Convivial Express · About
About This Department
What Convivial Express Is
Convivial Express is a curated registry of labor arrangements held to a shared standard of humane exchange. The word convivial comes from Ivan Illich, who used it to describe tools that extend human capacity rather than replace it — tools that belong to the people who use them, not the institutions that deploy them.
We believe the same principle applies to work. A job posting should extend the person who takes it. A volunteer role should give as well as take. A swap should name the exchange plainly enough that both parties can hold each other accountable. A board position should be honest about what it costs and what it offers. None of this is radical. Most job postings just don't do it.
Every listing on this registry has been reviewed against the Make Love Public Bill of Rights before it goes public. The Bill of Rights is a public document. It defines what decent work looks like. It defines what it does not look like. Posting here means agreeing to it. Publicly.
The Standard
The Make Love Public Bill of Rights is the governing document for every Convivial Express listing. It covers nine rights: cognitive liberty, authorship, a human decision-making process, relational presence, legible inference, collective refusal, the commons, repair, and joy.
In the context of work, these translate to plain requirements: the compensation described is real. The duties reflect the actual labor, including emotional labor. The organization will respond to every person who reaches out, even briefly. The posting is honest about what the role does not require.
Read the Make Love Public Bill of Rights →How Approval Works
There is no algorithm here. Marc McAleavey, the editor, reads every submission. He reviews it against the Bill of Rights, usually within 24 to 48 hours. If the offering meets the standard as written, it goes live. If it doesn't, Marc will write back with specifics — not a form rejection, but a real note about what would need to change.
Listings are live for 45 days and can be renewed. There is no fee for posting and no fee for renewal. The only cost is agreeing to the Bill of Rights and writing the posting honestly.
The approval is not a certification. It means the offering met the standard on the day it was reviewed. If an organization posts something and then violates it, we want to know. Write to marc@joy4repair.com.
The Indianapolis Pilot
We are beginning in Indianapolis. The city has a well-documented and deeply underinterrogated pattern of uncompensated, undercompensated, and mislabeled labor — particularly in its philanthropic and civic sectors. The labor of Black women, social workers, community organizers, and care workers specifically subsidizes a layer of institutional management that extracts the value and attributes it elsewhere.
Convivial Express is one attempt to name that reality and offer a practical alternative. Clear terms. Honest exchange. The dignity of knowing exactly what you are walking into and what you will walk out with.
If you are building something similar in your city and want to talk, write to Marc.
The Editor
Marc McAleavey is the founder of Joy Repair and the editor of Make Love Public and Convivial Express. He has worked in and around the philanthropic and nonprofit sector in Indianapolis for twenty years. He reviews every submission personally. He also posts his own offerings here, under the same standard, because the editor participates in the registry.
Contact: marc@joy4repair.com