with others. clarks, it has been noted elsewhere are the creative one of the three, creative in the purest sense of the word.
  2. Salesman is the one who wants to change others, to get them to conform to his/her will.  A scott will get others to do things just because if she is the one directing others then no one is directing her.
  3. Machine Operator is a person who believes that the only tasks worth doing is the one with a defined set of variables, anything from engineer to accountant to musician.  Rogers tend to be the most excellent of musicians from a technical standpoint. (If you had a band comprised of a clark, a scott and a roger, the scott would be the ‘front man/woman’, the roger would play lead and the clark would play rhythm (but also be the main songwriter).

So get out there and look around.  What do you like to do for work or for fun? I guarantee that whatever it is, it will fit into one of these three jobs and more than likely it will correspond to whatever it is you are (clark or scott or roger).

 

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