Volume 1, Issue 17 | Ready
I spent most of the last few days at a conference nearby, smiling at thousands of moms for a work thing. Never in my life have I smiled at so many women that have smiled back at me. It was fantastic.
The conference is a yearly gathering of women who are in support groups for moms of young kids, and to see and hear about so many people who are supported and supporting in in-person communities was really moving. It also made me wonder about all the other support groups and communities that don’t exist.
Talking with my work team (none of us moms, all of us men) about the challenge of finding community and friendship and connection at different points in our own lives, it made me again grateful for the company that I’ve been able to find at The Company that I’ve been able to help found.
I left the conference a little before it fully wrapped up and took a Lyft straight to The Company where I walked into Norton’s Creative Coding demo night / art show, hours late. And it was so nice to be back here, in our small, weird, shape-shifting experiment of a creative community.
—Ivan
Happenings
This week:
Refugee Initiative Training, Monday, October 7
Company member Allyson is working with Lutheran Family Services to help a newly arrived refugee family in 4 main areas: English language, job applications, financial literacy, and life skills. If you’re interested in being a part of this initiative you must go through a training, which you can do virtually on your own (it’s hosted once a month), but it’s much more fun if you attend this in-person session at The Company. There’ll be pizza.
Film Screening: Eno, Tuesday, October 8
We are fully sold out on this, but you can sign up for the waitlist.
Weekly Wednesday Worknight, Wednesday, October 9
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.
PowerPoint Party No. 19, Saturday, October 12
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, Dyson spheres, family history, 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 space (email us back if you’d like to present!). 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.
Next Week:
Yoga with Dan, Sunday, October 13
Speaking of shape-shifting:
We invite you to a special Vinyasa Yoga class taught by the one and only Daniel Evan Quay.
This one hour, all-levels “flow” class syncs engaging physical poses with intentional breathwork to build flexibility and coordination while attuning to our inner selves. Students can expect a moderate, low impact workout with light breathing exercises.
Classes are limited to 20 students. Please RSVP early.
We have a limited number of mats available for rental.
We want everyone to have access to Yoga with Dan! We offer 5, free “Community Passes” to each class, including a mat rental.
Knife Sharpening Workshop, Tuesday, October 15
When’s the last time you got your knives sharpened? If your answer is “I can’t remember“ or “you can get your knives sharpened???”—or if you currently find yourself unable to easily cut through a piece of paper held aloft—this workshop is for us.
Elijah—amateur knife-maker, multi-platinum PowerPoint Presenter, and new member of the Company—will teach us how to sharpen our knives! Bring in your dull blades and leave with sharp ones.
Be the sharpest tool in the shed →
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Also coming up: Mary Ann’s Book Club: The Watchers, Block Printing Class, Homecoming
Nostalgia
Do you remember how early we all showed up, just to be safe? Norton brushing his teeth, Drew hiding his truck, Madison having to head out before the moment but leaving a treat? All of us crouched in the corner, tracking Justin’s location? That he walked in, and looked at us, and we didn’t say a word—that he was just as confused as we hoped he would be—until he saw, in the spotlight, the director’s chair we got him? How he sat on it the whole rest of the day, on all of his calls? That he said we had outgestured the gesturer?
Or how Norton put on a sweater for the first time and then immediately got too warm and so, instead of taking off his sweater, he made it colder? That Beth came over and we moved tables and taped out areas and figured out where we’d be fitting the coffee cart?
The first book club meeting? How we talked about How to Know a Person, and through that got to know each other a little bit better? Got to speak so openly about connecting and understanding people? Meeting London, and talking about Bluey?
How Halie came in and we got lunch? Or the impromptu jam session Drew and I had with the new drums? Remember how that was the day that the yoga schemes were finalized?
The sleepy afternoon? The Showcase? Talking about the time blocks in Germany, thinking about time capsules, feeling bersh? How we hung out for so much longer after that, talking about language and neighbors and spoilers?
That you went out for coffee and were drawn to the vending machines? That you got so much candy and a giant pickle, but the pickle got stuck, so you had to buy more snacks in the hopes that the pickle would fall? How it did fall, but it got trapped under the mechanism? How you brute-forced it out, and hoped the security camera caught all of it?
How after Justin made you pour-overs, Norton said “Having a pour-over reminds me of when my life was under control”?
Do you remember how that was the week that Norton carried a staple gun and put up fliers everywhere?
That Sonny’s was too crowded so you came back and ate at the neighborhood park? How Halie spilled food on her pants, and Justin left abruptly and mysteriously? How you assumed he went to buy her new pants, but he had in fact gone to see if the vending machines had a Tide pen? (And they didn’t, but you gave him points for trying?)
Or the Second Annual Creative Coding Demo Night / Art Show, months in the making? Norton’s magnificent checklist—that no one took care of “Kill or drive out the fly?“ Dan’s big red bucket? Taking shifts on the porch? How I showed up, hours late, to a room of loved ones, strangers, and falling frames?
Bureaucratic Minutiae
Norton ripped a patch of paint out of the wall, we’ve acquired frames of various sizes, we have a new (higher resolution) projector, and Penelope has had two successful motor transplants. We’re really proud of her for being so strong through everything.
At the Moonlight Showcase for lunation #1258: Allyson shared about her canvas purchasing and prepping, and Ivan demoed some of the musical sketches he made. Lunation #1259’s goal announcements: Jacob will finish making a YouTube video (or two), Livvy’s will finalize a draft of the anniversary show script, Ivan will plan anniversary show logistics, and Allyson will do PT exercises.
At the Demo Day / Art Show:
Livvy devised a cypher that looks like fabric and alludes to an ancient single-line
spellprogram popularized on the Commodore 64. Norton wrote an app to let people at the show encode and style messages in the cypher, then send them off to Penelope, who drew them beautifully.Mason led us through portals, then let us explore and manipulate 3D worlds he created in his bespoke Graphics Engine.
Justin’s friend Justin showed us video games that taught us anything can and maybe should be a video game controller.
Alex and Jess showed a web app that lets anyone make endless trippy shader art. They also brought an understudy for Penelope.
Jeremy showed us platonic solids made of infinity mirrors and lights that sensed your presence and distance.
Jacob showed us the rise and fall of empires through simulations of conflict and ultra social behavior unfolding over a globe, later breaking our hearts when he told us hexagons can’t tesselate over a sphere.
Lucas projected slider-controlled fractals into the faux frame on the small stage
Norton showed us prints that cost Penelope two servo motors, and messages snaking through typewritten mazes.
Steve showed us experiments in visualizing sound, the relationships between numbers, and mixing code with photography and 3d models
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.
😘
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This issue of Paperwork was made possible by the support of our members, Halie, Drew, Justin, Mason, Lexi, José, Mary Ann, Trevr, Aubrey, Allyson, Lizzie, Madison, Melissa, and our newest members Elijah and Dan.
