the Wakefield Doctrine

Six Sentence Story -the Wakefield Doctrine- “a Six Sentence Cafe & Bistro Six”

May 8, 2026 By clarkscottroger 14 Comments

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

This is the Doctrine’s contribution to the Six Sentence Story bloghop.

Hosted by Denise, constrained by a sentence limit (high and low) of six, there are worse ways to spend the remaining time you have on earth.

Previously in out current tale…

Prompt word:

SIGNAL

“Gotta say, there’s something not right…”

Lou Caesare was not a man given to public displays of emotion, however, in his professional life there were exceptions; for example: after concluding a traditional Ben Franklin Close following a formal presentation to a recalcitrant competitor, nearby tables would be at risk of inversion, chairs and other random furniture might be employed to increase the airflow of the room.

“My great-aunt Rosa, may she rest in peace, a devout Catholic all her life, could lay a novena on ya like breakin’ sticks. Not that there weren’t stories about her knowing things that hadn’t, technically, occurred yet, but not for nothin’, it was from her and not the nuns or even the pastor doin’ their best to show me the path that I got most of my business… acumen,” Lou smiled around the word.

On the stool to Lou’s right, Hazel Grover, in a stunning example of ‘signal-over-message’, smiled at the tall, thin man who was standing next to a woman seated at the waitress station end of the bar; just past them was an opening with an arrow to the left labeled Men/Women/Human, to the right a sign saying ‘This Way to the Manager’s office’, unfortunately the lighting seemed consciously unreliable, enough illumination to allow the door to be seen, but not enough to guarantee safe passage.

The tall, thin man had, upon entering the Café, removed a dark blue watch cap and was now handing it to the woman; this gesture possessed a degree of formality the hat’s casual style served to accentuate; for her part, the woman, wearing a pair of Balenciaga sneakers and a Mikimoto matinee necklace, turned and nodded to Lou.

“…back ‘atcha, ma traiteuse,” smiling his acknowledgment, the owner of the Bottom of the Sea Strip Club and Lounge stood and walked to the exit, his resolve renewed.

Six Sentence Story -the Wakefield Doctrine- “Wherein Dr. Egmont, utilizing his Time Mechanism reaches out and touches our travelers.”

May 6, 2026 By clarkscottroger 22 Comments

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

This is the Doctrine’s contribution to the Six Sentence Story bloghop.

Hosted by Denise, constrained by a sentence limit (high and low) of six, there are worse ways to spend the remaining time you have on earth.

Previously…

Prompt word:

SIGNAL

“What the… ”

If, as the popular metaphor maintains, Time is a river, then no one, having stepped into one, will insist the section of flowing water leading to their position is separate and distinct and that the downstream body of water isn’t still the same river; unfortunately for our adventurers on their way to Chicago, a certain Dr. Egmont not only appreciated this all-is-of-one view but capitalized on it when he built his Time Mechanism, designing into it the capability to focus on an individual with the effect of moving them through their personal history.

Rosetta Storme felt her breath hitch as the burn of tears transformed the view through the car’s windshield into a sad and blurry kaleidoscope, a blackhole pulled her down and back in time; asphalt and white lines were replaced with autumn grass and rows of headstones. The hands that gripped the car’s steering wheel became younger, nails without color or polish, a coat of lighter construction than the blue-grey clouds might call for and before her un-mascara’d eyes, a sea of black-on-black-on-sadness showed through on all but the oldest of faces.

As real as the cold November wind ruffling their shrouds, two coffins stood at momentary rest next to a pair of open graves; as the priest droned on in a dead language about senseless killings and the promise of heaven for the benefit of the living gathered in the cemetery, a man in a dark suit stood next to the formally-carefree girl; Rosetta felt her uncle’s presence and dark strength, no words needed other than his turning his left palm forward until Rosetta, taking his hand, signaled she was ready to continue her journey.

“…fuck!?!?!”

Rosetta Storme felt the car drift towards the breakdown lane, successfully regaining control even as the tactile feedback from her hands to her brain changed from the rough skin texture of a hand accustomed to exerting force to one of a leather-wrapped steering wheel in a German luxury sedan.

Filed Under: Fashion Center Tagged With: Six Sentence Story, the Wakefield Doctrine

Wednesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

May 6, 2026 By clarkscottroger 3 Comments

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

You’re welcome.*

Since we got off track with yesterday being Tuesday, the most clarklike day of the week, we’re gonna make up for it here and simply make observations without contextualizing or dramatizing.

of course not, for this blog, (and the Wakefield Doctrine itself), to be wildly popular, we would need to be a roger. they, (the Herd Members), have the innate sense of vox populi**

But then again, clarks are not ‘people’, clarks are Outsiders.

And rogers, having the quality of the average, healthy socially adept person is anything but an Outsider. (Even a scott is not an Outsider, at least not in nature. They separation from the Herd quality of the scott is a choice, one might argue of a tactical nature.

What neither scotts nor rogers have that clarks do, is the intrinsic sense of the reasonable dichotomy of the Outsider, to wit: I awake this morning. In considering the day ahead, I think in terms of the ‘world out there‘.

(and we mean it. lol)

So we’re good with the size and scope of this blog, the Wakefield Doctrine. If for no other reason than the fact that it would not have been created by a scott or a roger for one very good reason: no need.

And…and!! the benefits, (to us as a clark who happens to be the curator of this thing of ours) include: having far greater access to other clarks (to identify with/learn from/encouraged by seeing their successes in negotiating the world).

that’s enough.

well, one more thing. we’re most proud of the discovery/understanding/appreciation of one characteristic of the rogerian predominant worldview, that is their tendency to ‘lash-out’ when uncomfortable/or in fear of losing the (social) spotlight. clarks frequently experience this when interacting with a rogerian friend and the conversation is totally positive and enjoyable and seemingly out of nowhere, the roger says (the equivalent of) ‘Yeah, you’re an asshole’ And, with equal abruptness (after the emotional snack/meal provided by the clark) continue the conversation.***

Anyway, the reason we’re proud of this particular insight from the Wakefield Doctrine is that most clarks, in the endless seconds following being lashed out at, are thinking, ‘What the hell did I do to bring that on.’

Now we know. Nothing. It was not us, it was them. (for some clarklike reason, speaking only for ourself, hearing this makes all the difference in the world.

Thanks! Wakefield Doctrine!!

*surely one of the most costly, if not damaging characteristic of the clarklike worldview is our self-effacing modesty. Just gonna leave it at that. If (you’re a clark) you know what that means.

** this is new (to us), i.e. the original and full expression is Vox Populi, Vox Dei (‘the voice of the people is the voice of God’)

*** classic ‘apology’ from the roger if called on this inappropriate attack: ‘Oh man, I can’t believe I said that‘

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine, Understanding Human Behavior

Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

May 5, 2026 By clarkscottroger 2 Comments

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

Here’s a topic we used to focus on far more frequently than presently.

Prompted by, as we are grateful for Reader Comments: Mimi and Misky respectively:

“’As we experience it.’ Often the main point.”

“Aye. A good post: All reality is lived personally — but not all of it is shared.

Lets check the anchovies, see if’n we can get some further input.

ἡμέρα Ἄρεως -the Wakefield Doctrine- (‘the day of the week most favored by clarks’)

August 1, 2017

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

So why is it that, of the three personality types, clarks look upon Tuesday as, perhaps, the best of all days of the week? Simple. The weekend-workweek transition day (Monday) has been survived, the focus on achieved (or not) progress day (Wednesday) has not yet occurred and the deceptively desirable end-of-workweek day (Friday) is still a distant dream.

Tuesday is all about optimism and promise. And clarks, well, clarks are nothing if not the embodiment of promise.* No, in our brief discussion this morning, ‘promise’ is decidedly a noun. And the context is social context-free! It is not about breaking a promise, making a promise, promising to better. It (the promise of a clark) is the potential… for (totally fill in the blank).

If anything, the promise inherent in the worldview of a clark is the event horizon of their existence. whoah! (whoah, indeed!) Damn, as often happens, I’ve stumbled into a topic that, like a quiet talk and a cup of coffee at the kitchen counter, the coming day still held back by the castellation in bleached oak of the cabinets bracketing the sink, the outside wall falls into the yard and the world yaws open, ever hungry for human time.

lol

Cliff Notes version of my tantalizing allusion: “…the promise inherent in the worldview of a clark is the event horizon of their existence.” clarks are always searching for something. Being of a rational bent (clarks think, scotts act and rogers feel), the sought-after thing manifests as knowledge/information. clarks are the insatiably curious of the three. The ‘something’ clarks seek is the thing that everyone around them appear to know already and, by tragic miscalculation, clarks assume is the knowledge that makes them, (scotts and rogers) real people. They must have been absent that day, when growing up and being taught about life, ya know. In any event, that is the singularity, the conviction that if they acquire more information, they might discover the secret and become a part of. Like the nearly-all powerful black hole, we cannot see it directly and so are left with the edge of endless appetite, like golem with a question mark impressed upon our foreheads.

* the natural tendency here is to interpret the word ‘promise’ as a verb, which totally changes the spin. That kind of promise is strictly of the domain of the real people, the scotts and the rogers. (“Hey, a promise is a promise, so get some clothes on an we’ll catch some breakfast” “Yeah, but you promised. I heard you promise. Everyone heard you promise. How can you do such a thing?“)

sorry, got waylaid by the phrase ‘the event horizon of their existence‘

Mimi keyed on one of the linchpins of everyone’s favorite personality theories, ‘As we experience it’. This is an oft-repeated phrase and are intended to provide a gentle reminder that one reality does not (necessarily) fit all.

Misky’s coda is a commonsense addendum for those, (perhaps new Readers excited at the notion of personal realities), who might see the principles here as license to snoop.

Thank you both for a rather sophisticated prompt for a Tuesday Doctrine post.

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: relationships, the Wakefield Doctrine, Understanding Human Behavior

RePrint(ish) Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

May 4, 2026 By clarkscottroger 4 Comments

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

Before we start-restart this here Doctrine post here, a word about demographics.

In the most direct/least-effective-way-to-attract-New-Readers way, we’ll suggest:

If you come back here, just one more time (and, no, not just click-and-flee but to read) then in all likelihood you are a clark.

(At the very least you have a significant secondary clarklike aspect.¹)

New Readers: the Wakefield Doctrine is a perspective, (quite voluntary, often challenging, entirely fun and worth the effort), on the world around us and the people who make it up. The Wakefield Doctrine is predicated on the idea that there are three distinctive ways to relate ourselves to this world, as would:

an Outsider (clark) who/a² is careful to not come under hostile scrutiny** living in a world that’s a giant ‘Time-to-Open-Your-Presents’ birthday party in which the guest list is a random mix of those you wish were your friends/those you’re glad they’re not/who-in-their-right-mind-invited-them?!! (…all while parental adults, armed with video cameras and phones*** circle beyond the child-horizon, waiting for the opportunity to strike)
a Predator (scott) if you’re thinking about demonstrating an early grasp of this personality theory system…think again. No, wait, what are we typing?! This is the description of the scottian (pronounced: scoe-shun) personality, the Predator. They are not the adults hovering around in our more-autobiographical-example-than-we-realize example. a scott doesn’t think, they live (which is: to act on impulse/ to seek excitement and/or stimulation/ to engage with the world, either running after prey or running from (more powerful) predators
a Member of the Herd (roger) Yahtze! they’re the one’s with the cameras. they’re also the ones forming the ring of observers focused on every move our birthday boy/girl makes. These people, (well, ok, were referring to the kids, but they’re going to grow up and constitute the majority of the population and therefore determine the social dynamics of all subsequent celebrations (adj: rogerian pronounced roe-jeer-rian)

The fundamental principle of the Wakefield Doctrine is this: we all begin life with one, (and only one), characteristic relationships, aka predominant worldview. Since it is our relationship, the world accommadates us and takes on the appropriate complementary qualities and nuance and it is in this psycho-social context we develop our strategies for getting by/surviving/thriving in Life. One might say, we all have the perfect (ok, the optimal) personality for living the world as we are experiencing it.

damn! out of time. maybe next Monday we’ll do the RePrint thing tomorrow.

1) if this is the case, we can say with certainty you are reading in the company of clark (or in the after effects of hanging out with a clarklike friend

2) the Wakefield Doctrine is gender neutral (among other things)

** there’s another kind of scrutiny?

*** the 21at C version of a mace or a trident

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: clarkscottroger, personality types, the Wakefield Doctrine