3.18 — It takes a child

parents

        September 14, 2026

3.18 — It takes a child

        In the preparation for Livvy and my baby show this last week, her dad shared a bit of writing that he or his brother had written about their own parents. If I’m remembering it right, David and Rose Marie had heard the saying that “it takes a village to raise a child,” but were themselves of the opinion that it takes parents to raise a child.
Given their values, and how I suspect they interpreted the saying, it’s a very nice sentiment: they were decidedly involved in their own children’s lives. Livvy and I intend to do the same. But we’re also very much a fan of the original saying, and of our particular village, and we are so grateful for all the help and support we have already received. As far as I’ve experienced it, having a baby means that you yourself get to be held again, in new ways.
But all of this—the research, the writing, the shower, the show, the gifts we opened a week ago with soon to be grandparents and a soon-to-be blood aunt—all of it has also been reminding me of another take on this saying.
Lifetimes ago, shortly after Livvy and I were married, we were talking about the possibility of kids, and we imagined that it would be neat if the saying was instead “it takes a child to raise a village.” As if there could be a child that somehow improved and supported the people around them. Perhaps it’s because we grew up with so many stories of this kind of thing, but it didn’t, at the time, seem so far-fetched. Whimsical, sure, but plausible also. But I don’t think that idea is quite as fun as I used to. I don’t think a child should have to worry about raising anyone, let alone a whole village.
But strangely, in our very particular situation, there is a sense in which this saying has been true. We shared this during our announcement at the PowerPoint Party, but one of the things that convinced us to start The Company was the possibility of a kid. Our dear friend Justin had made the case that if we had a kid, we’d probably have to stop hosting so many events at our apartment. And if we wanted the community that had formed around events at our apartment to continue, we’d need to go ahead and start renting another place for this community to gather, as we had been dreaming about for so long.
And so with Norton, and Justin, and Drew, and Halie, and so many other dear friends, we raised something that ended up turning into a village. A village we had always wanted. And in that sense it did take a child—or at least the idea of one. Whoever they turn out to be, I think they’ve already done more than enough.
—Iván
→ Up Next

Glint: Sense, which was going to be tomorrow, is CANCELLED (sorry!). Ticketed folks have been emailed and refunded, and tellers have been offered a spot to tell their same Sense stories another time, at Glint: Time (fittingly, it makes SENSE that they will get to tell their same story at another TIME). Thanks for your understanding!
Every Wednesday forever (including this next one, September 16) is Weekly Wednesday Worknight.
For the ninth year in a row (!), Livvy and I will be hosting Summery, our story- and reflection-driven end-of-summer picture show, in which we convince our friends to show us pictures of their summer and tell us what they mean. It’s always on the last day of summer, which this year is September 22 (that’s next week!), and it’s one of our very favorite traditions. Hear (and see) 11 9-and-a-half-minute-long presentations from Morgan, me, Livvy, Michelle, Allyson, Lauren T., Mark, Madeleine, Christof, Jim, and Dan (and maybe Jaime).
A reminder that The Moth GrandSLAM is September 25, and Madeleine will be competing.
Mary Ann’s Book Club is reading The Compound by Aisling Rawle for the next bookclub on September 28.
On October 10, Sylvia and Erin are hosting This Too Shall Future: A Salon Soirée. Described as “a creative gathering to dive deeply into matters of the heart and mind”, it’ll be a time of sharing ideas and making a collaborative art.

← September 6–12
Nostalgia
Do you remember The Baby Show(er)? All the sage green decorations? The food? The crafts? The crowd? Our achingly precious and ambitious multi-media presentation? The lingering? The in-person reveal of the final fork? Or the late-night labyrinthine flower-arch heist through Norton’s apartment?
How the leftovers that lasted us all week long?
The holiday with so much work? The cleanup, the supply retrieval, the radio progress? The workshop that turned into a snack feast and then more radio work? How it felt like the point of this place, the four of us just hanging around working on our own stuff?
Our lunch of snacks? How we got to meet Adam’s dad for the first time? Our followup interview, almost a year later? The tiny but tremendously helpful ColoRadio meetup?
How Tasha and Case finally met at Worknight?
The workday with Helena and Helen? The short block walk because of the heat?
How we wondered at lunch for so long about umbilical cords?
And do you remember the Overtime at Allyson’s? How we read and painted and sketched and crafted and journalled and played mahjong?
Bureaucratic Minutiae

At Worknight: Alex added Jesica P. to healthcare portal and printed camping reservation; Jessica S. emailed the client; Case answered two scary emails and made two pop-up cards; Ivan worked on Paperwork; Tasha worked on unf***ing conference registration and writing 500 words; Livvy worked on reconciling the budget; and Gus made Creatives Club Boulder graphic. Writeup by Livvy
The last caption in this issue is an example of why the oxford comma is important.
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
Livvy and I had a Baby Show(er)! Organized by Allyson, with lots of help from our friends and parents. It was soooo lovely. Allyson’s mom hand-made the streamers, with help from her dad. This was also Junior Associate Vivian’s very first time at The Company (though she has been to Company offsites). Her punchcard data will reflect that her first event here was the shower for our baby! 🙈 Photo by Lizzie
Dan, Michelle, and Lizzie helped Allyson test out and set up the crafts. Taking inspiration from Alex and Jessica P.’s baby shower (and Drew Austin’s work) the craft was mobiles. Three tables, three styles, with people creating pieces to hang above our baby. Photo by Lizzie
The idea is that one of the first things our baby will see, in their early days—as their vision starts close, in black and white, and then slowly fades into focus and color—will be hand-made, lovingly crafted items. They will see care, spinning above them. Photo by Esther
Our love to everyone who came and participated, and who helped give us an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate this major transition in our lives. Photo by Esther
It was stylized as a Baby Show(er) because, in the middle of it, Livvy and I presented a show about the baby. It was so much fun, and so much work. They say you’re never ready to have a baby, and the same is true, I think, for baby shows. Maybe other people have felt ready for theirs—this very common and normal thing to do—but we definitely were not ready. Anyway, we’ll be sharing the work that went into it at the next In the Making, if you’re curious to learn more. Photo by Esther
Post Show(er) lingering. Photo by Dan
And some more. We had three out-of-town friends fly in for the festivities: Malika (to whom was dedicated last week’s issue), Best Man Steve (right of Livvy), and Simone (left of Livvy). Lauren T. drove all of them of them to the airport for their flights out.
By the time we showed up on Monday to help reset the room, Dan and Michelle had already done everything. Allyson is here taking care of some of the final tasks.
Baby shower snacks on a holiday evening. After this, Livvy unhurriedly did miscellaneous tasks, Mark worked on massage school homework, and Madeleine and I worked on radio stuff.
Another recess walk.
Radio stuff! Madeleine and me doing a follow-up interview with Beth.
Immediately after interviewing Beth, we had the ColoRadio listening party, at which we played an updated version of Beth’s story for a tiny crowd, which included one of the organizers and one ticketed attendee (Beth). And it was a great discussion! Photo by Beth
Ann Marie Awad, one of the organizers, is a very talented radio producer who created CPR’s On Something podcast a few years ago. A tremendously generous person, Ann has helped us a lot on our project and our general radio wanderings.
Ann was here playing us a trailer for a new show, and we’re very excited to hear the full thing when it comes out.
If you’re interested in staying up to date on ColoRadio happenings, you can sign up for their newsletter here.
The start of another recess walk.
The middle of that same recess walk.
Worknight, including the return of Case!
Tasha, who we know from ColoRadio, is a digital anthropologist, and came to Worknight partly to meet Case.
A lunch discussions in which we wondered at length about whether animals have umbilical cords, and refused to look it up. It is funny to me how this is a kind of question that could have easily been answered with a slightly different configuration of people at the table.
Overtime #9, hosted by Allyson. Here I am participating in the efforts of a clandestine fiber craft organization that has been growing over the last few months. Photo by Lizzie
Jessica P. brought her two siblings, mahjong, and Vivian.

—
Paperwork is the official corporate communication of The Company, an indie, member-supported gathering place run by Iván, Livvy, and Norton. This issue of Paperwork was written by Iván, and was shot by Lizzie, Esther, Dan, Iván, and Beth. Photo selection and editing by Iván and Jessica S. 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, José, Mary Ann, Trevr, Allyson, Lizzie, Elijah, Michelle, Jim, Jacob, Mark, Sabrina, Beth, Dani, Chris, Will, 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.
😘

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