Invisible work, long before AI
CARE→ STEWARDSHIP
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Invisible work has always been here. It is the creative contribution behind the great man’s invention, the editor who makes the Nobel prize possible, the unnamed colorists and inkers in pre‑digital comics and animation whose hands trained a generation’s visual imagination.
Virginia Woolf, looking at the literary canon of her time, saw “all these infinitely obscure lives” undergirding the biographies of “great men.” Feminist economists, a century later, gave language to housework, care work, and emotional labor that never appeared on ledgers but without which no ledger would exist.
Merchant & Ivory
Merchant Ivory simply offers a more legible, more glamorous frame around the same pattern. The camera lingers on drawing rooms and Tuscan fields; the commentary tracks, decades later, finally make room for the grip who slept on the floor of the production office, the driver who also kept the books, the local caterers who threatened to stop serving when bills went unpaid. The company has an official website of restored stills and posters; the “labor history” lives scattered across interviews, obituaries, and documentary asides.
Which one counts as “official,” I’m not sure:
The point is not to single them out as uniquely bad actors. The point is to see, at a scale we can emotionally hold, how easily a system can be exquisitely attuned to certain kinds of harm in its stories and structurally indifferent to other harms in its making. AI will not change that pattern on its own. It only gives it new tools and a faster way to hide the hands that keep the machinery running.
Supporting the Work
This work is sustained, not sponsored.
Each month, I invest significant time, care, and personal resources to keep The Dispatch alive. It remains free to read, ad-free, algorithm-free, and intentionally human. There’s no team behind it—no staff, no interns, no assistant. It’s a one-person practice of thinking, writing, editing, and holding space.
This work is also part of my livelihood.
If The Dispatch has helped you think more clearly, slow down, notice what matters, or stay oriented in a noisy world, I invite you to support it—once, or on an ongoing basis. Patronage is what allows this work to remain independent and intact.
Thank you for being here.
Each month, I invest substantial time, money, and attention in keeping The Dispatch alive. It’s free to read, ad-free, and deliberately human—no sponsors shaping the message, no automation standing in for judgment. There’s no team behind it. No interns. No assistant. It’s just me—thinking, writing, editing, and maintaining this space because I believe this kind of work matters. Your contributions enable this work to continue and make all the difference.
Monthly Support
Ongoing support helps keep the work steady and sustainable.
♥ $3 / month
♥ $5 / month
♥ $7 / month
♥ $10 / month
♥ $25 / month
One-Time Support
If you prefer, you can offer a one-time contribution in any amount; no commitment required.
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