For decades, generosity has been a cornerstone of craft culture. Skills are passed down, insights shared freely, and conversations unfold without expectation of payment. But as institutions close, programs disappear, and the economics of creative labor shift, a deeper question emerges:
How do we sustain the labor of thinking, writing, and sharing—without burning out or disappearing?
That question is at the heart of my new essay, “The Price of Knowledge within Craft Communities of Practice: What Is Worth Preserving?” After more than twenty years of offering my work freely—essays, critiques, and ideas—I recently made a small but meaningful change: I offered an essay for sale for $6.
It is both trivial and momentous. It is trivial because it’s less than a sandwich, but it is momentous, because it marks a boundary for me— it is asking a question of valuation. For me, writing is the hardest thing I do, and perhaps the thing I do best.
These $6 offerings are simply an experiment. With the gesture, I am asking the question: Can a gift and a price coexist without cancelling each other out?
Drawing on Lewis Hyde’s The Gift, the essay offered here, as a follow-up, explores the tension between shared knowledge and economic survival. As Hyde writes, a true gift circulates; it gains meaning through movement. But even in a gift economy, the artist must survive to continue giving.
Today, as academic programs decline and institutional support wanes, we’re left with essential, yet unspoken, work: creating new models of reciprocity that sustain both the commons and its contributors.
This isn’t just about monetization; it’s also an opportunity for a broader conversation about preservation, stewardship, and the value of these efforts.
The contents of this essay are available as a blog post (free), an audio reflection (free), and a downloadable PDF (pay what you wish; suggested $6). I invite you to read, listen, share, support, reflect, and discuss these issues further. I don’t provide easy answers, but I am the guy who is here to ask the hard questions.
→ Download the full essay here.
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