vol. 2, no. 7 | Bookend

                June 30, 2025

            vol. 2, no. 7 | Bookend

            How have you been? How are your parents doing? How’s your heart? What have you been consuming? What are you making? What are you thinking about? What’s making you feel alive? What chapter of the story is this? What phase are you in? Are things holding steady? Are you on a precipice? Are you finding coziness? Are you finding an edge? How is this time different than last time? What stories are you telling yourself? What patterns are you finding? How are you manipulating the data? How is this moment a metaphor? How is this a bookend? Will we see you again? Will we ever meet? Are you faced with too many questions?
—Ivan
Happenings
This Week:
Mary Ann’s Book Club, Monday, June 30
Mary Ann hosts a book club, switching between fiction and nonfiction. This month, we’ll be reading Severance, by Ling Ma.
Described as:
A genre-defying novel that blends dystopian fiction, satire, and immigrant narrative to explore themes of consumerism, identity, and the monotony of modern life. Set against the backdrop of a global pandemic caused by “Shen Fever,” the story follows Candace Chen, a millennial office worker in New York City, as she navigates a world where the infected mindlessly repeat daily routines until death, offering a poignant critique of late-stage capitalism and societal disconnection.
Snacks and drinks will be provided to fuel our conversation.
Mindfully repeat this monthly book club routine →
Weekly Wednesday Worknight, Wednesday, July 2
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 →
PowerPoint Party No. 28, Saturday, July 5
Twelve people giving 7-minute presentations about whatever they’re currently into. At past parties, people have presented about bees, frescos, roofing materials, and getting engaged. 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. 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, or free for members and presenters.
Make a point of coming →
—
Also coming up: Glint: Language (July 15), Offsite: Make & Tell (July 24).
Nostalgia
Do you remember how some of us upgraded to medium salsa? How, afterward, in talking about timing and counting beats, Mark said to Jess, “You show me the words; I need the letters!”? The unsuccessful attempts to watch the game? How we talked, and you drew diagrams, and used your engineering skills to mitigate heartbreak?
My birthday lunch? The nice crowd? The presence of Merlin? Livvy’s sweet remarks, and the collective gift? How Jessica, attempting to quote The Lord of the Rings, said “you can’t pass!” and we laughed at her for it?
The devastation of the second episode of the second season, preceded by candles?
Do you remember the Drewsday? The recess with basketball? The reliable dopamine rush of making a basket? How we returned to see Jim unfurling the sign? The folding of it and the hanging of it and the standing around and admiring of it? How it started to fall, but not in a dangerous way?
The reemergence of Pao?
How you gave a me a tour of the food you made while I ate the leftovers at 10pm?
How we fetched Alex a coffee because he couldn’t limp to Little Owl?
The Moonlight Report? The completions and the new projects announced? The weird worknight that followed? The appropriately weird star that followed that?
The quiet Thursday?
The Creative Mornings anniversary of meeting Lizzie? The return of Chris? The hot walk at recess? The visit from Melodie and Taylor?
How empty The Company felt that week, with Jessica away?
Bureaucratic Minutiae
Cuppa will be closed over 4th of July weekend.
At Worknight: Livvy did Moonlight admin and made a health tracker; Alex completed the second and started the third draft of a PowerPoint outline; Norton scanned the July, August, September, and May time cards; Ivan followed up with PowerPoint Party presenters (including Alex) and did 15 minutes of type; Jacob wrote the first outline of a video; and we all made a weird star.
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
The first session of our secret intermediate salsa classes, which we’ve since renamed to medium salsa.
It was a confusing and very fun time.
Quick quick slow, or 1 2 3 4.
This didn’t end up working out.
Two software engineers and a graphic designer making a really important flowchart.
A birthday lunch! For me! I don’t know how many years it’s been, but at some point during our marriage Livvy started always having birthday hats around. Photo by Livvy.
They make everything slightly more fun, and when you walk around outside wearing a birthday hat strangers will often wish you a happy birthday. Here I am reading a birthday letter I wrote at my last birthday that I never shared. Photo by Livvy.
Norton left for the day while still wearing his hat before realizing that it was on (maybe a stranger wished him a happy birthday?) and returned to stash it.
In the upper part of this photo you can see a small dark spec next to the light. That is a piece of very spicy mango chili candy on its way to Jessica.
I never learned what this was about, but it looks like Marcia is telling these firefighters what to do.
Beth got me a little sweet treat! Photo by Mary Ann B.
Ball is life.
Drew helping Jim carefully fold some sharp metal.
And some placement tests.
Michelle took Livvy to a cooking class and I got to eat the leftovers.
Jacob in the role historically played by Lexi in photos.
Mike presenting about his Moonlight goal.
Some early attempts at making a weird star.
In a lengthy caption to a photo in vol. 1 no. 32 I recounted the story of Livvy, Justin, and myself meeting a smiley girl named Lizzie at a Creative Mornings, and how that meeting related to a many other meetings. This past Saturday marks our one-year friendiversary with her! This year, we went to the June Creative Mornings together on purpose. It was very sweet.
A too hot walk around the block on Friday afternoon.
—
This issue of Paperwork was written by Ivan, and shot by Ivan, Livvy, and Mary Ann B. 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, Jacob, Mark, Sabrina, Beth, Dani, Chris, Will, Rebeca, Sarah, Mary Ann T., Alex, Jessica P., Jessica S., Mike, Ben T., and Sam.
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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