Time for a fun fact. Back in 2002, I was interviewed for the very first issue of Volume One. I contributed articles here and there for the next few years, but in 2004 I started writing this column, ensuring my involvement for the next 20 flippin’ years. And in that time, I’ve stacked up countless memories.

Also, I worked there full time as an editor (and amateur IT guy) for about 14 years. So there’s that.

To celebrate the magazine’s 500th issue, I’ve compiled for you a list of my 500 Most Memorable Volume One Memories.

There is no need to thank me.

1. The first time I wrote for the magazine, one of the cofounders stopped by my apartment to take my first photo for the “Bios” section of the magazine. When he arrived, my girlfriend (a person named Shannon to whom I am now married) was about to spray-color my hair white because I was going to a Halloween event as “Ray the Menards Guy.”

2. As an early V1 contributor, I conducted one of the very first interviews with local writer Michael Perry to promote what became his breakout book: Population 485. He had me over to his house where he made me crab cakes for dinner. How many people can say that? Probably only 30–40 people. Some say my interview was the finest profile piece ever penned on Perry.*

3. Years ago, Justin “Bon Iver” Vernon played on Volume One’s volleyball team for at least one game. At a bar after that game, we all celebrated another player’s birthday. And this is where I watched Justin Vernon dig his unwashed hands into a cake, pull out a big gob, and eat it. His fingers were still crusted with sand and dirt. Later on, during a lull in the conversation, he looked up and asked the table if we all thought we were following our dreams.

”

I co-piloted a tandem bicycle around the perimeter of the Pablo Center’s Jamf Theatre as a juggler juggled, go-go dancers danced, and a middle schooler in a Pikachu costume frolicked about.

MIKE PAULUS

4. After a cocktail party in Volume One’s first office space to celebrate the launch of our big, new website, after all the guests had left, I saw the magazine’s owner/editor/publisher sitting on a couch. He was wearing the sleeves from a homemade robot costume (a pair of long metal tubes) and eating cheeseballs from one of those huge, plastic cheeseball barrels. He looked extremely happy.

5. I wrote, hosted, shot, and edited 100 episodes of Volume One’s long-gone vlog The Big Week. (For those who are unfamiliar, “vlog” is an archaic word for “vodcast.”) Almost all of it was shot using a cracked MacBook attached to a ladder.

6. For one of Volume One’s April Fools Day jokes, we published an article about how the (now defunct) Ship Shape Car Wash (literally a car wash shaped like a ship) had set sail down the Chippewa River, returning to its home port for repairs. The article interviewed “spokes-sailor Shane O’Shammy” who talked like a pirate. A handful of people believed it, one of them telling me, “It just sort of made sense.”

7. For various Volume One video projects, I crawled into the tunnels under the State Theatre and screamed, sang a Christmas carol from the middle of Water Street, hit an editor in the head with a pillow, hit an editor in the head with a football, caught a flying cucumber, co-hosted the “Artsy Millennial Olympics,” and spit Christmas cookies into the face of the magazine’s owner/editor/publisher while wearing a Santa suit.

8. In 2018, during a rehearsal for True North (Volume One’s first and only live stage show), I co-piloted a tandem bicycle around the perimeter of the Pablo Center’s Jamf Theatre as a juggler juggled, go-go dancers danced, and a middle schooler in a Pikachu costume frolicked about. Minutes later, the whole bit was cut from the show.

9. At one of Volume One’s Let’s Be Honest adult storytelling nights, I’d booked four different people to tell scary stories. I hadn’t heard any of these stories beforehand. One person talked about how they got a ride home from an actual, local serial killer. And then, totally unplanned, the next storyteller talked about a haunted apartment, allegedly haunted by … the ghost of one of that serial killer’s victims. The whole incident came to be known as The Halloween Miracle.**

Oh no, I’m out of space for the other 491 memories.

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*Except no one ever says that.
**By me.