the Wakefield Doctrine

ok Friday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

April 20, 2025 By clarkscottroger 6 Comments

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

This is the Doctrine’s contribution to the Unicorn Challenge bloghop.

A word-count constrained imagination contest* hosted by jenne and ceayr, the prompt is an image and the only limit is ‘tell your story in under 250 words’

Fair Warning: A bit of a ‘shaggy dog‘ story.

I know what you’re thinking.

You’re thinking, ‘Who the hell left a wetsuit our to dry in the middle of where anyone could steal it? Worse, what kind of person would take a photo and bait the writer with an Old Testament fixation and a clear need to make people smile.’

Am I right?

Well, I am and you’re not.

There’s a lesser-known approach to writing fiction that maintains the simple direction: “Write something that will engage the Reader and then, no matter how outlandish the initial premise, (or, if you’re lucky, an inciting incident), write your way out of it.”

Now you’re getting warm. This would be simpler, if not more conventional were the author to adopt the Second Person POV for the narrative. You’d type the scene. You would find a way to break the fourth wall with a sense of good-natured humor, (a resentful Reader will not continue to ‘The End’), and voilà! Story written, story read.

But, now you’re thinking, ‘Where’s the payoff? The reward for engaging in a writer-Reader transaction?

Funny thing about that. The Reader is not drafted, (not counting those conscripted by classroom adjutants handing out writing assignments), the Reader voluntarily pays their money, (usually of the most precious of currencies, Time), and rightfully expects to be: surprised.

So, big finish!

“The three Marys stood before the Spool of Life and heard a young man in a white rob say, “Surfs Up!”

Filed Under: Fashion Center Tagged With: the Wakefield Doctrine

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine-

April 19, 2025 By clarkscottroger 15 Comments

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

The Weekend Landscaper’s Universal Sign of Distress (lol)

The is the Wakefield Doctrine’s contribution to the Ten Things of Thankful (TToT) bloghop. It is a list of the people, places, things and events (yeah, you might say that ‘events’ qualify as ‘things’ and thereby allow us to retain the original expression. But we didn’t. Seeing as you’re still reading, allow us to introduce you to the hostinae of this here bloghop here. Being far more … nor-mal and emotionally-developed (i.e. mature and capable of responding on a level of interpersonal sophistication higher than our), ‘Yeah? Well We’re rubber and you’re glue. Like that horse you rode in on.‘ err… our hostinae: Mimi, Dyanne, Denise, Misky, Lisa and Kristi. They will be better able to convey the intent of this ‘hop. Share the gratitude you experience and it is then multiplied in others.

ya know?

For the Doctrine:

1) Phyllis

2) Una

3) the Wakefield Doctrine (see Grat 8 below)

4) Closed on my upstate listing. No more Friday inspection trips. Alas, that means no more driving past the Port of Providence. Elimination of any further opportunities to paraphrase one Mr. Mix-a-Lot’s admission into our current favorite bon mots, i.e. ‘I like big boats’.

5) the Six Sentence Story bloghop

6) the Unicorn Challenge

7) work in the woods (as opposed to wood-working or working the wood) photo of first phase:

8) Hey, couldn’t manipulate the word ‘Wagon’ (photo in previous Grat), into any humorous form (the closest we got was the theme of ‘Wagon Train’ but no one reading this is old and alive enough to have direct memory thereof. So, instead we got Vince Gill and Albert Lee (see video below).

… Hey! Wait a darn minute! That vid!! For TToT gratitioneer, Cai, you know how we say the three personality types of the Doctrine can be observed manifesting differently in three people doing the same thing? The three featured guitar players in the video are Vince Gill, James Burton and Albert Lee. Guess what? roger, scott and clark (respectively)…

Simple, impromptu study guide:

the clark (Albert Lee) is easiest to identify: the guy with the unfashionably long hair and the bad posture … so clarklike;
the scott (ProTip: with scotts? the guy in the black shirt who gets introduced and plays the first solo, (the eyes of a scott, unmistakeable always alert)
finally that leaves the frontman (Vince Gill) as the roger. affable, easy going and confident)

See how much fun the Wakefield Doctrine can be?

9) something, something

10) Secret Rule 1.3

music vids

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: psychology of personality, relationships, self-development, the Wakefield Doctrine

Six Sentence Story -the Wakefield Doctrine- ‘Tales of Parchman Farm’

April 16, 2025 By clarkscottroger 23 Comments

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

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

Hosted by Denise, there is one rule: Six (no more, no less) Sentenceses to the story

This is one of a series of Six Sentence Stories we’ve written based in the all-too-unfortunate reality of Parchman Farms. Links here and here

(In case you’re having trouble with suspending disbelief, here’s the wikipedia page.)

Prompt word:

LEASE

Sundays were the only day the inmates did not spend in the fields of Parchman Farms; that religion held sway over the lives of the men of Camp 8 one need only watch as they walked up the road towards the small white chapel with their escort: horsemen with rifles riding, groomsmen for a ceremony that celebrated irony as they endured the sermons of deliverance while wearing iron shackles.

The morning’s heat served to offer an involuntary baptism to the newest prisoners; as was the case of most things in their new life, the prisoners were expected to provide the water for the sacrament, as the man in black told them that they could be saved.

Severn Tigue, a name that made his life tough and his disposition tougher, leaned towards the old man who sat with the practiced balance of the aged on the rough-sawn pew to his right.

“You think, if I went to the Preacher and told him I’d surrender to the Lord, I might get an early release?”

The smile on Elias’ face, the one language beyond the reach of the Warden was, but for a flash of white in the ebony crags and folds of the old man’s face, spoke volumes.

“Your soul might belong to Jesus, but Boss Roscoe, he holds a lease on your body and there ain’t no skippin’ out on the rent.”

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

Wednezdae -the Wakefield Doctrine

April 16, 2025 By clarkscottroger 3 Comments

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

Seeing how we’re on such a self-educating ourselfs kick this week, lets get all Miller Analogy on this bad boy:

a clark is to Outsider as a

a scott is to: Predator/Tasmanian Devil/accidental amphetamine ingestion/all of the above

a roger is to: Herd Member/Obsessive-compulsive CPA/the Rain Man (character) played by David Spader (actor)

ok, enough frivolity.

We were in a conversation the other day about the Doctrine. (Yeah, like those stories you used to hear from the first generation immigrant kid in your elementary school. How their parents spoke the language of the old country but insisted they speak only the anglaise at home.) But in reverse. Friend of the Doctrine, Cynthia can tell you about Doctrine-family-dinner-conversations can be.

New Readers! (and Cai) ProTip: When we first encounter the Wakefield Doctrine (and it’s three personality types), first (and most fun) step it to learn the characteristics of clarks, scotts and rogers. However this can lead to confusing the characteristics with the personal reality(s). The Doctrine is very much not about fitting categories of personal traits and such. You know (if you’re old enough) the Sunday Supplement/section of the magazine after the ‘cont’d from’ but before the back-cover. (Earn $$$ while you Sleep!! Passive Income from the Internet. Too Slowwww? New Super-charged system FREE!) “Honey? I found a personalty survey and it has you to a ‘T’ Come on, take the Quiz.”

Well, the Doctrine, once you have the basics down, is easier than that! We’re not concerned with traits and foibles, interests and obsession, tropisms and phobias. We don’t even care if you take the test. (Which we actually have one…of. lol on the Landing Page. Right in the Middle. Courtesy of being ‘convinced’ by Christine to create a quiz. Back in the day.)

This is the cool thing about the Doctrine. We’re concerned more with the character of the personal reality the person lives in. More precisely, the (personal reality) world that they grew up and developed in. What we focus on? The individual’s relationship to the world.

You grow up in the reality of the Outsider, knowing you are different, suspecting there’s something wrong, determined to discover what everyone else already knows? Guess what? You’re a clark. (etc with the other two). The neat thing is we can say, much to the laughter and delight of Readers (who’ve done their homework lol) that you… that’s right ‘YOU’ have a ‘perfect’ personality type. (Some restrictions and conditions may apply. Read the fine print).

So, when wondering about the other person, (or ourselfs), ask this very simple question: Which of the three relationships do they/I seem to have with the werld.

Back to our original theme, ‘the Everything Rule’. The preferred terminology is ‘manifest’ e.g. How does the quality of ‘curiosity manifest in the three personality types?

curiosity is for

clarks: a drive to learn the unknown, the search for (meaning/happiness/becoming) in order to become a ‘real’ person
scotts: why not? life is not about practicing the skills of the hunter, life is about being the hunter
rogers: an affirmation of the Rightness of the world

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

Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

April 15, 2025 By clarkscottroger 3 Comments

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

So, what is the simplest, most immediately productive of takeaways from yesterday’s post?

There are three and only three languages.

Imagine you wake up in a foreign country. You are able to communicate, in your native tongue, so sure you won’t die or get put in jail (at least initially). There is no doubt you’ll get through the day by pointing and miming. You’ll even make a certain progress in understanding the natives. And, if you lack excessive self-consciousness, there’s a chance that in the course of your first day as a stranger in a strange land, you might begin to establish the rudiments of a vocabulary. ‘Car’… ‘Eat’… ‘Sad’… ‘No I don’t want to…’

The single most productive insight made available by accepting the core premise of the Wakefield Doctrine? They look like you, they dress as you do, (better than/worse than), have the same social landmarks: living rooms, class rooms, bathrooms, supermarkets and airports. You know they are, on a fundamental/biological level, the same as you.

But when you stand between a native and the work they must do, the lessons they need to learn, the girl/boy they desire? That is the moment that spoken language, (the first manifestation of Earth’s Apex Predator), becomes glaringly, painfully, embarrassingly obvious. The complex society observed anywhere there are more than two people, exhibits the preeminence of the percentage of their dictionary devoted to the elements of rule and behavior.

…the benefit to learning the principles of the Wakefield Doctrine, (and choosing to apply this alternate perspective on the world around us and the people who make it up), is simple:

You will be in a position to see the world as the other person is experiencing it.

With a lot of work, the grace of your preferred diety and a bit of luck, you can acquire a level of fluency in the three languages endemic among the Outsiders (clarks), the Predators (scotts) and the Herd Members (rogers).

good luck