Volume 1, Issue 11 | Meeting Up

Join or Die

                August 25, 2024

            Volume 1, Issue 11 | Meeting Up

            Hey friends (and spies),
It was an atypical week at The Company. No major events; Livvy was gone for most of it; and we had a trickle and then a flood of very nice drop-ins. Not as many lingerings, but more deliberate visits. More people calling on than hanging around. It was super nice. We’d be happy for more of that.
This week, though, we do have a few major events, so if you’d like to come to those and linger after, please do. And if you’d ever like to just stop by, or come work from here during the day, you know how to reach us and where to find us.
—Ivan
Happenings
This week:
Glint: Stuck, Tuesday, August 27
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 “Stuck“, and we’ve got 3 of 12 teller slots left. If you’re interested in telling a story, get in touch!
Stick to these plans →
Weekly Wednesday Worknight, Wednesday, August 28
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 →
Conscious Spending Class, Thursday, August 29
Learn to feel good about your money with this conscious spending class. José, member of The Company, will go over the topic of crafting a conscious spending plan for September, creating opportunities to grow your income, and 2 practical tips to enjoy more of your money this upcoming month! Come hang out to plan your next month and feel good about life in Denver. Limited spots.
Plan to plan ahead →
Future Weeks:
Join or Die, Tuesday, September 3
The Company is pleased and proud to officially host a screening of Join or Die, “a film about why you should join a club, and why the fate of America depends on it.” This documentary is based on the research of Robert Putnam, the author of Bowling Alone—a book we reference often when talking about our motivations for starting The Company and which we have almost read. As hosts, some of us had the chance to see an early screening, and it’s such a well done and entertaining overview of such a critical idea.
Please don’t die →
In last week’s newsletter I had this listed as taking place on Tuesday, October 3, which is both incorrect and also not a day and date combo until 2028. Please do not show up in 2028. There’s a chance we might be here that night, but we likely won’t be screening this documentary. Please instead come exactly 4 years and a month earlier.
PowerPoint Party No. 18, Saturday, September 14
What’s a PowerPoint Party, you ask? Twelve people giving 7-minute presentations about whatever they’re currently into. At past ones people have presented about their rules for life, how to cross this intersection, designing mazes, queer cinema, and loved ones. 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 (email us back if you want to get on it). Want to just show up and meet interesting people and learn about what’s fascinating them lately? That’s great too. Bring yourself, bring a friend, bring your mom.
Make a point of coming →
Nostalgia
Do you remember that strange week?
The quiet Sunday afternoon with Michelle and Danny, how we talked about climbing mountains, making and keeping friends, and infinite games?
Meeting, finally, about our goals for the quarter, and feeling hopeful?
How right before Livvy left for her work trip she brought cacheflowe by, and he punched in and out in the same minute? That we later realized the narrative payoff of it?
Or how we met for the very first time at our gym’s happy hour? How we learned the story behind the name of Maci’s Rusty Runner sandwich?
How Kyle came by and we talked about the type design meetup, and Levi (who knew him!) swung by for the first time?
The tiny worknight, where I showed great effort in running it as well as Livvy, but we mostly talked nonstop while potting clippings, and painting, and editing, and eating Taco Bell?
Do you remember how that was the week we had that long conversation about why Livvy and I left Boston?
How it was storming when we were leaving, and we cast about looking for something to cover ourselves with and found that one iconic bag? How we were hiding under shelter for the bus to come, so it skipped us, but we caught it at the light?
Or that infinite Friday? The BYOCreative Mornings (José’s first), how we shared our rituals, and we met more people? How we ended up at The Company for a few brief hours of work before having Family Meal? That Livvy showed up in the middle, at the same time as Allyson’s mom and sister, and it was a crowd?
That a little after that, Halie showed up to work from here for the very first time? How the afternoon became wonderfully unproductive? That Paola stopped by, and it got even better? How we talked about that one Friday for months afterward?
Bureaucratic Minutiae
We finally potted some of our many clippings.
We purchased a few things from FRNDS agency (thanks Dan for yet another good tip). We’ll be picking them up sometime this week.
Our security camera is now working perfectly again.
With the end of Q1, we spent some time thinking about our goals. We are looking to increase revenue to a specific secret amount through a mix of increasing memberships and selling more tickets to events.
At Worknight: Justin edited (some) photos, Norton did something to control Penelope from the command line, Ivan and Halie and then Ivan and Norton potted some long overdue clippings, and Halie painted a blob.
We would like to formally apologize to Big Movie Guy for The Movie Secret.
Finally, a reminder that The Company is a membership-supported mixed-use creative space, 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.
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.
😘
—
This issue of Paperwork was made possible by the support of our members, Halie, Drew, Justin, Mason, Lexi, José, Mary Ann, Trevr, Aubrey, and our newest member, Allyson.

Norton has turned the baptistry into a small storage room and tried his best to fit this chair in there. It’s not quite the right shape.

The Management have been discussing our goals for the next quarter, and Livvy talked us through a chart and some visions.

A few years ago, new to the city and looking for friends, Livvy, Norton, and I were trying to find meetups that aligned with our more indoorsy creative interests. We discovered a meetup that seemed perfect, though languishing, called Denver Creative Tech. It was being allegedly run by a guy named Chris Coleman, but had formerly been run by a guy named Justin Gitlin, known in the niche creative coding world by his five star moniker, cacheflowe, who had formerly lived in Denver, who still worked (now remotely) at a place called Hovercraft. Finding this meetup and learning about its origin led to a few significant things: 1. Livvy, now aware of a local creative studio that did the kind of creative coding work she was more interested in pursuing with her career, applied and got a job there, with Justin as her boss. 2. Having learned of this group and finding no success at getting in touch with Chris Coleman via the internet, the three of us cornered him at a conference in Minnesota and bullied him into restarting the meetup group. 3. When that meetup group again floundered and ultimately shuttered, Norton, having experienced its value, was motivated to resume his own meetup, formerly called Denver Generative Art, now called Creative Code Denver (whence Mason and Trevr and Jacob were first found), for which he was soon in want of space. 4. Livvy, now working at Hovercraft, glanced across the street one day and saw that 2101 W 29th Ave (known to many as the east half of lots 16–19 in Block 11 of the Union Addition of Denver) was for lease. 5. We set up The Company across the street from Hovercraft, where just this week, cacheflowe, in town for the Hovercraft Hideout, stopped by for a brief visit.

Peach Patrol is not doing so hot.

Speaking of restarting meetups, Kyle Read’s erstwhile type design meetup led to a lot of joy and connection and growth for me. Take this as a strong recommendation to support (and nag) your local meetup organizer.

We waited so long to plant our clippings that most of our time was spent untangling roots.

The artist Halie Willis (American, 1994–) in one of her blue periods.

Norton looking like another kind of portent.

Creative Mornings (which is usually indoors, usually has seating, usually has food and coffee, usually has a presenter, and usually has nametags) was unusual this month. As part of the unusualness, we were all invited to share something about meaningful rituals in our lives, which led to some really good conversations. I shared about a weekly dinner party and a yearly end-of-summer story- and reflection-driven picture show. Photo by Justin.

Allyson’s mom and sister popped in, and showed up at the same time as Livvy returning from her work trip (note Livvy dutifully clocking in before she says hi to anyone).

Since the start of The Company, Justin has been organizing Friday Lunch™, which involves visiting a neighborhood restaurant for a leisurely and long meal. Recently, he decided to rebrand Friday Lunch™ to Family Meal for very sweet reasons, and it caused a lovely bit of confusion that led to Allyson bringing food to share, which led to us all eating at The Company instead.

We were very surprised to learn that Lizzie and Halie hadn’t met before this moment.

When Norton and I got back from the gym, everybody was still sitting around, but joined by Paola—a rare visitor to this region of the state. Once, what feels like a lifetime ago, Paola and Justin were lingering after a weekly dinner party and strongly encouraged us to start The Company.

Lexi has a house with a yard with a tree with so many apples on it, and she came by and gifted some to The Company. If you’re looking for a good fruit to bite into, the apples are ripe, the peaches are not.

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