vol. 2, no. 18 | Repetition
Summery, my favorite seasonal celebration, is coming up next week (September 22), and with it the concomitant pondering. What did our lives look like at the last autumn equinox? What journeys did we go on this summer? What happened a year ago today (❤️)? How will we spend the very last week of this bright season, and with whom?
I know much less of immortality than I used to, but I have found that reliving your life is better than only living it once. So even if you’re not presenting at Summery, I invite you to do some pondering and reflecting and reliving of your own.
—Ivan
Happenings
This week:
Past: Cuppa Clothing Swap, Sunday, September 14
This already happened, but leaving it in for the record.
Glint: Unknown, Tuesday, September 16
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 “Unknown“.
Do you have a story about not knowing? Feeling unknown? Venturing into something new? Something unfamiliar? A stranger? A variable? Making a decision without enough information? Whatever your interpretation, we want to hear it.
We’ve got a few teller slots left, so if you’re interested in telling a story, reply and let us know.
Current lineup: Ivan, Lauren S., Jessica P., Anjali, Jim, Katie V., Fer, Sam Ad., and Allyson.
$10, or free for tellers and members.
Weekly Wednesday Worknight, Wednesday, September 17
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, September 18
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 has been 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). There are also quite a few people that we didn’t meet, but who heard about us there, and who we’ve since had the pleasure to meet (including our newest member Liz!). There’s one final one left this summer, so if you haven’t made it out yet this is your last chance.
$23.18
Future Weeks:
Summery, Monday, September 22
For the eighth year in a row, Livvy and I are hosting Summery: a 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 our very favorite day of the whole entire year and we’ve got a full lineup. Hear from Alex, Jim, Ivan, Livvy, Allyson, Lizzie, Beth, Mark, Halie, Fer, Elliot, and Case.
Free
Look forward to looking backward →
Offsite: Creative Mornings, Friday, September 26
Creative Mornings is the monthly creative breakfast lecture series that a lot of us are lotsa-timers at. This next one is going to be at the Freyer-Newman Center at the Denver Botanic Gardens, with Allie Beckmann (who has been to The Company a few times!) as the speaker.
Free
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Also coming up: Mary Ann’s Book Club: Stand Out of Our Light (September 29), PowerPoint Party No. 31 (October 4). Offsite: Madeleine telling at The Moth GrandSLAM (Oct 24)
Nostalgia
Do you remember the mild salsa class? The new moves? The conversations while we danced? How afterward we stood on the landing talking about how hard it is to date, to get feedback, and to understand?
Do you remember the lunch when I gave a live reading of the Paperwork intro? How we spoke of injury, and getting in fights? Of how shockingly rude some people can be?
The recess when you were upside down?
Do you remember the Tuesday that Norton was back? How we received and tested out the repaired projector and the repaired camera?
The day the collaborative Spotify jam was briefly a sing-along?
The search for better Twizzlers?
Or the Worknight? The gift of cake? The walks? How we harmonized our goodbye to Jessica when she had to leave early? The star ceremony?
How afterward, as we were walking to our cars, Alex learned that Case knew so many of the people he’s been reading? How he asked her if she was famous? How Case responded that she wanted to be like Jane Jacobs, and Alex said who’s that? and she said exactly!, and Norton asked, The Death and Life of Great American Cities?
The brief recess? How when we got back, Will set up the cursor party on our website? How we smiled and laughed at our computers? How perfectly silly it was? How there were so many mice on that dog?
Do you remember the morning that Beth sought affirmation, and encouragement was given? How the acoustic panel fell on Norton, just as we feared it might?
How Will, in between two hiking trips, joined us for the poster show?
Bureaucratic Minutiae
To close the loop on our technical difficulties, our projector has been repaired and returned, as has my camera. Thanks so much to Mike for lending his!
Will has set up one of the coolest features on our website, which you can see by visiting any page of our website (on a device that uses a mouse) and hoping that someone is also there (also on a device that uses a mouse). Assuming some small number of you immediately read Paperwork, at a similar speed, and click that link as soon as you come to it, perhaps you will see someone else there too.
At Worknight: Jaime worked on an article; Jessica S. finished some CE courses; Ivan worked on a draft for his Glint story; Drew A. updated 2 projects on his website; Norton scanned August punchcards; Alex finished an outline for Summery; Case cleaned a shoe and onboarded an oracle onto Doom Zone (I also have no idea what that means); Mike worked on a Notion shotlist and journal; Allyson worked on refreshing a resume; and Mark and Allyson tried to pick a new route.
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 August:
1 visit: 56 people
2 visits: 10 people
3–4 visits: 9 people
5–7 visits: 9 people
8–12 visits: 4 people
13–20 visits: 4 people
21+ visits: 2 peopleTotal people: 94
People who came more than once: 38Other notes:
Norton was away! A rare Management appearance in the 13+ column.
We had 6 more visitors this month than last month, but exactly the same number of visitors who came ≥2 times (38).
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.
Special thanks to José and Norton for assistance sorting and numbering the cards this month. 🫶
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
Somehow, after having copied over and imported some photos while switching cameras, I lost the last few photos that I took on Mike’s camera, which covered the first few days of this week. In their place, I shall provide descriptions of the six I would have included, based on the cached previews I can still see in Lightroom.
Photo 1: Rebeca, Lauren S., Ellie, and Jesica P. stand in a line, practicing a salsa move. Jess holds Ellie’s right hand with his right hand, while everyone looks on studiously, except for Rebeca, who looks pensively at a spot on the floor, contemplating something.
Photo 2: Mark laughs as Jess shows him how to move his hips in merengue step. Jess has one hand on Mark’s shoulder, and the other grabbing the side of Mark’s shorts, pulling him in the right direction. Jessica P. and Rebeca look on, laughing.
Photo 3: It is lunch time. Mike is telling a story, which I have forgotten, while a small group sits entranced. Dan covers his mouth in shock.
Photo 4: Mike and Jaime walk along the sidewalk by the playground. The light is soft, filtered through hazy skies. Soft shadows dapple their backs and the ground.
Photo 5: Jessica S. and Livvy do planks, a chain-link fence serving as trellis to vining plants behind them. Livvy’s posture is flawed, which she will later see as I flip through this photo, leading her to exclaim “My butt is too high! You should have told me!”
Photo 6: Jessica S. hangs upside down from her knees on the monkey bars at the playground. Her carefully-tended and much-admired ponytail hangs down. She adjusts her shirt and smiles at the ground above her.
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This issue of Paperwork was written and shot by Ivan. Photo selection and editing also by Ivan. 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, Melissa, Elijah, Michelle, Jim, Jaime, Jacob, Mark, Sabrina, Beth, Dani, Chris, Will, Rebeca, Sarah, Mary Ann T., Alex, Jessica P., Jessica S., Mike, Ben, Sam, and Liz.
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.
😘