vol. 2, no. 39 | Showing Up

The Anxious Generation


            
        February 11, 2026
    
    
vol. 2,  no. 39 | Showing Up


        You hear them give a presentation about something you have always cared a lot about. They talk about a project that really tickles your brain. Or maybe they tell a story about some small or big moment in their life. And you—fascinated, curious, moved—get the chance to talk to them after. You know so little about them right now, but you know enough to hope you might see them again. You don’t exchange numbers this time.
You show up again, and so do they, and you learn a little bit more about their interests, their goals, the things that fascinate them and move them, what they are scared about or hopeful for, the dreams they’re pursuing for themselves.
And then again, another time, the same event, or maybe another, a few days or weeks or months later, you see each other and ask about how that thing is going, how the trip was, or the job search, if they got to check out that thing you were both talking about before.
You were once strangers to each other, but over time you find that you’ve opened yourself up to caring about them. Now you are rooting for and cheering for and celebrating each other. And you realize that of the many things you have gotten in exchange for continuing to show up, one is this immense and growing feeling of appreciation, or maybe it’s a kind of love? This person, or these people, they come to mean something to you—maybe the world, or some small sliver of it.
It could happen anywhere else, with different people. You know that it has before, and you know that it will again. But this time it’s here, in this space, with these people, in this moment, that you sometimes get to experience that shift from curiosity to wanting the best for someone, and feeling ecstatic when they get it.
You get to see them be happy and surprised, to come out of their shell, to present in front of a bigger crowd, to watch them find love, to hear that they’re finally pregnant, or got a job, or a project, or that they finally quit, or finally moved to Germany. You get to see them grow in front of you. You get to see all of that and have it mean something it never could have if you hadn’t consistently spent all that time and attention. You get to scheme, and sneak around a museum, and lie about a broken door, and reposition a flower arch, and yell from the audience, and buy bouquets, and help hide a cake, and distribute hats, and feel a kind of overwhelming, blooming joy.
—Ivan
Happenings
This week:
Weekly Wednesday Worknight, Wednesday, February 11
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, free for Company and Moonlight members
Work together →
Cuppa Valentine’s Day TREAT YOURSELF Clothing Swap, Saturday, February 14
Cuppa is hosting its third all-gender clothing swap on Valentine’s Day from 11am-1pm! Come get a cuppa and give forlorn items another chance at love.
Free
Find love in a hopeful place →
Future Weeks:
Glint: Rearview, Tuesday, February 17
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 “Rearview“.
Do you have a story of hindsight, of clarity only in retrospect? Of looking back? Of getting a different perspective? Of a blind spot? Do you have a story that actually involves your rearview mirror? Or a story of watching someone walk away? 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.
$10, or free for tellers and members.
Come and don’t look back →
Mary Ann’s Book Club: The Anxious Generation, Monday, February 23
By ranked-choice vote, this month’s book is The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. From the first few pages, I can already tell that reading all of it isn’t going to be anywhere near as stimulating as just scrolling through Instagram for as many hours.
Free
See what all the kids are into →
The Annual Performance Review, Saturday, February 28
Alex, Lizzie, and Madeleine are organizing the Company’s first Annual Performance Review—a winter talent showcase featuring short performances from the community. If you’re interested in performing, express your interest using this form, and if you’re interested in just attending…
Meet expectations →
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Also coming up: In the Making (February 26), Creative Writing Workshop: Witness (March 2), PowerPoint Party No. 36 (March 7), Cuppa’s 1-Year Anniversary Party! (March 28)
Nostalgia
Do you remember the day of the fifth and final Sundance at Home? The red-tailed hawk that erupted on one of your walks? How it ended with a whimsical film?
Do you remember the offsite to see the poetry feature? The surprise of seeing Micah while we waited? Madeleine’s lovely words about family and ladybugs and healing? Our delight at the other poets’ talk of fairy tales and road rage? How the door to the room with the big band swing dancing kept swing dancing open?
The Monday with Mark, Drew, Mason, Mike, and Adam, all in before Livvy even showed up? How that was Stephen’s very first recess?
Madeleine’s second Creative Writing Workshop, the one about time? How it, of course, flew by, and so quickly we found ourselves at the end, hearing each other’s writing? How we lingered for so long in little pairs after?
Or the day when you missed me and listed all of my faults? How you collected a very flattering list for me in the Paperwork notes that I would of course be too modest to include? How when Drew sat down at the lunch table, you told him that he needed to keep quiet because Drew was on a call? How Ryan talked about his favorite movies and Livvy shared her memories connected with each one?
Do you remember the Worknight that happened to fall on Alex’s birthday? How it happened to have such a big crowd? How there happened to be pizza? And how Jessica P. happened to be in the storage room with cake? How it was her very first Worknight? How when you came out everyone was in hats? How one of the breaks turned into a dance party after Mark’s skills became activated? How the break turned into an extended club session?
The afternoon when you took a two hour nap with the dinosaur blanket?
Or the opening ceremony of the Olympics? The First Friday feast at Avanti? The brief salsa lesson while we waited for our food? How we returned and waited for the arrival of Asher? How we again became so immensely aware of how dirty our floors were?
Do you remember Goldens in Golden? How it we so adorable? How we felt sad to be there without River? How so many dogs were in caps?
And do you remember the really big PowerPoint Party when we fully ran out of seats before doors even opened, and we had to adjust the ticket sales for standing room only? How we were struck by stars and the many sides of Colorado, awed by handwritten and printed media, and learned about attachments and fastenings and buttons and photographs and books and state history and wisdom?
How we met so many of Earl’s friends? How almost 2 of every 7 attendees found themselves at bartaco as the evening ended?
Bureaucratic Minutiae
Partially to better align with our values, and partially to avoid another clerical mishap (sorry again, Adam and Christof!), we are moving to a Whiteboard-first presenter tracking system. Whiteboard, if you’re unfamiliar, is a secure-access SaaS product we’ve been trialing for a few months on a night-of-event-only basis, and we’ve decided to fully make the switch to full time persistent use. Whiteboard will now serve as the canonical and always up-to-date source for presenters and waitlists, and tracking for PowerPoint Parties, Glint, and In the Making will take place using that system. To access Whiteboard, you must be physically present at The Company, so signups and dropouts must be done in person or via a proxy. Tutorials for use of the product are available upon request.
At Worknight: Jessica S. made 1 commit; Drew J. finished brainstorming; Mark worked on the winter retreat workbook, and whipped, nae naed, did the stanky leg, and bopped; Livvy reviewed a document and worked on her script; Dan worked on 1 direction; Michelle finalized a topic; Mary Ann readied Ridwell recycling and completed January budget; Jessica P. vetted doula recs and graded student projects; Madeleine finished a Moth story; Ivan copied things from one file into another; Mason implemented a generic ray march camera; Lizzie uploaded Paperwork photos to the website and worked on finishing her PowerPoint outline; and Alex facilitated a committee meeting.
At PowerPoint Party: Jake raced through an introduction to burro racing, Lizzie opened up about her journaling system, Drew J. gave us an overview of skydiving, Allyson aroused our interest in Medicare and Medicaid, Tim outlined the history of the shape of Colorado, Michelle helped us appreciate very fine details, Dan shared what it’s like inside of his brain inside of a bathroom, Sophie reported on her 2025 reading, Elijah held our attention with a presentation on fasteners, Ashley imparted some wisdom she’s received over her life, Ryan encouraged us to have a healthy relationship with attachment styles, and Lauren T. shared the story of the woman who shared the stories of the women who programmed the ENIAC.
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
A post-movie discussion at Justin’s final Sundance at Home. Photo by Livvy.
Waiting for the poetry to begin.
Madeleine sharing what in the slam community is technically referred to as “new shit”.
Those that made it to the end of Sundance at Home. Photo by Justin.
Madeleine’s second creative writing workshop.
Lizzie sharing some of her writing.
Another installment in our intermittent photo series of people crowding around a screen at Worknight.
Frantically distributing and donning birthday hats while Alex is briefly out of sight.
And a brief moment of surprise in which a bunch of people who were maybe just here for Worknight were then here for Alex’s surprise birthday celebration.
It was hard to cull the photos for this moment. Know that we sang and ate cake before resuming another focused work session.
At the next break, something that was said led to Dan playing a song which activated Mark’s dancing instincts.
Which then turned into a bit of a dance party, entirely unrelated to the earlier birthday party.
Lunch! Photo by Beth.
I wasn’t here for this, but I assume it had something to do with Mark documenting a quote. Photo by who knows.
Watching the olympics opening ceremony (thanks Zoe for the suggestion!). Photo by Lizzie.
Heading to First Friday Feast.
A few of us (including Best Man Steve!) went on an offsite to Goldens in Golden, and while there is only a single golden butt in this particular photo (I was too distracted to get many photos) we saw sooooo many beautiful dogs! I was squealing a lot. I loved it. You really must join us next year.
Something I didn’t realize in my walking around taking photos is that the photos on this slide are of Jake! He is the burro racer in the photos!
One of the nicest-looking presentations we’ve ever had. It’s come up here before that an early idea of Paperwork was for it to be entirely analog, with the email newsletter just being photos of the physical artifact, and this makes me wish again that we had figured out how to do that. I’m sure I’d have ended up being much shorter winded.
Excluding Livvy and my 10-year Anniversary weekend, which was anomalous for the number of out-of-towners in attendance, PowerPoint Party No. 35 was the biggest crowd we’ve ever had. It thinned a little after intermission, but we were a little north of 70 people.
I somehow always forget about Drew J.’s past as a competitive skydiver. Watching this video of him dropping out of a plane after hanging upside down from the wing supports was thoroughly thrilling.
Allyson helping us learn about Medicare and Medicaid.
Tim helping us understand why Colorado is so boxy. Also, some of the very best timing-based humor we’ve ever had at one of these.
Michelle reminding us about the I Spy series and teaching us about the work of Walter Wick.
Intermission espionage.
Some of the thoughts inside Dan’s brain when confronted with a confusing sanitation interface.
Sophie reviewing some of her favorite books. One of them is now a contender for Mary Ann’s Book Club.
Elijah continuing to share uncommon knowledge about common tools.
Please notice how good of a shirt this is for a presentation about what Ashley’s learned as she’s gotten older.
Ryan’s presentation thoughtfully preempted its potential misuse.
Another classic Lauren T. talk, bringing my tearing up during presentations count up to four for the evening.
Often, after PowerPoint Party, some number of us who didn’t eat before the show make our way over to bartaco which is one of the only places still serving food that late. Here we can be seen saying goodbye to the few people not joining the trek.
And still, we had 13 of us, not including the six people at Earl’s table.
Bonus image, courtesy of Lizzie: Lizzie’s journal pages for the day of PowerPoint Party.
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This issue of Paperwork was written by Ivan with additional reporting from Livvy and Jessica S., and was shot by Livvy, Ivan, Justin, and Lizzie. Photo selection and editing by Ivan 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, Mason, José, Mary Ann, Trevr, Allyson, Lizzie, Elijah, Michelle, Jim, Jacob, Mark, Sabrina, Beth, Dani, Chris, Will, Marcia, Rebeca, Sarah, Alex, Jessica P., Jessica S., Ben, Sam Ad., Christof, Ryan, Lauren T., Madeleine, Simon, and Adam B.
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.
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