vol. 2, no. 10 | Muhduh
Every once in a while it feels like we’re in a low-budget sitcom that can’t afford to shoot in very many locations. Often we’re just here, at the far end of 15th Street, observing a predictable rhythm: workdays, lunches, walks, recess, Worknights, events. The space adapts for dances, discussions, storytellings, presentations, and workdays, but many of our episodes feel like bottle episodes.
But occasionally, and increasingly, we’re in different places. A garden, a museum, a river, a park, a bar, and last weekend a fancy old historic house near City Park, where we shot a pitch-perfect episode about a murder mystery party.
If you’re a regular, or if you’ve been following us for a while, or if you’ve ever read our about page or our commitments document, you’ll know that The Company is organized around curiosity and creativity. We support and celebrate those two things. If you’re someone whose idea of a fun night is listening to other people share information or stories, creating things just for the fun of it, or meeting new people, you might like it here.
But while it’s important for communities to have something they’re organized around, in many ways our goal with having a place is simply to facilitate and form connections. Sharing common interests and common space is a way to work toward the hundreds of hours often needed to build close friendships.
But a note we’ve had listed on our about page for a while is that we want The Company to be “A place where people make interconnected friendships that transcend the place.” And while we wonder about the future of The Company as a location-based project (we’re not yet sure what becomes of this experiment after our lease ends in May), lately I think our chances of transcendence are pretty high.
Maybe season three is all just high-budget, on-location episodes.
Whatever the case, this week we’ve got three more offsites coming up. None of them planned by us, but all of them great settings for the episode where we finally meet, or reconnect, or together uncover some important truth.
—Ivan
Happenings
This week:
Weekly Wednesday Worknight, Wednesday, July 23
The Company is about combining creative work with good friendships. Make an appointment with your side project this (or any) Wednesday at a Worknight, where we oscillate between enforced, focused, quiet time and optional chatty social time.
$5, or free for Company and Moonlight members
Offsite: Make & Tell, Thursday, July 24
Make & Tell is a seasonal event series hosted by The Made Shop, and it’s the event that inspired our In the Making series. We’ve paused In the Making for the summer because Make & Tell is back! And we so heartily encourage you to go. It is where we first met Justin (who convinced us to start The Company), and where, a summer later, we met Michelle (who convinced us The Company was worth it).
$23.18
Offsite: Creative Mornings, Friday, July 25
This might be sold out, but if you get on the waitlist there’s a chance you’ll make it in. Either way, get on their mailing list! It’s a great community where we’ve met so many lovely people.
Free for everyone (if you can snag a ticket)
Offsite: The Mile Long Table, Saturday, July 26
Speaking of Justin, last summer he went to an event called Longer Tables, where he ate a meal outside with strangers who became not-strangers over the course of the meal. There he met a guy named Ryan, who he later introduced us to. And Ryan later introduced us to Sam and Elliot, along with a guy named Tim who runs the Longer Tables organization. This summer, on July 26, Tim is setting an even longer table—a mile long table, in fact—and there’s still room at it.
A bunch of us are going to go and support—sitting at different spots and meeting up afterward—and so should you.
Future Weeks:
Mary Ann’s Book Club: Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order, Monday, July 28
This is a book that Lexi has been talking about for a very long time, and once you start reading it you’ll see why. You’ve still got time to squeeze it in if you start now, especially if you only read the bold parts.
Read the Change You Wish Not to See in the World →
PowerPoint Party No. 29, Saturday, August 2
Twelve people giving 7-minute presentations about whatever they’re currently into. At past parties, people have presented about student feedback, dyes, Botox, and rating systems. It’s a wide mix.
It’s a nerdy and sincere crowd that cares a lot, and we’ve met some of our favorite people at these.
Want to present? We’ve got a waiting list. Want to just show up and meet interesting people and learn about what’s fascinating them lately? That’s great too. Bring a friend, or come alone and make a friend.
$10, or free for members and presenters.
Nostalgia
Do you remember the renaissance faire? Lizzie’s custom corset, Livvy’s “pirate lite”, Sam’s extended skirt and elf ears, the discovery of Simon and Adam and Gabriela in the dense crowd?
Or the Glint about language? The nostalgic and sweet and funny and heavy stories? How the set was short, but the lingering was long? How we made new friends, and quickly reset the room?
How we waited like dogs at the door for Michelle to come in? Donning birthday hats to surprise her? How our surprise was successful? How she brought far too many donuts, and afterward we went for a walk that turned into a recess?
Do you remember the day that Mike ran laps around the whole company shouting “let’s go!!” because of some good news?
Or the day we got to meet Amber? How we talked about travels and type? That at lunch we wondered if we were enough?
The Creative Coding Demo Day? The familiar faces? The ongoing projects?
You, of course, remember the night of the Michelle’s Murder Mystery Birthday Occasion Party, don’t you? How could anyone forget it? It right away became a core memory, like Trevr said, that night with the prolonged puzzling.
We finally got to see the house that Mark had spent so much of his life in and about, and it was a perfect setting for that mystery to unfold in. Do you remember the art, the furniture, the foreign objects, that table where Mark once saw a ghost, so many years ago?
Do you remember how much planning and design and care Michelle put into the materials? How we all showed up in outfits and some of us in accents? How Dan revealed a prosthetic gut? How we wandered about and asked questions? Pondered the means, the motives, the opportunities? How in the end we got it wrong, but it didn’t matter?
That poor waitress—she didn’t become famous in the way she had hoped, but she was a star that night, wasn’t she?
Do you remember afterward, at the piano, how Coldplay was played? And how the couple that wasn’t really married reenacted the meme of the week?
How we took a tour, and looked at rooms and a roof and so many rugs?
And do you remember how that night it felt like we were all in some sitcom, in that one episode where they had a murder mystery party?
Bureaucratic Minutiae
The punch clock ribbon has been replaced, and gosh what a difference.
The Plant Care Committee has been officially established. Thanks to Beth for committing to weekly plant watering, and to Allyson for watering backup and non-watering care.
After many months of a very poorly hand-laminated version, the Closing Shift sign has been re-printed and newly sleeved in the page protectors provided by Jessica S.
At Worknight: Lexi tried some tools for some things, Norton worked on uploading and processing single-visit cards, and Livvy made a first draft of habit-forming dice system instructions.
At Glint: Language: Mary Ann T. remembered navigating Paris, Ivan described a misunderstanding about a tour package, Michael talked about being let down gently, Madeleine talked about a difficult interpretation, and Katie pondered the explanation of a loss.
At Creative Coding Demo Day No. 12: Norton walked us through the origins, processes, and early code sketches for an upcoming Company punchcard datavis exhibit; Mason showed us updates to his 3d graphics engine, broke down how he created the visuals for a recent show, and gave us a tour of a world he’s creating for an upcoming music video; Shail summed up a months-long project where he designed a quadruped, had it teach itself to walk using reinforcement learning, and then built it!; and Will recapped his previous infinite canvas web apps, shared about the history of infinite canvases, and then showed his in-progress open source infinite canvas library.
A correction to last week’s issue: Kidney Thieves had a secret first show before the ones that we attended, so what we attended were his very second and his very third show.
Finally, a reminder that The Company is a member-supported gathering place, and if you know any of us, you’re welcome to pop in any time for free (outside of events). If you know that one of us is here and you’d like to come by, reach out and we can let you in.
Photos
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This issue of Paperwork was written by Ivan and shot by Ivan, Lizzie, Livvy, Norton, Lexi, and Elliot. Photo selection and editing by Ivan and Livvy. Editorial support was provided by Livvy, Norton, and Michelle. This issue, and The Company itself, was made possible by the support of our members, Halie, Drew, Justin, Mason, Lexi, José, Mary Ann B., Trevr, Allyson, Lizzie, Madison, Melissa, Elijah, Michelle, Jim, Jacob, Mark, Sabrina, Beth, Dani, Chris, Will, Rebeca, Sarah, Mary Ann T., Alex, Jessica P., Jessica S., Mike, Ben T., and Sam.
Do you know anyone in the Denver area who might be looking for creative community? Feel free to forward this email along to them. Everyone loves Paperwork.
😘