I am beginning to get the faintest hint of a vague impression that in a few months time I may be just the teensiest tiniest bit more whelmed than usual. I will be occasionally carrying what is in one sense a very small burden, but relentlessly carrying what is in another sense a very big burden.

Much is unknown, but at the very least the very minor change to my capacity and presence might spell a temporary end or shift in my filing of this document.

I am considering some options:

1. The most barbarous: the length of Paperwork could be greatly reduced. The discursive, occasionally fictional intros could be lopped off. We could abandon taking and publishing photos. Event recaps could disappear. In a most basic, stripped down existence, Paperwork could act like a standard newsletter, simply letting you know which events are coming up.
2. Paperwork could remain much the same, with the current levels of memory and sentimentality maintained, but by the shared efforts of many other helpers. This is my preferred direction, and one I have been working towards, but it strikes me as rather fanciful, as the number of other underemployed multimedia creatives who spent all of their time here and have an interest in volunteering as editor-in-chief for the wrangling of such others presently seems rather low.
3. Farther-fetched: Paperwork gets even longer. We hear the same moment remembered from five perspectives; passages from personal journals are excerpted; dispatches from those on far away trips, or lost at home, are sent in and included; the intro is written by a different person every week; visual documentation is submitted in different formats and media (oil paintings! gesture drawings! Etch a Sketches!). A custom tool to facilitate the submission, sorting, and publishing of it all is created, and the whole process is easier than before.
4. Paperwork is a hotline that you call into and are told (by a real person—probably Jessica S., because she’s very responsive (and so dutiful!)) about what has happened recently. A benefit of this approach: spontaneous phone calls to catch up are always a delight. A downside: if 300+ called in every week to ask what happened the last week, it would likely overwhelm Jessica S., leading to the necessity of a pre-recorded message, the preparing of which would become its own project.
5. Paperwork could instead become another, regularly occurring event (Paperwork Live! Paperwork In The Park! Paperwork On Ice!), or a segment in an existing event. Rather than deal with the difficulties of carefully written and edited and archived asynchronous communication, Paperwork could benefit from all the smoothing over that comes with instantaneous communication and performance. Typos? Invisible! Exposure or color issues in the photos? Projector calibration issue! Acknowledgement of criminal activity? Not on the public record! Whole day of the week unmentioned? Blame it on the nerves!
6. Paperwork becomes a weekly print newsletter, mailed out to households across the nation, but every issue is simply an inkblot, and the reader must interpret for themselves what it means. Is that a photo of a stick in a tree? Or a photo of a very pregnant woman in a birthday hat? Or a circle of people engaging in a secretive ritual? And what does that reveal about your interior world?
7. Constant surveillance, à la Big Brother. A bevy of web cams live-streaming on our website could allow anyone at all to tune in and see for themselves what moments will be worth reminiscing about later. A confession room could allow for those in the space to share their own commentary with the online community. “Oh my gosh, guys, you wouldn’t believe it, but so-and-so just did the sweetest thing for so-and-so!”

I cannot see very far into the future and am therefore quite uncertain what will happen, but I expect to miss out on some things, and to, at least for a while, soon read these more than I write them. In the meantime, I will continue to ponder, and to solicit your advice and help in charting a new course.

—Iván

→ Up Next

• Creative Code Denver No. 17 is happening right now.
• Every Wednesday forever (including this next one, August 19) is Weekly Wednesday Worknight. $5, or free for members.
• The next In the Making will be this Thursday, August 20. Hear from Will, me, Derek, Norton, and Alex. If you’re interested in sharing work in progress we’ve got some space left. Sign up using Whiteboard or email us back.
• Mary Ann’s Book Club is reading The Score for August 31. Get a copy and get reading.
• PowerPoint Party No. 42 is Saturday, September 5. We’ve got a few slots reserved for first time presenters, but otherwise have a full list.
• Further out, but worth a mention because it will sell out: a bunch of us are again going to The Moth GrandSlam in support of Madeleine who will again be competing! September 25. Get a ticket and mark your calendar.

← August 9–15

Nostalgia

Do you remember the recess when Madeleine found a very big stick, and Adam called it the majestick? How Jessica S. then held court while also holding the majestick? How we stashed it for safekeeping?

Or Adam’s snapping finger gun exit on his way out? How we all snapped back without saying a word?

How you were a herd of Laura Derns moving across the Fountain Formation for the Jurassic Park Film on the Rocks?

The return of Marissa? Our return to the park to check on the majestick? How it was still there, and Marissa held court about moving?

And do you remember Glint with lost stories? How we heard about beginnings and rescues and families and items? Or the intermission announcement of peaches and cream from Allyson’s mom, and the birthday message and singing and donuts for Jessica P.? How we all put on birthday hats? Do you remember the post-intermission prompt of “have you ever smelled”? Or how long we laughed at “the thing about ass surgery”? Mark’s just-in-time arrival, and the post-show lingering? Our final glimpse at the Cuppa sign?

The appearance of Case and then Dan, and their impromptu sound-recording session? The Worknight with a hard to unravel star that we failed to reravel?

Or our tiny recess to amie? How you two studied the store while I talked to Lisa about how to find nicely designed items for kids?

Do you remember the peach trip to Fort Collins? How you only spent thirty minutes at the Peach Festival, and it ended up being a girls day? The unplanned body modification and subsequent surprising body un-modification? How you shared and sipped each others’ drinks throughout the day while the rain sprinkled on and off? That you laughed and meandered through different shops? How you kept telling each other that it was such a great day?

Bureaucratic Minutiae

• I just learned from Livvy that some of you believed, based on a previous intro in which I claimed as much, that I truly am an augur, and come from a long line of augurs. That was made up! And I am puzzled and flattered that that wasn’t apparent.
• At Glint: Lost: Ivan recalled a professor who was right about many things, Maia delighted that sometimes items are missing because of good intentions, Christof took us down ambiguous desert roads to discover a deeper friendship, Allyson explained how her brother brought her back from a dangerous place, Anjali told us about looking like an outsider in her own family and how she’d do it again, Haley described losing a constellation and still finding her way, Madeleine recommended against ass surgery but noted that the absurdity has its benefits, Sylvia argued the merits of competitive high school debate as a place for self-discovery, and Mark brought us along on a raucous romp across Atlanta. Writeup help by Morgan
• At Worknight: Case proofread a course, and proofread it a second time, and proofread it a third time; Erin and Sylvia chose research assignments; Alex read The Score for 60 minutes; Livvy worked on a script for 60 minutes; Madeleine selected phone photos from Maroon Bells; Lizzie crocheted half of final rows of waves; Dan made three versions of signs!; Sylvia hounded people for conference presentations; and Madeleine and Ivan uploaded and began to review tape. Writeup by Livvy
• Finally, a reminder that The Company is a member-supported gathering place. If you’d like to pop in for a workday and you know one of us, reach out to schedule a time and we can let you in for free. If we don’t know you yet, reach out so we can get to know you, or come by an event and say hi.

Photos

—

This issue of Paperwork was written by Iván with additional reporting from Lauren T. and Morgan, and was shot by a ghost, Iván, Livvy, and Beth. Photo selection and editing by Iván and Livvy. Editorial support was provided by Livvy. This issue, and The Company itself, was made possible by the support of our members, Halie, Drew J., Justin, Mason, José, Mary Ann, Trevr, Allyson, Lizzie, Elijah, Michelle, Jim, Jacob, Mark, Sabrina, Beth, Dani, Chris, Will, Rebeca, Sarah, Alex, Jessica P., Jessica S., Ben, Sam Ad., Christof, Ryan, Lauren T., Madeleine, Simon, Adam, Gus, Lauren S., Earl, Bennett, Sylvia, Morgan, Joe, and Case; and our Junior Associates, Asher and Vivian.

Feel free to forward. Everyone loves Paperwork.

😘