APW Happy Hour

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Hey APW,

I remember when I first started working here, I told Meg that I never wanted it to become a full-time job. I just couldn’t envision a world in which I could possibly like my boss and the people I work with enough that I’d want to spend every day with them. So this past week was a reminder of just how lovely the APW team really is. Najva had plans to be in the Bay Area visiting family, so we asked if she’d be willing to extend her stay, and then flew out our Advertising Manager Keriann and did some serious staff bonding. (Despite being Internet friends since 2008/2009ish, Keriann and I have apparently only ever been in a room together once. Whoops!) Notably missing: Staff Writer Stephanie, who had other plans this week. Boo. Next time.

We did a lot of meetings, talked big picture goals, and then at the very end of things, Meg treated us all to a spa day in Napa where baby got her first mud bath (side note: OMG). And since our meetings inevitably involve some sort of discussion about Silicon Valley and the current startup environment in which APW resides, I’ve been thinking a lot about how the “high-stakes entrepreneurship” model (as one article I read today described it) is missing the best part of startup culture: getting to reward yourself. Because here’s the thing. Anyone’s chances of becoming the next billion-dollar startup are pretty slim, and there’s a tradeoff to that kind of success. But if you can’t take your team to a spa day every once in a while, what’s the point of all the entrepreneurial hustle to begin with? Somewhat related, I also just found out that my favorite coffee shop (aka my office away from the office) is wholly women owned, and that my favorite employees there have been around for over a decade. I mean, if that isn’t a measure of success, I don’t know what is.

But enough of my workplace musings. It’s your happy hour, so get to it!

Cheers,

Maddie

Link Roundup

If you judge poor people for wasting money on things like designer purses and clothes, you’re missing the point.

RuPaul is never not brilliant, as this interview demonstrates.

Why it’s not enough to only care when white people are the victims of terrorism.

Is Ross Geller really a signal of the beginning of the end for civilization?

North Carolina’s newest policy is an awful piece of legislation that makes LGBTQ discrimination legal.

Fuck you, I am not a millennial.

This Oakland Community Wedding Is EVERYTHING

bride and groom against the sunset

JOY, GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND CHEF & ROB, ILLUSTRATOR AND MURALIST

Sum-up of the wedding vibe: A weekend of magic, color, community, gratitude, and deep love.

Soundtrack for reading: “Hey” by KING

bride looking out of the door before wedding ceremonybride standing with bridal party and flower girlsbride and groom looking at one anothergroom kissing bride's foreheadbird wedding accents and decorwedding guests before wedding cermeonyorigami wedding birdsgroom smiling before wedding ceremonybride walking up the aisle with her parentsbridesmaids holding hands during the ceremonybride and groom at the end of the wedding ceremonybride and groom walking on the roadbride and groom standing in the road pie table decor at wedding receptionchildren playing at weddingnighttime wedding receptionchildren dancing in a circle at wedding receptionbride and groom standing together outside

Favorite Thing about the wedding: 

Our weepy vows, making the commitment to each other and the community. Our first dance (choreographed to Janet Jackson’s “When I Think of You”). The heartfelt and hilarious toasts.

other cool stuff we should know about:

When we first met, Rob was in a relationship and I was totally done with relationships! We had a ton of friends in common, and collaborated on a group show with Rob’s crew, Trust Your Struggle Collective, at Rock Paper Scissors in Oakland. I always remember fondly how sweetly encouraging and positive Rob would be.

Shortly after, he moved to New York to finish his BFA in Illustration at Parsons. We stayed in touch and he invited me to collaborate on one of his projects, Come Bien, a collaboration between artists and writers of color. We would talk over the phone and one time, I remember talking to him for over an hour, which for me is bananas. …But it was so easy to talk with him. At the time I was working on my first business plan to refocus my graphic design work, and in it I secretly imagined working side-by-side with him in the future. I think I already knew that we would be in each other’s lives as partners in some capacity or another.

When he moved back to the Bay, we would spend time together as totally, refreshingly platonic friends. Our closest friends might have suspected that we should try something more, but we were totally happy as friends and creative co-conspirators.

He finally asked me out in 2012… much to my surprise (but what our friends had been waiting for, for some time apparently). From the first date, it was clear that we had found in each other kindred spirits, a deep love, a feeling of home. The first year of our relationship unfolded gently, unrushed, and with an energizing spaciousness which we still maintain in our marriage today. No relationship had ever been as easy, nor felt as right. Six years of friendship as a foundation was a real blessing.

Currently we are finishing up final edits on his first children’s book, Furqan’s First Flat Top. Rob wrote and illustrated it, and I’m doing the design (and editing), and it should be printed and in our hands in early 2016! Rob is an illustrator, blogger, muralist, and excellent breakfast burrito maker. While scaling back my graphic design work, I cook at a neighborhood restaurant, and am working to open my first restaurant, Mudita Ramen. This life-long dream is to open a community-driven and conscientious neighborhood restaurant serving nourishing, vegetarian ramen to the good peoples of Oakland.