WTF IS BNDRY?
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Boundaries. You either set them, or someone sets them for you.
Today’s February 21, 2025 and this indisputable truth hits me like a cartoon anvil when my alarm jolts me to alert this morning. Is this what adulthood feels like?
As I down my coffee, cigarette air wafting out my car window on my morning commute, my mind is whirling with to-do’s and fleeting regrets about laundry I forgot to fold last night. But one thought sits quietly in the corner: I’m pretty sure everyone in my life is reckoning with boundaries that’ve been crossed in one way or another. Whether its by staving off feelings of dread with TikTok and other vices or by wrestling anxiously with them in their head, our aversion to drawing boundaries we can stand by is undeniably tangible.
Maybe it was the first time you saw Boise on some influencer’s “hidden gem” list, or when your favorite dive bar got replaced by another “coming soon” sign. Maybe it’s the way your phone lights up with another headline that makes your stomach sink before you’ve even wiped last night’s mascara off your face. But life has taught me that some moments can’t be ignored– you have to meet the day and seize your opportunity.
THIS MOMENT IN TIME
Boise is at a crossroads. You feel it in the air, in the conversations at bars and coffee shops over the noise of rattling construction, in the way the skyline creeps higher every year. This place has always been a collision of identities—old and new, local and transplant, tradition and reinvention. The question isn’t whether Boise will change. The question is: who gets to define what it becomes?
BNDRY was born out of that tension, out of a group of us looking around and realizing we had two options—watch from the sidelines as the city took shape around us, or step in and carve out space for something that actually reflects the Boise we know and love. The Boise that isn’t just one thing, one story, one history. The Boise that includes Idaho’s Native communities, waves of refugees who have made Boise home, the creatives, the weirdos, the ones who don’t fit into an easy, marketable version of Idaho.
BNDRY came from a conversation about limits- embracing the push and pull between self-preservation and expansion. Some boundaries are essential—they protect your time, your energy, your integrity. They keep the vultures and the bad deals and the soul-sucking bullshit at bay. These are the walls you fortify, the ones you speak with your chest.
On the flipside, we also build boundaries out of fear, or worse—habit. Ones that keep you from reaching out, showing up, saying yes to something that feels intimidating but electric. Some boundaries (often time these ones) are worth taking a pick axe to or, better yet, blowing to bits.
Culture for the People who Live it
At the core, BNDRY is about cultural credibility. Not the kind you buy, but the kind you earn. We endorse, we amplify, we validate—not because we’re anointed tastemakers, but because we love the folks in the trenches actually doing the work.
There’s a lot at stake. Boise is a welcoming city, but it’s also a city where legislation threatens the very people who make it vibrant. It’s a place where opportunity and exclusion exist side by side. And right now, with the influx of new money, new businesses, and new residents, it’s a land grab—not just for property, but for culture, for influence, for identity.
BNDRY is our way of throwing a wrench in the machine. Of saying, hold up, we’re here, and we’re paying attention.
But we aren’t here to monologue. What we are interested in is strategy. Community. Creative solutions. We know firsthand how social media, storytelling, and grassroots organizing can shift the tide, and we’re bringing that energy to this project. BNDRY isn’t just a publication. It’s not just an event series. It’s a lifestyle, network, a platform, and a way to amplify the people and businesses that are shaping Boise from the inside out, on their own terms.
So here we are
A social club for the people who refuse to be flattened by expectation. We built BNDRY because we saw a gap—a void where the real shit should be. Boise is full of talent, full of untapped energy, people who should be seen but are too often overlooked.BNDRY carves out space for the next generation of Boise creatives, entrepreneurs, and leaders. We know where we stand, and we know where we draw the line.
43.6150° N, 116.2023° W
Idaho Indian Tribes and Languages.
But before we go any further, we have to acknowledge where we’re standing. This city, this land, wasn’t just given to us. It carries histories—some told, some silenced—that shape everything we do moving forward. We can’t talk about the future without recognizing the past. Our land acknowledgment isn’t a box to check. It’s an invitation—to listen, to learn, and to build relationships with the Native communities whose leadership and knowledge have always been here, leading the way.
So, here’s the ask: What’s your role in this? Because whether you realize it or not, you’re already part of the story.