Volume 1, Issue 37 | Handshake
As fortune would have it, we were all here when she swept in with two copies of the new lease terms. We signed and then shook hands, all at the same time, smiling for the camera. And so closed out the will-they-or-won’t-they-renew-their-lease saga.
We are still a few more members away from breaking even, so it’s a bit of a two-part finale we’re in, but act three is fully underway.
—Ivan
Happenings
This week:
In the Making, Tuesday, February 25
Our newest recurring event!
Directly inspired by the lovely yet infrequent Make & Tell events hosted by The Made Shop—whence Justin and Michelle and Ashley were discovered, and Mike and Elaine (and Caleigh!) discovered us—we are hosting a similar but different event:
In the Making is a showcase of original, amateur, creative works in progress. Our first one was so lovely, and we’re looking forward to this being a new regular rhythm. Are you interested in sharing about a passion project, and what you’ve been learning through it? We’ve got one spot left. Are you interested in just attending and learning about people’s creative work? We’ve got roughly forty spots left.
$10, or free for members and presenters.
Weekly Wednesday Worknight, Wednesday, February 26
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.
Creative Coding Demo Day No. 10, Saturday, March 1
Demo days are where people share creative coding projects at any state of progress—or just watch people give demos. They’re relaxed events where people can get to know each other (and their projects).
Norton’s been hosting these for a few years and they’re how we met Mason and Trevr and Jacob and Will and Alex.
Future weeks:
Survival Scouts, Tuesday, March 4
Hosted by Lexi, Survival Scouts is a brand new club where we’ll imagine and prepare for possible futures, together.
It’ll be a combination of doomsday prepping, off-grid training, and anti-capitalist homesteading. On the docket: food canning, gun safety, basic cybersecurity, rainwater collection, how to pack a go-bag when you have pets, knot-tying, clothes repair, food foraging, self-defense, and more.
PowerPoint Party No. 24, Saturday, March 8
What’s a PowerPoint Party, you ask? Twelve people giving 7-minute presentations about whatever they’re currently into. At past parties, people have presented about emoji, boy bands, passwords, and beetles. 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.
Yoga with Dan, Sunday, March 9
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.
$12, or free for members.
—
Also coming up: Glint: Secrets.
Nostalgia
Do you remember the Sunday service? The cards that prompted so much conversation? Talking about communal living and fears of aging? How it felt like a place for talking—a thing we all dreamed of?
Your first movie night? The five of you crowded in the Kissing Room?
Or the book club—the one where Mary Ann feared no one would show up because the book was declared by fiat instead of vote, and it was a very long book and a very short month? How she still made cookies and brought tea? How she was relieved that Norton and Chris were there, working late? Do you remember that Ashley, at Jacob’s behest, read the book and came only to find that Jacob was out sick? That book club briefly turned into pen club?
How we tried to figure out the new recycling schedule, and ended up playing the Denver Recycles’ Waste Sorting Game?
The renewing of the lease? How we all shook Marcia’s hand at the same time?
The brief attempt to remain continuously in contact until the food had been picked up?
Do you remember the Glint about crushing? The new layout? Cuppa open, and cookies around? How every story was exquisite? The laughter and the heaviness and the grappling hook? The way he made the sound of an amusement park starting up?
Afterward we spoke of the stories told, and told some more. Talked about last names and heritage and jam sessions.
(But what did you talk about? What were all the conversations I wasn’t in?)
The day Lizzie came in and you two got ice cream? How ube cream cheese was delicious but the wrong choice?
Do you remember Alex’s Worknight training? His special four-sided stars? How he pointed out that he hadn‘t said anything funny in half an hour but we kept laughing at most of the things he said? Dan’s staunch preconceived notions of what stars should look like? The incident with the mediocre pizza? How we thoroughly focused but thoroughly failed? The bonus cable-rolling training?
While, on the other side of town, our companions were working on their own side projects in a cozy home?
Were you there when Lexi walked in with her new trench coat, looking like The One? The secret we kept? The lunch she joined? How we finally started playing chess again, after all those months off? How we talked about default expectations of permanence and transience?
How just as Norton was about to leave for the day I prompted one more game of chess and he frustratedly-excitedly stayed?
The snow day? Followed by the set-up for the Cuppa Grand Opening?
How Beth was worried about opening so she was like “oh no I got to do so much stuff” and she didn’t actually have that much stuff and so finished all of it before Chris arrived to help, bearing donut holes?
Do you remember the Grand Opening itself? How Brien again was the first in? The slow trickle and then torrent of people? The children and the chess clock? How Elliot jumped in to help?
All the snacks and smiles? How Beth was lit up and joyful, as always, but so much more?
Do you remember the offsite to Allyson’s concert? The return of Michelle? The chorus swell? The sleight-of-hand with the ribbons? The names on the screen? How it was so somber and electric and sacred?
And that they closed with the song they will keep singing until they don’t need to anymore?
Bureaucratic Minutiae
I’m going to be out of town for the next three-ish issues of Paperwork, so they may be slightly different. These take about six hours to put together (mostly because I’m an overindulgent writer and this is my main outlet (which, by the way, I do not feel bad about because you can totally skip everything in this newsletter after the events section—it is totally on you if you chose to read meandering photo captions or long asides in the minutiae), but also because of the photo selection and captions—though a decent chunk of time also goes into setting up the sending and doing the proofreading and corrections, and then posting to Instant Pot), and I don’t expect whoever is taking over to want to spend a full day’s worth of work on this.
We got a new picture rail and long-range communication device.
Madison’s very and fragile artwork has been made safely hangable by Jim.
The Denver Recycles’ Waste Sorting Game is not a particularly good game, but it is far better than it has any reason to be for a municipal project. There are nice animations. You get to build a park. It’s so rewarding. Give it a whirl.
On that note, we have signed up for Ridwell and our first pickup date is March 6. If you have batteries, light bulbs, plastic film, or even (get this) multi-layer plastic film, feel free to bring them in and put them in our bin.
We have finally gotten a chess clock. We expect a resurgence of the mass chess hysteria. If you haven’t learned yet, we have a very wide distribution of skill level and a lot of eager teachers, so please feel free to get learning. I was trained on the Chess.com app, but José (one of our highest ranked players) is partial to Lichess.
At Glint: Alex reflected on lessons from his dad, Dan described a sort-of- but not-quite-requited like, Lizzie recounted a meet-cute, Ivan bragged about a clever moment of academic dishonesty, José talked about losing trust, Chris shared a story about a critical decision, Will told the story of his first first date, and Livvy talked about a beautiful man’s beautiful hair.
At Worknight: Ivan started loading up some social posts, Norton finished reading his New York Subway Map Debate book, Livvy attempted to run project pages locally, Alex built the narrative NLP system and wrote all the basic card narrative statements, and Dan worked on the guidelines outline.
We would like to heartily congratulate our very dear friend and very first member, Halie, for finally filling out her member profile. We are now fully updated on all member profiles.
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.
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 B., Trevr, Allyson, Madison, Melissa, Elijah, Dan, Michelle, Jim, Jacob, Mark, Sabrina, Beth, Dani, Chris, Brynn, Will, Marcia, Rebeca, Sarah, Mary Ann T., Alex, and our newest member, Jessica.
