Five Things I Think (I Think) 💭
This one's for the OGs
blog.thirty-seven // When I started this blog, I knew the general direction of where my life (and career) were headed next.
But it was also a really confusing time, and I felt like I desperately needed an outlet. Both to write, and to reconnect with friends and family.
Seven months later, so many things have come into focus. And this week, I’m feeling really grateful for this little space we’ve built here—and it’s thanks to many of you, and some small moments that have added up in a big way.
I’ll get to those moments down below. And for another teaser: I have a big announcement to share on Thursday 👀
In the meantime, here’s a new edition of “Five Things I Think (I Think).”
— NGL
P.S. Episode One of our new season is out now! You can watch it here.
P.P.S. Last blog, we talked with Justin “Shenny Visuals” Shen about reigniting his creative spark through practicing different mediums. You can read it here.
One :: I think these three moments from the past week really got me juiced. In no particular order…
Moment No. One: I opened up Instagram to see that Maggie Beeler (a YA author based in Cincinnati, Ohio) had purchased a hat from visual artist Karen Chow.
The coolest part of all this? It’s not just that I own the same hat—it’s that Maggie met Karen at our second gathering, an afternoon of co-working at our studio.*
Moment No. Two: I got this text from a friend yesterday. This friend has been following along and supporting Creator Mag since the start.
Yes, we have more to share regarding the launch party on March 29—details coming very soon!
But the fact that he already bought his plane tickets—without pretty much any knowledge of what’s going on that weekend—really blew me away.
Moment No. 3: We released our first video of the season yesterday, a video that Shua, Moy, and I (but mostly Shua) have been working on for a couple months now.
A friend asked me last week what our barometer of success looked like for this first installment. I answered that it was definitely the comments.
This one, in particular, validated that answer:
Thanks, @thepicferret. You reminded us exactly why we’re doing all this in the first place.**
Two :: I think it’s worth mentioning that these moments have only strengthened our mission to Make the Internet Feel Smaller. More accessible, less omnipresent.
It’s a mission that’s only feasible when we build a true creative neighborhood. One where it doesn’t matter how big your house is—what matters is the unique story (and perspective) that you bring to the neighborhood block party, as we work together to create the world we desire.
A strong mission is everything when you’re at the stage we are. Because…
Three :: I think it’s often easy to lose sight of the mission on the day-to-day. I’ll be completely transparent here: I was at the studio until eleven p.m. three out of five nights this past week.
I don’t say that in a weird, braggadocious way—far from it! A young, nineteen-year-old Nate may have been influenced a bit too much by #grindset content; a wizened, twenty-six-year-old Nate knows that you need to pace yourself to accomplish anything over the long run.
I say it because we’re entering that time of the schedule where the work is right in front of us, and there’s a lot of it. It’s not easy, but it’s the exact position I wanted to be in when setting out on this journey. And I know that we’re gonna look back at the end of the year and be endlessly proud of what we accomplished.
Still, after uploading our first video Saturday…I crashed. I thought about a recent interview Brady Corbet (the director of The Brutalist) gave. When asked if he was excited for the Oscars—where his film had a chance to win multiple awards—Corbet answered that he didn’t really care about the show, and instead was looking forward to finally resting after his seven-month promotional tour.
He said he’d even been questioning whether the art was worth making over the last eight years, watching his now-nine-year-old daughter grow up mainly over FaceTime.
I find this always happens with big projects I take on. So much energy is devoted to the end goal. When you eventually pass the finish line, that energy is released—and you’re left wondering what to do with yourself.
Credit to a long conversation with Vicky later that day, who reminded me (among other things) that I often go through this cycle. And in the last twenty-four hours, the moments I listed above really helped me get back in the saddle, amped for the week ahead.
Four :: I think we’re in dire need of a “voice of reason.” A little bit of a thematic pivot here, but hey, it was on my mind.
Last week, Gavin Newsom—the governor of California, as well as a Guy Who Has Wanted To Be President For Fifty-Seven Years—announced that he’s launching a new podcast. When asked what guests we should expect to be on the show, Newsom coyly told Politico this: “Look at the lineup at CPAC.”
If you prompted Midjourney to spit out an AI-generated version of what a slick politician should look like, it would conjure an image of Gavin Newsom doing his best Christian-Bale-in-American-Psycho impression. I mean, the dude casually joined a televised debate with Ron DeSantis for funsies—and obliterated him!
But give credit where credit is due: Newsom understands how the information ecosystem has shifted. If the path to the White House now runs through the podcast charts, Newsom’s efforts to position himself as a normal guy willing to have a conversation with anyone seems like an apt strategy. In other words, the governor of California can now label himself as something else entirely: a “creator.”
Yet I have a hard time believing that Newsom can effectively cast himself as our current cultural climate’s FDR, or Walter Cronkite—individuals who truly cut through the noise as they shared important information and built trust with the general public. He has too many skeletons in his closet.
Still, it got me thinking…given the aforementioned state of the information ecosystem, the “voice of reason” probably has to be a creator in some way, shape, or form. Right?
Some people may point to Joe Rogan’s supposed appeal to the everyday person. To this, I’ll mention that the man went to war with one of America’s most vaunted institutions last week, falsely claiming Girl Scout Cookies were “toxic” on his podcast. The Girl Scouts, an organization which has been around since 1912, promptly clapped back with a proper dose of actual, science-backed information. I’ll be eating my Samoas with a dash of sass this week, please.
Jon Stewart is past his prime. John Oliver is too British. But the answer might not be a comedian, anyway.
If I were to cast my vote, it’d be one of these two:
Jasmine Crockett, a former public defender and current Congresswoman from Texas. She’s been cooking of late—and knows how to create a viral moment or two.
Ezra Klein, an O.G. creator (if you count bloggers as the predecessor for creators) whose direct-to-camera monologues have been raising the ceiling of content on YouTube.
Five :: I think I sent a lot of emails this week. Four in five days, to be exact.
I apologize if we’ve crowded your inbox. Truthfully, I think about this balance a lot—trying to share work we really believe in, without becoming annoying about it in the process.
What I come back to is this quote from Tyler, the Creator. But I also remember something a friend told me several years ago:
“Your job is to get your stuff out there. If you send an email every single day of the week, and I open two of them, that’s a win for you.”
Nevertheless, it still feels weird sometimes. I promise I won’t send you this many email most weeks; it’s just been busy leading up to our season launch!
On that note—we’ll be quiet over here for the next three days. Big things are coming Thursday, though. See you then.
Thanks for reading! Shoot us a reply, comment, or DM if anything resonated with you in particular—we respond to them all.
* You can buy the hat from Karen’s store here!
** Just to spread the wealth, some other favorite comments…
I am on the blog 😯
(thepicferret was a username i used to have in some games, should probably change the name at some point but those old friends know me by that username)
Also that high energy-crash cycle has basically been my entire uni experience in the past year or so, it is worth it in the end