vol. 2, no. 46 | In a year

North Woods


            
        March 31, 2026
    
    
vol. 2,  no. 46 | In a year


        You can have an idea. You can start a business. You can be new. You can become a regular. You can make a good friend. You can drift away. You can fall in love. You can move on. You can get injured. You can recover. You can lose sleep. You can cheer for your friends. You can start a club. You can learn to dance. You can get a ride to the airport. You can be anointed on the solstice. You can find out you’re pregnant. You can find out you’re not. You can start telling stories. You can perform on a bigger stage. You can lose a community. You can find a home. You can quit your job. You can see the very best moon. You can feel like giving up. You can make it through. You can ice skate in a snowstorm. You can move away. You can move closer. You can cry from happiness. You can learn to dance. You can ask yourself why you’re doing this. You can have a really good cup of coffee. You can grow close. You can stay a spell. You can do a good job. You can write a speech. You can make Ann proud.
—Ivan
Happenings
This week:
Mary Ann’s Book Club: North Woods, Monday, March 30
Tonight! (realistically, last night by the time I send this)
Mary Ann’s Book Club will be discussing North Woods by Daniel Mason. I never got around to starting it because it’s so popular that there’s an immensely long wait on Libby. If you happen to also miss this, some of us will be ready to discuss it in a few months.
Free
Read an award winner →
Weekly Wednesday Worknight, Wednesday, April 1
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 →
PowerPoint Party No. 37, Saturday, April 4
Twelve people giving 7-minute presentations about whatever they’re currently into. At past parties, people have presented about organizing music, managing the local water supply, nuclear semiotics, and riding bikes. 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 (and your chances are awful!). 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, free for members and presenters
Make a point of coming →
Future Weeks:
Creative Writing Workshop: Thresholds, Monday, April 6
Once again: 90 minutes of lightly directed writing around a theme. For the fourth workshop, our theme is Thresholds.
The theme will be explored through a series of prompts, and we’ll have progressively more time to respond to each. At the end of the night, we’ll have the chance (though not the requirement) to share.
Note that this workshop is not for feedback or editing—the purpose is to generate new writing.
Bring yourself and something to write with.
$10, free for members
Walk through that door →
—
Also coming up: Glint: Boundary (April 14), Creative Code Denver (April 20), In the Making (April 23), Prom (April 25)
Nostalgia
Do you remember how we got together at 404 for the Vinyl Organs-themed birthday party? How we talked and talked and talked, and celebrated Lizzie, and cheered for Trevr?
How we installed the first set of ACs, during that unseasonably warm spring? How we worked through the number of remaining screws, and our notes from past years, and were relieved to find out that they still worked?
Or the recess with the strangely crowded park?
The return of Ryan? The long day of Paperwork?
The Worknight with Case back, briefly in between trips? How Sabrina quietly cleaned, and used sticky notes and sign language to communicate? That we got into yet another strange tangle at the end?
And do you remember our first walk back all together in months? How it was one of our last ones forever, that week before you moved? Our three way handshake in the elevator?
The visit of Bobby’s friends? The In the Making with no strangers? How we all still wore nametags anyway? How it was still a gift, to get to see what we had all been working on? How when Lauren S. saw Figma she asked “is this Notion?”, and then later Livvy said “This, by the way, is Notion”?
Or the day before the Cuppa anniversary? The room prep and the tech setup and the early preview of the speech? How it reminded us that a lot can happen? How it reminded us that a lot had happened? That Ryan got lost in a puzzle?
And the day itself? The room full of happy people? How some of us had only known her for a little, and some of us her whole life? How we all loved her so much and were so proud of her? How some of us talked, and some of us watched videos of muppets, and some of us played games and worked on puzzles? How the raffle was such a specific and personal showcase of this group of friends?
Do you remember that evening? The party for Mary Ann’s new place, and the new embryo? How we hung out in similar groups to earlier, familiar faces in unfamiliar attire? That we drank from test tubes and ate from petri dishes and spoke about so many things while wearing lab coats?
Bureaucratic Minutiae
NORTON IS BACK!!!
Thanks so much to Sabrina for deep-cleaning half of our floors. (All of them are clean by the time of this writing, but this rag covers Sunday–Saturday and she finished the rest on the Sunday following)
Thanks to Alex and Norton for helping install 2 out of 3 ACs.
The Closing shift has been adjusted to account for new AC instructions
The blinds on the second window from the right usually fall down when you try to adjust them. On Monday, Adam and Livvy put some tape to prevent this.
At Worknight: Jessica S. billed 1 hour; Ryan completed an assignment; Norton finished search index callbacks and job queues; Sabrina cleaned the bathroom, cleaned the vacuum, and worked on 1 bundle of fabric; Case created a rating sheet for lamp certification; Livvy worked on uploading videos to an album; Ivan reviewed Dan’s type feedback, and Lizzie worked on a timeline for a wedding client.
At In the Making: Sylvia introduced us to her salons, Marissa described a tremendously behind-schedule and over-budget group project, Livvy tested out a scene from a possibly forthcoming play she’s adapting from a short story, Ivan gave context for a new typeface and asked for feedback from the audience, Micah took us through a couple of mixed media notebooks that were really lovely and sometimes hilarious, and Allyson asked for some input on a new set of paintings.
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
To celebrate Lizzie’s birthday we got together back at Bar 404 for another Vinyl Organs show.
It was simply too loud in there most of the time so Dan and I stood outside chatting for a good chunk of the pre-show.
Lizzie saying something that Beth finds 10/10 funny.
Trevr!
And his bandmates.
It was their longest show yet. And the bassist drew pictures for the setlist instead of writing the song names down.
Which was utterly delightful.
Some of Lizzie’s polaroids. Photo of the polaroids by Lizzie. Some of but clearly not all of the individual polaroids also by Lizzie.
Norton has been back for a bit, but he immediately got sick upon his return so this is his first regular appearance.
Another recess.
And another.
Worknight star-filling, along with a very brief appearance by Case, in between so many trips.
Jessica S. was leaving and Livvy asked her if she’d like to take her pizza home with her, and Jessica S. said “my hands are full!” to which Livvy said “I’m looking at you and you literally have an empty hand” which—well—you really had to be there, it was 10/10 funny.
A few weeks ago Beth was reading an article about how these days we pay for services that our communities used to provide. This prompted her to wonder about helping each other get rides to and from the airport, and so many people were into it. Here, one of the earliest dropoffs yet, with a 5am pickup from Mary Ann. Photo by Case.
Sylvia shared the work she’s put into hosting salons, and the work that’s come out of them.
Marissa is one of the most consistently sarcastic people I know, but it turns out that she’s also incredibly sincere and earnest and caring and loves her friends so much that she’s been managing a three-years-long zine project about a group of people that have been friends since high school yearbook club. One of my favorite things she said: “If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball. If you can make a yearbook you can make a zine.”
🥹
Livvy’s In the Making presentation was about a play she’s been adapting from a short story. Here, over half the audience participated in a reading of the script.
And we did such a good job and were so proud of ourselves and so was Livvy.
I asked for feedback on some custom type for a project Dan and I are working on. Photo by Norton.
Micah shared so many notebooks and made us laugh so hard with some of the spreads. In this one, we discovered that all the tabs visible from the outside of the notebook were all marking a single page.
Allyson soliciting feedback on paintings.
A reenactment of the moment, a few seconds before this, when Norton and Earl met each other for the very first time.
Gus met Norton before The Company, back when Norton’s “Creative Code Denver” meetups were called ”Denver Generative Art” meetups, back before the term “Generative Art” got co-opted. Gus wasn’t even living here at the time, but on visits back to Colorado (this had been home for him) he found the meetup and showed up. Gus eventually moved back, and started coming around, especially in the last few months, during which be brought his best friend Earl and five million other people. It was very nice to see them catch up.
Nerd Nite, hosted by Earl, featured contributions from Luke (Lizzie’s twin brother)
and Ryan (as far we know not a twin to anyone).
Beth celebrated 1 year of Cuppa on Saturday, and it was a blast. Lauren T. jumped in to help manage orders and did so great.
Some of the company at Cuppa.
In the imaginary museum of artifacts of what it was like to be a part of The Company at this point in time I’d include this spread of raffle items. So many friends contributed so many things so specific to them.
Mark was very studiously watching this video of Rowlf the Dog and when we asked what he was doing he said he was working on his PowerPoint Party presentation. Sooooo excited for this.
So many lovely people.
Beth wrote a speech, which I got a preview of the day before, and even in preview, small-audience format, it had me weeping. A lot can happen. And absolutely did. And will again. Photo by Lizzie.
Congratulations again on year one. Photo by Lizzie.
And congratulations on the start of year two. Photo by Lizzie.
After the speech was the raffle. Photo by Lizzie.
Until all the items were gone. Photo by Lizzie.
In the evening, Mary Ann hosted a Women in STEM Housewarming/Embryo Celebration, and an oddly high amount of people had their own lab coats. Drinks were served in test tubes, and petri dishes were used as snack plates.
Congratulations on the new place and the embryo!
Norton, Livvy, and I stopped at The Company on the way back to prep the room for another floor cleaning.
—
This issue of Paperwork was written by Ivan, and was shot by Ivan, Lizzie, Case, and Norton. 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, Adam B., Gus, Lauren S., Earl, Maddie, and Bennett.
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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