A further introduction

Just like everyone else, I want to be different.

Letting go, for the time being, of why I am the way I am, I have an impulse to break from the pack. Sameness breaks my heart. Does that idea or expression seem misplaced here? It doesn’t seem to fit what I’ve already said this was all about. I’ll try to weave it together a bit more. Ultimately, it feels like sameness, as it relates to my sensibilities, is a capitulation to fear, that I haven’t exerted my imagination or intellect in response to a situation I am encountering in some aspect of life… that I didn’t take enough risk. That should clue you in that I’m a bit of a dreamer. Sometimes sameness can be about uniformity in production for efficiency’s sake. I can see, where we are living in Kenya for the better part of the next year, that some of that kind of sameness could be a great boon. I’m witnessing the work that goes into a project like the goat shed being expanded (as I type) or cabinets made from scratch, to order and store our clothes. And I mean from scratch. There’s no uniform cut lumber, delivered from the lumber yard and dropped exactly where you want it. But those are raw materials that don’t need to be artistically rendered and are clearly not in the same category. I acknowledge that this quest for uniqueness and beauty comes from a place of privilege that being a citizen of the United States confers. Sometimes unique and creative take a back seat to survival and urgency. 

Thus, my hope and plan is to work through the means by which anyone who finds this collection, this exchange of ideas and resources can find something useful to better and beautify their environment and living conditions in whatever part of the world they may be. As a part of this effort I will strive to find and include resources that move efforts, to give housing options, in the direction of sustainability and affordability. And I hope they will provide an opportunity for folks with fewer resources to innovate and develop some entrepreneurial knowledge and skills. One of the organizations I’ve come across doing just this kind of work is the GlobalGiving Foundation. Before finding this site I’d never even heard of the Sahel region (so embarrassing for a Geography nut). The needs and limited resources of the peoples in this region present a significant challenge that is being met head on with, what seems to me, a sustainable and repeatable model.

Speaking of models, my initial plan is to include in each post something like the previous reference to GlobalGiving. I will also include an example of a home or innovation that inspires me. These are often not the kinds of things that most of us will find within our reach. But perhaps they’ll light a little fire under us and get our creativity flowing. I will also seek out and include some materials and references to begin to formulate a plan for bringing our own dreams to life. I am really looking forward to collaborations that may develop here. When people put their heads together amazing things can happen. Before I conclude this post it occurs to me that I ought to give a little insight to the name I’ve chosen. Just Enough Friction is kind of a big idea that has lots of implications. Some of them are maybe very obvious, many probably not. I’d be curious to hear what your first thoughts of the name were. Do tell. The concept connotes and encapsulates my interest in efficiency and scorn for waste. I have been guilty of making a god of this ideal, at times, that comes dangerously close to perfectionism. I publicly repent of that here. It’s not something we can humanly achieve and demanding perfection has many victims. Instead I want it to embody the idea of balance. Too much friction, and no movement is possible. Too little, and there’s no traction. It’s not just physics, it has all kinds of existential applications. My personal goals have much to do with working out a way to live simply without depriving myself or my family of the things that are important. Indeed, I think it can be done in ways that would be considered abundant. What I envision is not devoid of work. Far from it. It will be very hard work, but of a kind that knits people, environment and nature together. I have no idea why the life we led just before we came to Kenya was so frenetic. I can’t figure out what we could have done differently. Maybe it will get fleshed out here, like some sort of therapy. But I suspect that it has something to do with keeping up with bills, with peers (and their own struggle to find balance), with social expectations and a lot of dubious and extraneous media input. To be well connected to people I believe being in each other’s presence is necessary, real face to face time. One of the ways I’m contemplating dealing with this is to involve others. To build in community. Combining resources and laboring together to achieve something one might not be able to accomplish alone. It dawns on me as I write that one of the many tensions, that this blog expects to deal with, is the inescapable truth that this sharing gives away some (or maybe a lot of) control. It requires cooperation and trust. These two things have atrophied in the public spaces and that has served to break down the hope and prospects we have for the future.

That got a little intense. So in parting, this time without any dissection, I’ll inject this dose of inspiration. Here is a link to a site featuring one of my favorite designs. It embodies much of what I long for in a living space. With that I will pause. Here is the Dutch Mountain House.

Thank you for your time and attention,

Nathan