Alex Briggs Workplan

Responsibilities and Schedule

I would be happy taking responsibility for greywater or composting systems, as well as garden tasks... and possibly tying in closely with dish-cleaning and all (depending on how involved the greywater ends up being, and how into it other people are)

I feel that work goes smoother when whole tasks are assigned to individual people, so long as everyone is working towards the same goal and communicates openly about any imbalances they perceive in the work load

I have been enjoying waking up with the sunrise, and think I will try and maintain this habit- Since this is probably earlier than other people may be up, I could get started on a breakfast (if other people have a reliable wake-up time, or are happy with a non-hot breakfast) and/or do gardening tasks (these tend to fit in well in the morning) and maybe other personal projects, computer work, etc.

Then my schedule would probably fit an 11 o'clock lunch break for food and rest before the afternoon shift

here i guess I hope to be in the shop the whole time from 12-6, so I suppose I'll hope to have finished CAD and other prep work in the morning

I like making dinner-food, but I guess in this case I could hope to save this time for fabrication work- although if I rotate onto this job I wouldn't mind

Then after dinner I think I would just relax, low energy things like music, stories, games and plain hanging out (maybe occasional movies and whatnot)

That would go for pretty much every day, regardless of weekends or whenever, with exceptions of big jobs to be done or workshops available or other miscellany

Though it's a pretty exacting schedule, so I may take days faster or slower depending on how I feel, and would be happy to save Sundays to tie up any ends that have come loose along the way and work more on personal projects and interest, and in general on Saturday or any other I think I will be excited for community cohesion and workshop time (particularly outside the workshop time)

Goals and Vision:

Along that line my main goal is the practical know-how of designing and building machines to best-fit needs and then revising and optimizing them, as well as learning to operate them for their task, maintain and repair them...

I've been thinking about building these sorts of things for a while, but haven't kept track of them (didn't think it was a near possibility) but I think as I see the systems going on and opportunities around I'll come up with designs specific to the task, then share and revise them into something to try and prototype

As for my larger vision... This could get pretty expansive, I guess one dream I have is to build a sort of self-replicating starter truck kit, which could travel to other farms and build them a starter kit to raise capabilities and make more workshops for innovation and add to our collective creativity and capabilities... Also I have an investor cousin and a second cousin with some land I could be offered, I also have dreamt of setting up a workshop there, or here in Maine where I am from, or possibly Montreal, where I went to school

Also I do see this as the work of my future survival and the chance for freedom, humanity and all the good things our civilizations have brought us to thrive on into the future and possibly spread peaceful wonderful life across the universe. I dream big, so i should mention this, but i think concretely and systematically. The first step is food and energy independence, and that is plenty big enough to focus on for now

I am confident and determined to work in a communicative and productive team with all the folks at the Factor e Farm, I find that I usually get along well with most everyone- especially those that I feel i have a shared struggle with (trying to bring a more resilient world into being). I am determined to be a functional group at the very least, but my hopes are much bigger.

I have been hoping for a supportive and creative group that I can engage with on all levels... this has often been difficult because it seems I spend so much of my time thinking about problems and solutions in the world, while other people tend to be more oriented towards living their lives.

I think we need new and more resilient social support systems just as much as we need new infrastructure. Happiness that is not based on wealth, waste and commodity seems contrary to the nuclear individual as we are lead to act under consumerism... As I touched on earlier, I like the idea of having a communal goal and all pitching in a share of communal work that we feel good about. This is because it gets away from the kind of "work accounting" that i think breeds shallow and often self-serving relationships. By this I mean counting your work and trying to match other's work to it to determine if you need to feel bad and do more or if you have done more and now can feel either lazy or superior (neither of which I feel are productive). I hope to foster an engaged and very hard working co-operation with the Factor e crew. I think heirarchies inherently do exist and can be positive when they occur naturally around skill, knowledge and direction- so long as they are recognized, communicated, and consensual... I have a lot of ideas about trying to live differently (not in a list or anything, but i think about it a lot) and I look forward to flexibly experimenting to find a happy and productive balance.