in Spite of Their Value

Last year a short essay of mine was published in the online version of Pacific Standard magazine as part of a series of columns on the future of work and workers. I also posted it on this site, “Unpaid, in Spite of their Value.” The columns were the result of the magazine’s special collaboration with the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Authors were asked to address this question:

What worries you most — and/or excites you most — about the future of work and workers? Put another way: What will be the most consequential changes in the world of work and workers, and what anxieties and possibilities will they produce?

Since then, two things have happened. First, Pacific Standard posted a complete archive of this collection of columns on its website here. The columns are insightful, provocative, scary, useful. Check them out.

Secondly, I was invited to read at the Richard Hugo House, Seattle’s center for writers, as part of a program, “Writing for a Cause,” with Nick Licata, former Seattle City Councilmember; Anastacia Renee’, queer super-shero of color, writer, and performance artist; and Elissa Washuta, member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and writer. I chose to read “Unpaid…” As I practiced reading it aloud, I discovered clunky sections that were hard to read, ideas that seemed missing and others in the wrong order. I like it better now, and in the process I discovered a new (for me) way of editing, one that performers have probably known and used for centuries. The piece on this site now reflects these revisions.