vol. 2, no. 52 | The Acquisition
Dearest Paperwork readers, contributors, and staff:
I am excited to inform you that this is the one-hundredth issue of Paperwork! With the exception of two weeks wherein Dan and Michelle served as interim editors, I have had the immense privilege, over two years, of reporting and speculating on the lives of those of us who gather at The Company.
And how we have grown! By writing, photographing, listing upcoming events, and reminiscing on the very recent past, we’ve demonstrated a dramatic YoY increase in our subscriber base.
In addition to this being our one-hundredth issue, this is also the very last issue of Volume 2. The start of Volume 3, which coincides with our third year in operation as The Company, will usher in some exciting new changes. The most significant of these changes is that, after much consideration, we have decided to split Paperwork off from The Company family of brands and have sold it to Alden Global Capital, a beloved investment group that has for years been saving local newspapers across the country (including The Denver Post, The Boston Herald, and Chicago Tribune) before turning its attention to indie community publications.
This was a difficult choice to make. We have enjoyed putting human care into every element of this newsletter, but with our growing reach and the recent economic tumult, this is the right choice for us at this time. Accepting this offer provides us with valuable capital that we’ll be able to reinvest in our core business.
And to be clear, I have full faith in Alden Global Capital’s ability to carry the torch forward, and they have assured us that they care about and understand the culture of this publication. I will stay on for a few months as a consulting editor, but the new leadership will be taking Paperwork in exciting new directions, beginning with an AI-first approach, robust analytics tracking, a heightened focus on social-media, tasteful advertising, strategic influencer partnerships, and paid newsletter subscriptions. But aside from the ads, the increased social media presence, and the (at first) optional paid subscriptions, you can rest assured that, thanks to the advances in AI, the style, tone, and sentimentality of this newsletter will remain unchanged. This is my last issue writing Paperwork, but I have given Alden Global Capital full permission to use my likeness, style, and voice moving forward, so in future issues you won’t even notice that it’s not really me writing. In fact, it was the human feel of this newsletter they cited as the primary reason they were interested in this acquisition, referring to it as having a sort of ‘singular oddity’.
In some of our early meetings, we were shown the future of indie community newsletters, and the future is fully agentic. With just a couple more security cameras and the addition of always-listening smart speakers that are being installed this week, it’s possible to fully automate every aspect of what we have heretofore only ever done manually. The newest AI models allow for photorealistic recreations of moments, pieced together from multiple angles of security footage and audio, and referencing our vast archive of photos to mimic the composition and editing styles you have grown accustomed to. While in other industries some may lament the loss of jobs, this will allow the skeleton crew that is the Paperwork staff to themselves be a little more present during moments when we were otherwise taking photos or noting down moments for nostalgia.
(Because many of us here care about the environment, I do want to also note here that we’ve negotiated a clause that guarantees that the energy-intensive operations necessary to produce a newsletter in this style will only ever use carbon neutral data centers with a commitment to investing in their local communities, and that provide free childcare for all of their full-time workers.)
While The Company remains fully human-run for now, we have also been in discussions with Alden Global Capital about their potential interest in a controlling stake in our brick and mortar operations. We have described ourselves as being organized around curiosity and creativity, but they have painted a compelling picture to us of a future where we can instead leave the inquiry and making to much more efficient AI tools, allowing us to spend more time working, watching short-form video content, and online shopping. Once AI removes the friction of our curiosity and creativity, The Company can itself transcend its current need for physical space, inoculating us from the ever present threat of rising rent costs.
With just a little bit more training, we can look forward to a world where we can spend less time together, stay at work or at home more (or even travel!), and trust that every week we will continue to receive another issue of Paperwork filled with believable reports of moments that could have happened to us. Without having to actually do anything, we will be able to see hallucinations of ourselves spending time with hallucinations of each other. We can soon leave all the hard work of living to the machines, and just be told what it looks like to show up, to get to know each other, to love and fight and repair and love again.
Picture it now: you’re in Italy, alone, but finally pursuing your dream to live in a walkable Mediterranean city, and you receive another issue of Paperwork. Vol. 8, No. 31: Once more, with feeling!. Though the physical space of The Company has not existed for years, though you haven’t spoken to anyone from there in just as long, in this issue are photos and captions of you laughing with Beth at Cuppa, getting fashion advice from Allyson, making zines with Victoria (who was introduced in Vol. 5 to replace Christof, after he moved away for grad school), and telling and hearing stories with your dearest friends. Most poignant to you though, at this time in your life, are the photos of the Annual Holiday Play, in which you can be seen backstage helping out some of the Junior Associates. In one photo, Jim is making some last minute tweaks to the set while Mark can be seen running through the big closing dance number. You tear up seeing a photo of the Prinsen kid looking at you with such admiration as you adjust the costume made by Lizzie and Sabrina. You laugh at how Asher grins so thoroughly at your funny faces. But the caption, about how Penny was so nervous but delivered her lines perfectly, and how she was so thankful to you specifically for all your help, causes you to drop your caffè in a kind of sorrowful joy at how good a version of you has it. You, and every other Paperwork reader, can soon have this same personalized experience, all powered by the most bleeding edge of predictive AI models.
In this new world, even people who have never been to The Company will be able to upload their likeness, fill out a short personality profile, and then see and read about themselves as main characters in this newsletter. They will be able to learn about how they would fit in here, how the shape of this mirage could change with them in it.
We have a blindingly bright future ahead of us. Thank you all for your attention over these past two years, and for seeding a valuable set of training data. We truly couldn’t do this without you.
—Ivan
Happenings
This week:
Glint: Weather, Tuesday, May 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 “Weather“.
Was it a dark and stormy night, or the most glorious morning? Did you get stranded, delayed, or caught? Are you lost in the mist? Who dug you out of the avalanche? How did you break the ice? How did you get out of small talk? Have you ever been struck by lightning? What did you survive and how? What have you weathered? Whatever your interpretation, we want to hear it.
Come hear from Joshua, Christof, Mark, Riah, Beth, Sylvia, Allyson, me, and Gabby, or join the list to tell your own story.
$10, or free for tellers and members
Weekly Wednesday Worknight, Wednesday, May 13
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
Anniversary Party, Friday, May 15
The Company is turning two! And for its second birthday we’re going to celebrate it much like the first: with a rare, unstructured, relatively unthemed, very casual, deeply BYO party. It’ll be here, at The Company (of course), at 6:30. Pizza will be provided.
Free
Future Weeks:
Mary Ann’s Book Club: Radiance, Monday, May 18
Mary Ann’s Book Club, much like this newsletter, switches between fiction and non-fiction. This month it’s fiction, and we’ll be reading Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente.
It is described as “a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood-and solar system-very different from our own,” and it also involves multiple storytelling devices. Seems very strange and very fun.
You’ve got a week. Get readin’.
Free
Creative Code Denver Meetup No. 14, Monday, May 18
Light refreshments, creative coding demos, and an hour of social coworking. Hosted again by Gus.
Free
In the Making, Thursday, May 21
A show and tell for original, amateur, creative works in progress. Each presenter has 15 minutes to spend however they choose (any mix of presenting, Q&A, workshopping, getting feedback).
Come see works in progress from Madeleine and me, José, Lauren S., and Earl.
$10, or free for members and presenters
CyborgCamp, Friday, May 29–Saturday, May 30
For very many years, Case has hosted an unconference that explores what it means to be human in a world increasingly shaped by technology. This year, Case is hosting that unconference at The Company!
There’s a pre-party on Friday evening, and a full day on Saturday of talks, lightning talks, deep discussions, and a few surprises. There’ll be special guests, good food, and drinks by Cuppa.
Free–$250, $25 for members
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Also coming up: Creative Writing Workshop: Shelter (June 1) PowerPoint Party No. 39 (June 6)
Nostalgia
Do you remember the first Original Fiction Show? How nice it was to hear about other worlds? To peer into our friends’ minds and see their imagination?
Or the day we met Nathan? How we talked at lunch about pregnancy, job interviews, and marathons? The intense 1:1 basketball game at recess?
The time card sorting after the workday? The tiny workshop? Our reflections and readings on wonder?
Do you remember the day it was briefly winter again? How we took bundled walk around the block? How the snow came down so heavily while we set up the dataviz photo? How we turned on the lights inside and gave everything that cozy glow? Our staggered arrival and departure from Allyson and Madison’s place, for the Empowerment Manual book club? Beth’s gift of a casserole? Our discussion of responsibility, and all the ways the concepts tied into The Company?
How Norton waited until I shoveled the stairs to come in? How at lunch we described me as fancy and sensitive, and we thought about how to describe the rest of us? How Alex had a lunch discussion agenda, but saved one item for later?
The afternoon with Omar? The brief consideration of basketball on a snowy court? How for recess we stopped in at amie, walked to coffee, and then held a typing race?
Do you remember the pre-worknight pizza from Cart Driver? An upgrade from our regular pizza place? Mark’s quest to figure out what song ‘Cart Driver’ reminded him of? The productive Worknight? And the post-Worknight poetry reading and feedback session? Alex’s rock-on hand gestures while Madeleine read? How impressed Mark was with Alex’s feedback?
Or the quiet Thursday morning with Beth’s Outlook woes, our small lunch, our recess walk to coffee, our focused afternoon?
The small Friday with the return of Nathan? The visit of Adam’s friend, Coby? The lunchtime conversation about the jobs you quit quickly? The very rare Friday recess? The visit from Allyson and Lizzie?
And do you remember the very first Overtime? How Alex made us grilled cheese sandwiches and hot dogs? How Trevr brought cookies? That people trickled in an out, and we read and played chess and sketched and talked? That we again discussed Livvy’s toxic trait, because it kept getting mentioned in Paperwork and kept causing curiosity? That Alex was described as a grill dad? How Lizzie smoked everyone at Hearts? Do you remember when Mark showed up with hopeful news, having had the most wonderful day? How the cookies made it even better?
That some of us went to find Gus and Earl, and some others watched The Devil Wears Prada? How the TV died halfway through, and so you set up a monitor?
Bureaucratic Minutiae
- Last year, for the final issue of Volume 1, I wrote a typically sentimental but slightly too-clever intro which relied heavily on people not skipping the first few lines. Many people skipped the first few lines, which led to many people thinking we were closing The Company for good, which led to many people responding with heartfelt condolences. It was the most non-member feedback to a newsletter we’ve ever had (even higher than our pregnancy announcement in the last issue—thanks everything who responded with congratulations!), and it gave me a very interesting window into our readership. I realized while working on this issue that perhaps that should be a new tradition: imagine dire futures in the last issue of every volume. This year, since folks did not read the beginning of last year’s intro, I’m stating here, at the very popular, closely-read, rarely-skipped section near the end of the newsletter, that the intro is a fiction. Paperwork will continue to be free to read, and funded and produced with love and care, for and by a community of friends. Volume 3 will have some changes, but all quite minor.
- At the first Original Fiction Show: Morgan read an excerpt of a piece about seeing into the long ago past; Earl took us on an uncomfortable flight; Alex shared five poems; Joe gave us a glimpse of the city at the center of the universe; Madeleine retold an ancient story; and Ivan admired his sorrows, shared status updates about your pizza, and told us about the true-crime podcast industrial complex.
- At Worknight: Livvy worked on the family history script; Mark sent recommendations to his friend in Madrid and read chapter 6; Omar hooked up the voice analysis API; Norton uploaded and associated 1 month of punch cards; Ryan completed assignment 23.2 and worked on assignment 23.3; Ivan and Madeleine finished the 2nd draft of the Beth story; Alex wrote 2 thank you cards, created graphics for the essay, and typed the essay draft; Ivan edited and printed “A Slaughterhouse”; Madeleine edited 2 poems; and Will updated text on app emails. Recap by Alex
- At the first Company Overtime: we had a good time in a park.
- Finally, a reminder that The Company is a member-supported gathering place. If you’d like to pop in for a workday and you know one of us, reach out to schedule a time and we can let you in for free. If we don’t know you yet, reach out so we can get to know you, or come by an event and say hi.
Photos
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This issue of Paperwork was written by Ivan with additional reporting from Jessica S., and was shot by Ivan, Norton, Mary Ann, Madeleine, Livvy, and Lizzie. Photo selection and editing by Ivan, Madeleine, Alex, and Lauren T. 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, Bennett, Sylvia, Morgan, and our newest member, Joe.
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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