vol. 2, no. 12 | Not Illegal

presentation

                August 4, 2025

            vol. 2, no. 12 | Not Illegal

            There are many times for me when all of this feels a little surreal. I haven’t had a difficult life—not by a very long shot—but I have had a few moments of profound loneliness and disconnection. And then, less intensely, plenty of moments where I just wondered how on earth anyone makes friends as an adult.
I sometimes imagine past me getting a vision of the present, and I wonder what I’d think of it. To see myself in a too-warm room, basking in the after-math and after-pipes and after-dogs of a presentation show, catching up with or carrying on with or for the first time meeting close friends—would any of it seem believable?
I think maybe. I’ve always been an optimistic person.
But the people standing around casually holding loose ears of corn while they talked would have totally thrown me off. It’s the kind of weird detail that makes it seem like a dream.
I often think we’re absurdly lucky to have found people, and found community, but it felt just a little bit more wonderful, and absurdly so, with the corn present.
Thanks Katie for ordering far too much corn for yourself. As of this writing, we’re down to two cobs, and they’ve already been spoken for.
—Ivan
Happenings
This week:
Weekly Wednesday Worknight, Wednesday, August 6
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
Work together →
Future Weeks:
Glint: Right, Tuesday, August 12
True, personal stories, told live, without notes. Pretty much exactly like The Moth, except without the competition, on Tuesdays instead of Fridays, and everyone knows each other (or is about to). Our next theme is “Right“.
Do you have a story of a time you were right—or when you thought you were? Do you have a story of moral goodness or justification? Of something being true or correct? A story of taking a right turn? A story of correcting something? Or of something owed to you or to someone else? Whatever your interpretation, we want to hear it.
Come hear stories from Joe, Marcia, Ivan, Livvy, and Beth, and if you’ve got a story to tell, sign up for a slot!
$10, or free for tellers and members.
Note: Cuppa will be open during this event!
Do the right thing →
Mary Ann’s Book Club: Station Eleven, Monday, August 25
(This is quite a while away, but it’s the kinda thing you gotta prepare for)
This Month we’ll be reading Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Described as “a gripping post-apocalyptic novel that weaves together survival, art, and human resilience in the wake of a devastating pandemic. You'll be drawn to its beautifully written, nonlinear narrative that explores the power of storytelling, connection, and hope even in the darkest times. (also a limited series on HBO!)”
I personally loved the limited series, and I’m very excited to read the book. I think it’s a very refreshing counter to more prevalent visions of the post-apocalypse.
Snacks and drinks will be provided to fuel our conversation.
—
Also coming up: Offsite: Make & Tell (August 21), Offsite: Orbis Garden Party (August 23), PowerPoint Party No. 30 (September 6).
Nostalgia
Do you remember the Sunday Cuppa with Steve?
Or the day that started without water? How we met at bartaco and talked and ate and talked? Jim’s first recess? How surprised he seemed on the swings?
The rounds of chess? How Michelle got back several months of film photos and we gathered around her laptop, utterly delighted? How José showed up just in time for so many more rounds of 1-minute chess?
Do you remember Alex’s last full workday? How that was Sophia’s first day? How they brought in gochujang caramel cookies and Jessica brought in Duffy Rolls? Alex making and laminating and passing around perfectly useless business cards? The tingling feeling in your neck?
Do you remember the last of us watching The Last of Us? Our confusion and appreciation of the immolation diet?
The small-then-big Worknight? How it was one of our biggest stars?
The quiet Thursday? The two-person recess?
Or the First Friday Feast? Our surprise and gratitude that Nana’s Dim Sum & Dumplings is actually open for lunch on Fridays only? How Norton couldn’t abide walking all that way in the heat, and so he scooted ahead to get us a table? How we discussed what would happen if we fed an LLM our entire Company Discord chat and asked it to predict the next 2 weeks of discussion? How Jessica wanted to give awards for the most predictable, and Lexi hated the whole thing? How Ivan and Norton immediately fired Livvy from Management for even suggesting it?
The ice cream stop? The recess afterward?
Do you remember PowerPoint Party? The one with the new fans? With the new timer? With all the loose corn? With the return of an old friend?
Bureaucratic Minutiae
Alex has lent a laminator to The Company! If you’d like to use it, speak to Alex or a member of Management. Instructions will be added to The Wiki in the near future.
Temporarily, the fun trapdoor to the baptistry has likely turned into a scary trapdoor. Please be careful when standing on it, or better yet, try not to stand on it.
For May, June, and July, the Company punch clock stamp has been stamping 1 hour ahead of actual clock time. This has been fixed. Stamps will be accurate in August and moving forward.
At Worknight: Ivan added another typeface to his website and created a status field; Alex completed three workbook lessons, filled out an ‘adoption risks’ column in a change impact document, created a moving to-do list, and made flash cards for a test; Mike worked on editing 3 interviews; Norton finished the Punch-o-tron privacy policy draft and uploaded and prepped 64 cards; Livvy password protected the Time Sync control view and turned it into a progressive web app; Jake finished a doodle; and Lexi bought a tool for an activity.
At PowerPoint Party No. 29: Katie shared about her experience fostering dogs, Simon explained the trolly problem, Adam convinced us the camera doesn’t matter that much, Max demonstrated how pipes make things better, Lauren made a lot of people cry, Jim presented a unified theory of espresso, Summer prompted us to reflect on our values, Elliot convinced us that the photographer matters a lot, Mary Ann B. told us about Ozzy, Jacob defamiliarized music, and Mason blew our minds.
Thanks to Mason and Beth for helping set up, to Lizzie for taking tickets, to Katie for providing snacks, to Jim and José for keeping time, and to a smattering of other people who helped us reset the room after.
We have a time clock. Partially because, hey, we’re a Company! And mostly because we love having a physical record of (almost) everyone who’s been in the space. People punch in and out when they visit. At the end of each month, we stack up all the cards by visit count in the Fibonacci sequence. Here’s the data for July:
1 visit: 50 people
2 visits: 15 people
3–4 visits: 7 people
5–7 visits: 6 people
8–12 visits: 6 people
13–20 visits: 1 people
21+ visits: 3 people
Total people: 88
People who came more than once: 38
Other notes:
Notable moves have gotten too overwhelming to track, but we believe this is Mike’s first month in the 13+ column!
Most columns this month had exactly the same number of visitors as last month! The exceptions were: 2 had 12 and now has 15; 8+ had 3 and now has 6; 13+ had 3 and now has 1. Overall, there was a 4-person increase this month.
Note: We don’t generally record visitors to Cuppa if they are only stopping in for Cuppa. Many people came through the space that are not represented here!
Inevitably: incomplete and messy data.
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
This guy flew all the way from the District of Columbia for a Cuppa. And look at how happy he is about that!
Just kidding—that’s Best Man Steve. We call him that because he’s the best, but also because he was the best man in Livvy and my wedding.
Recessin’.
The options for recess fitness activities have been increasing over the last few months.
This was Jim’s very first time at recess! Also his first time on a swing in years. Hence, I gather, his face.
Steve v. Norton.
Michelle bought a couple dozen disposable film cameras a while ago and was waiting until she had shot through all of them to get them developed. She did that, and this is us getting nostalgia poisoning from them. Maybe one of these days we’ll do a bonus Paperwork issue that’s just all of the film photos.
Steve v. José.
Alex has been coming in for full workdays over the summer, and this was his last full day of the summer as he’s returning to dog supervision duties.
We met friend Sophia (new friend on the right!) at Longer Tables! They came by for the workday, and brought in some great treats.
Jessica also brought in treats (cinnamon rolls!), but also treatments. Here she’s showing Livvy how to do something with her vagus nerve.
The last of our The Last of Us watch parties.
With much conversation, before and after. Photo by Beth.
Weekly Wednesday Worknight! Including a first-and-last visit from Jake, a friend from a type meetup.
And a surprise visit from Jim’s parents! Who got involved in the star ceremony.
On the first Friday of every month, we intend to have a First Friday Feast, and this month we succeeded.
We’ve mentioned it before, but Norton’s got a datavis project brewing, and as a result of that he’s become very invested in helping with the time cards.
Dan came by for recess!
It’s a little hard to see but Dan is holding up a sign that says “uneven lanes”. Classic Dan.
And now for the main event: PowerPoint Party No. 29! You can see on the left that we put a new timer to use.
Katie on acquiring good dogs.
Simon on ethics.
Adam on how hardly anything matters (in photography).
Livvy overheard that Sabrina was tearing into Max afterward (in a playful but informed way) about how not all those pipes were chimneys! Which I appreciate as a vulnerable and honest response. So much better than just “Thanks.”
José on tariffs (again!).
Lauren on what to do about good dogs.
This image may give you the incorrect impression that Jim’s presentation was math-heavy. It was not.
Summer explaining value-contrast as a method for picking outfits.
This image may give you the incorrect impression that Elliot’s presentation was not image-heavy. It was.
Mary Ann giving an overview of the late great Ozzy Osbourne.
Jacob explaining human music to all his fellow aliens.
Mason taking us through a whirlwind of a presentation.
Which astonished most of us and horrified Dan.
This image may give you the incorrect impression that Mason’s presentation was not that math heavy. It was.
After the show.
People talking holding corn like it’s nothing.
In faint yellow letters reads “Ask Katie Why. Not Illegal.”
People clocking out holding corn like it’s nothing.
Michelle and Mark started some unofficial (but soon to be official) Salsa classes at The Company and here they are after the show, showing off some moves.
Attendance data for July.
—
This issue of Paperwork was written by Ivan, and shot by Ivan and Beth. Photo selection and editing by Ivan and Livvy. Editorial support was provided by Livvy and Norton. 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, Jaime, Jacob, Mark, Sabrina, Beth, Dani, Chris, Will, Rebeca, Sarah, Mary Ann T., Alex, Jessica P., Jessica S., Mike, Ben, and Sam.
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