3.6 — Expanse

Life After Cars

        June 23, 2026

3.6 — Expanse

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Every Wednesday forever (including this one, June 24) is Weekly Wednesday Worknight. $5, or free for members.
In the Making, which was going to be this Thursday (June 25), has been cancelled.
Mary Ann’s Book Club is reading Life After Cars for the next discussion on Monday, June 29.
PowerPoint Party No. 40 is Saturday, July 4. $10, or free for members and presenters.
Saturday, July 11 will be Cuppa’s final day of operation (the usual hours, 9am-2pm). Come and get one last cuppa.
Mentioned last week, now with a link: on Saturday, July 25, there will be a special post-Cuppa-closure event where Beth will be selling many items (furniture, merch, and equipment) at a discounted price.

I gotta be shortwinded on the intro today. I’ve dislocated my creative writing and editing resources toward a show I’m putting on tonight (did I tell you about that? a birthday fiction show? are you free? do you wanna come?). But I still love you all greatly and I’ll miss you so much when we’re gone (did I tell you about that? the Italy trip? are you free? do you wanna come?). Norton’s back, so Management will still have a presence. Thanks to all y’all who’ve volunteered to help out around here while we’re out. It continues to be so sweet to me that I’m only ever half excited about traveling these days. Vi voglio bene!
—Iván
← June 14–20
Bureaucratic Minutiae

At Worknight, Iván spent one session on Breaking News and worked on finalizing Breaking News structure; Alex reached out to two possible Overtime hosts, wrote a second draft, and started reading chapter 6; Livvy finished versions, import, and export features; Lizzie printed and studied timeline for this week’s wedding; Madeleine decided new website structure; and Madeleine and Iván finished reviewing HearseCon tape. Writeup by Livvy
At Glint: Grip: Fer explained how a Mexican-sounding drink wound up on the menu at a new Japanese restaurant, Civan sold us on the importance of knowing how to drive stick, Laura reminded us that bison are not to be trifled with, Madeleine A. recounted uninvited pizza pests breaking something fundamental in her, Jessica P. shared a hard realization about grief, Anjali brought us on a harrowing journey through wildfire, Lauren T. helped us understand some of the consuming thoughts she’d like to be able to rinse off of her brain, Sophie explored the Grand Canyon and the realization that adults are fallible, Jim admitted that attempts to impress led first to a prickly situation and then to real (if momentary) peril, and Lauren S. convinced us to save our own butts by keeping our volleyballs on the court and off the beach. Writeup by Morgan
Livvy and I will be OOO for two-ish weeks, and have made some plans for our absence. The next issue may be lighter and the following may be twice as heavy. Still figuring that out. But the shows will go on as usual.
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.

Nostalgia
Do you remember our outing to see The Cake? How we wept at different times for different reasons? Our post-show chat with and without the director? How our reviews were mixed but the discussion was perfect? Or Livvy’s failed attempt to dine and dash, and how we were easily caught because we stood outside hugging for so long? How we forgot to take a single photo?
Ti ricordi la cena italiana nell’appartamento di Madeleine? Con il buon cibo? Come parlavamo lentamente dei nostri animali preferiti e dei nostri cibi preferiti? E che parlavamo anche della nostra amicizia? Come è stato un bel momento?
Or the sunset clothing swap and ice cream social right after? How it was your first time hosting that many people?
Do you remember Ellen’s loosely planned expanding birthday celebrations? The donuts, the bartaco gift, the traditional birthday questions? How Marcia popped in bearing mail and news? The broken jar, which led to a long overdue mopping? The surprise appearance of Madeleine just in time for the blowing out of the birthday candle? How we later talked about the possibility of bugs, and Jessica S. melted in her chair?
Or the Glint about grip? How we heard so many stories about keeping and losing it? The post-show question that made you think about calling everyone back to hear a revised version?
Do you remember the morning with the leaking water jug? The discussion about how there are only two kinds of people? The return of the robots? The box breakdown?
The Worknight with leftover ice cream? How we were interrupted by a woman in search of a good sign? That we lightly debated who was more sentimentally attached to it? How the evening ended with a strange four-pointed star?
Do you remember how Norton came back? Our recess walk to Krāv?
Your early start to the first Company Retreat?
And how more of us appeared as others dropped out? How the road was much bumpier for much longer than we expected? How we set out chairs and hammocks, and time stretched out forever, and we did our best to prevent forest fires using non-violent communication? That we lounged and ate and talked and slept? How we saw a snow globe of stars? That we hiked and read and packed and toasted s’mores?
Photos
What feels like years ago, Lauren S. suggested an Italian language Italian dinner meetup for Italians and those who know or are trying to learn the language. I was not yet at that point trying to learn (e io non sonno italiano), but shortly after I realized it’d be mildly helpful and incredibly fun for me to try to learn something before our upcoming travels. Here you can see Mary Ann serving herself and telling us how to say “fork.” I do not remember how to say fork. Mi dispiace.
We spent much of the meal consulting dictionaries, both print and digital, along with that handily placed map.
Afterward, Beth and Madeleine hosted a clothing swap and ice cream social.
Also look, that’s Ryan (he’s who told Madeleine about The Company)!
Ellen came into The Company with donuts and announced to us that it was her birthday, so we promptly put on birthday hats which we kept wearing most of the day.
We kept wearing them while looking at the broken jar spill.
And while singing to Ellen.
And while continuing to sing to Ellen.
And then it was Glint. Fer, telling us about what’s in a name.
Civan, telling us about her girlfriend’s foot.
Laura, telling us about bison.
And the crowd. Note the two people still wearing birthday hats. (I forgot to ask her, Adorrah, but did Angel even know who’s birthday it was or did she just throw on a hat for fun? Was it her birthday too?!)
Madeleine A.’s first Glint (she’s gunning for a PIG before she moves away): a story about poor pizza timing.
Jessica P. with a sobering story at her last Glint before the baby comes!
Anjali telling us about escaping fires.
Lauren T. telling us about the anxious dog in the back of her car.
Sophie with a story about unconsciously getting a grip.
Jim on dangerous ways to spend time with a loved one.
Lauren S. telling everyone about her butt.
A recess game of Set, held in the Kissing Room because it was too hot to go outside and Alex was on a call inside.
Testing out tent capacity. We would later learn that we were rather wrong about our calculations, but also it didn’t end up mattering.
Madeleine reading instructions on how to stab herself.
Worknighting.
Chit-chatty breaking with leftover ice cream sundae ingredients.
The return of Norton. Very glad he was not gone as long this time.
The first Company Retreat. I was told that people would be upset if a photo of me taking a photo of them didn’t make it into the issue so here you go. Isn’t it fun, by the way, how I’m the exact same color as the trees? Photo by Beth
Adam playing a melodic drum thing. Photo by Beth
Sitting around.
This is potentially Asher’s first ever photo. Photo by Asher
Adam reading to Asher. Photo by Mary Ann
A short hike. Photo by Madeleine
Hanging around. Photo by Mary Ann
Hanging on. Photo by Mary Ann
I don’t really know what was happening here—this might be the moment we saw signs of forbidden fire use.
Dinner coming together.
Thanks so much to everyone who cooked for us. I think it’s possible that I might be willing to enjoy camping under these conditions. Photo by Mary Ann
The signs of forbidden fire use led some of us to stew about whether to address the forbidden fire use, and here some of us can be seen meeting on how to convince others not to burn the forest down. We are pleased to report that it went super well. Photo by Mary Ann
I know that some of you have been thinking “Gee, I wonder where they went camping! Sure would’ve been swell if they would have said so at the start of this series of photographs! My, there’s nothing I love more than camping, thinking about camping, and knowing about where other people went camping!”, so here you go: establishing shot.
Food prep. Photo by Mary Ann
Many of us didn’t sleep very great during the night and here you can see Beth catching up on some the following morning.
Breakfasting.
Prepping to hike.
Looking at fish. Photo by Mary Ann
The entire crew that made it out, posing for a photo. Photo by a ghost
Hiking. Photo by Madeleine
Hanging out at a stream. The group started to peel off as the trail went on. Photo by Madeleine
Madeleine insisted we hug trees. Photo by Madeleine
After some more lounging and packing up, we ended the trip with s’mores.
Using a stove instead of a campfire because we care about the forest. Thanks again so much to Mary Ann and Adam for pulling this trip together! Photo by Mary Ann

—
This issue of Paperwork was written by Ivan with additional reporting from Jessica S., and was shot by Ivan, Mary Ann, Beth, Asher, Madeleine, and a ghost. Photo selection and editing by Ivan, Alex, 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.
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