Josh Schwebel <privatejosh@gmail.com>
To: Michael Maranda < ███████████████████████ >
dear Michael,
I hope you are well.
I know that there has been a long silence between us, and I don't want that to rankle. I would love to be back in contact. I have continued to move forward with The Employee project and its publication, which, after a period of fallow time, has come together into a form that I am happy with.
The publication will comprise a printed volume of four commissioned critical texts, and an online archive.
I am writing to you now because of that archive, to ask your permission to reproduce the emails we exchanged about the project, which I hope to include in the project documentation.
I intend to publish an archive of the email correspondence generated by the project as completely as possible as a way to show the quantity of work involved in the project, and also the intersection of work with personal life, which was more prevalent than ever during the pandemic. The archive as a whole also became about making overwork and burnout within the arts visible, as many correspondents dropped out or faced burnout, illness, and exhaustion. These issues are not clearly articulated in single events, but accumulate over small increments.
Our conversation comprises a tiny fragment of this mountain of correspondence.
I have attached the exact documents I wish to reproduce to this email. I have redacted aspects of the conversation that disclose personal opinions about other members of the community, since I feel that these are too private to expose. I do not intend to publish anything other than what is included below. Please read these over and let me know if you would consent to allow me to use these documents. If you do not consent, or want anything else removed, please let me know as well. I want to respect your wishes. I would greatly appreciate it if I could hear back from you by next week, and will keep in touch to let you know when the project is published.
warm wishes,
Joshua Schwebel