July
3, 2017
It's
been a really odd and stressful few days. Over the last two weeks,
we've had 13 people make their way to Aspen, in ones and twos. We had
to have a meeting on June 22 on how to handle people coming in. Some
of our group didn't want to let anyone else in, but most of us
realize that we have to let in others. We just have to figure out how
we are going to do this. We need a set process with a group of
questions and we need to have a committee to make the decisions
regarding candidates.
In
order for our community to keep moving forward and growing, we need
to have more people. We're already talking about incorporating another line of wall that will include the entire street, all 14
houses with their large yards. Once the wall is built, we'll take
down some of the fences and use the land between the houses to plant
additional food crops. Plus, we can spread some of our current people
out and have a little more room. We've been pretty crowded at times
and only have the room we have now because of the trailers and RV's.
But they were always supposed to be temporary, so the construction
crew are going to meet and figure out what they'll need in supplies,
additional manpower and time, to built the new wall. It's going to be
a huge undertaking and I just don't know if we really have the people
we need to build such a long wall.
Thankfully,
the 13 people who've shown up all seem to be good people and we used
them to solidify the process for vetting new people. Linda, Aaron,
Gary, Steve, Williams and myself are the ones chosen to be the
committee for new people. We now have 20 questions we ask and we tape
the answers so we can review the answers while discussing each persons possible inclusion in our group. All of the
belongings of each candidate are also gone through. Any notes,
journals or other writings are read. Then, the people we accept are
put on a probationary period and are given a job.
Everyone
here helps out in some way. Most of us have jobs assigned and a
sentry or patrol duty as well. We need a lot of help in the garden
with the crops and vegetables, as well as on the construction crew.
We have a rotating schedule for sentry duty and patrols around our
compound and everyone has to take a turn. We put the new people with
some of our more practiced people and teach them what to do. Some of
the mothers are on house duty. Some days, they take a turn helping
out with the children after school hours, or helping clean up the
kitchen or rest of the communal parts of the house. Other days,
they're doing laundry. They are a great group of women and we would
all apart without them. They make sure we're all taken care of and
have a clean place to eat and sleep.
Other
possible jobs are in the garden, the kitchen, or on the construction
crew. We have people who concentrate on scavenging missions and we
have a small group that runs our school for the children. Dr. Ben
Carol S. and Kim are our main medical personnel, but anyone with
training can be called on to help out when needed.
Besides
interviewing new people with the committee, meetings of the ruling
council, and my sentry or patrol duties, I've also been asking
everyone for their journals, letters or other written accounts of
their experience since the pandemic started. Everyone is also
bringing me all of the written items they find out on missions. I'm
starting an archive, of a sort, of experiences from regular people.
I'm sure that somewhere, someone collected the thoughts and writings
of our leaders before civilization stopped. I'm more interested in
what all of us normal people, you know, the button pushers and stay
at home moms, experienced. I'm excited to read every journal, whether
I now the person or not. My heart breaks for the ones where we know
no one was alive when it was found. I've cried while reading the
suicide letters and been heart sick when I read about parents killing
their children then themselves. But I'm determined to get as many
perspectives of the breakdown of civilization.
As a writer and artist, I appreciate
any readers and their comments. Thank you for taking the time to read
this blog. Please, come read the other blog I write for our artisan
collective, Raven's Castle Creations, on our website at
www.ravencastlecreations.com. It includes posts on art, the mythology
of symbols we use in our art, history and more! Also, come see the
art we produce in our Etsy store at
etsy.com/shop/RavenCastleCreations. Follow us on Twitter at
@ravencastleart and on Facebook at @ravencastlecreations.
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