Here's Why I Do It ✏️

Plus: Checking in with Creator Camp & Kat Abughazaleh

we met this chinchilla in austin. he’s really into our season-long theme

blog.ninety-five // Every grocery store aisle seems to be harboring pumpkin spice-flavored products this week, which can mean only one thing: Fall is in the air.

And while the team is heads-down producing the next print edition of Creator Mag, we’ve made sure to soak up the last days of summer, touching some grass along the way.

Speaking of which: We’re excited to share our new slate of stories with you all soon enough! Annual subscribers will be the first to receive Issue Seven; if you’d like to join this vaunted group of readers and support our work, sign up here.

And one last note: Join us for another Show Your Work! night at our studio, this Wednesday. It’s free to attend, though spots are limited. RSVP here.

— NGL

P.S. Last blog, we reviewed Dax Flame’s highly-meta brand of shortform video. You can read it here.

One :: I think this is the reason I do what I do. Last Sunday, I wrote about the importance of original reporting—and original creative work in general—in an increasingly AI-filled world.

The next day, we spent about six hours out in the ninety-degree Austin sun. We shot over one hundred and twenty-five gigabytes worth of footage; along with interviewing several folks for our next cover story, we also spent time with various animals, including emus, marmosets, and even a chinchilla.

And I loved every second of it.

The practice of journalism is equal parts exhilarating and mind-numbingly boring. Assembling the puzzle pieces of a story—weaving together quotes and anecdotes, organizing key details in a way that presents a cohesive narrative—leads to many bang-your-head-against-the-wall moments. When it finally all clicks, and you reach the finish line…you have to market this thing you just poured everything into.

In other words, you have to figure out how to get people to care, and see the story’s why, the way you see it.

out in the field (and squinting in the sun)

It’s easy to develop a sense of nihilism when you do this over and over again, like I have these last five years. It’s a Sisyphean task, in a way. Yet when I’m out in the field, I remember what keeps drawing me back in.

Journalists often say the best part of the job is getting to become an expert on a topic for a period, then moving onto the next one. And I think I agree with that sentiment. I love spending a couple months really getting to know an interviewee—both through their words and the people in their orbit. It’s an opportunity to profile not only a human being, but also provide a snapshot, observing their journey at what often becomes a unique inflection point in their lives.

I don’t take that responsibility lightly, and I’m grateful to the fascinating folks who continue to place their trust in me. Their stories may change, though the pockets of time I document—and the collection of words I endlessly toil over—stay with me, year after year after year.

And getting to spend even just a day out in the field makes all that time staring at an empty Google doc worth it.

Two :: I think the Internet is feeling smaller. We brought on a freelance videographer, Joseph, for the shoot Monday. For someone we met day-of, he did everything you could ask for. He showed up on time and immediately got to work, whipping his FX3 out from his trunk and shooting some truly great footage.*

At some point throughout the day, it came up that one of our previous Creator Mag cover stories focused on the prankster-turned-filmmaker Isaiah “Steezy Kane” Shepard. And as it turned out, Joseph not only went to high school with Isaiah in Austin—they were in the same grade.

I texted Isaiah about this later in the week. He confirmed it, mentioning that they used to work together on some of Isaiah’s first YouTube videos.

The longer you stay in the game, the more you begin to realize that this Internet thing is much smaller than you think.

Three :: I think it’s cool seeing good people winning—even if they don’t fully feel it yet. Following the shoot Monday, we slept over at the Creator Camp guys’ house and hung out at their office the next day.

If you’re unfamiliar with Creator Camp (now going by “Camp Studios”), they’re a group of young creators who first connected over a love for meaningful Internet storytelling. They began hosting events in 2021, bringing together online artists and filmmakers from around the globe for summits in Switzerland and a film festival in Austin.

I went to their second big event in April 2023, held in the mountains of Park City, Utah. If you’re familiar with my work, you probably know that I wrote a piece about the movement they started—the “YouTube New Wave.”

per usual, moy crushed this design***

When I look back, I think about the collection of talent they were able to bring together under one roof, sure. But I also think about just how young they were; I believe Chris was somehow the oldest, at just twenty-two.**

He’s twenty-five now—hardly a grizzled entertainment industry vet. Yet the founding team of Simon, Max, Chris, and Cristina has stuck around long enough at this point to realize that sometimes you’re up big; other times, you’re scraping by. Nevertheless, to make cool things a reality, through it all, you gotta just keep showing up.

I talked about this with Chris for a while Monday night over burgers. The team is currently gearing up to tour the country in October and showcase a film they produced called Two Sleepy People. Any gaps in turning this thing into a reality are filled by the team’s boundless energy.

Maybe that’s just the beauty of youth. Or maybe I’m reflecting on age a lot because some twenty-year-old kid who’s been living in their house referred to me as Unc.****

a poster on their office wall

But at the end of the day, it’s dope seeing them pursue this thing they believe in. I have all the confidence in the world that whatever direction they take next, they’ll find a way to figure it out, together.

It was also fun seeing some of the photos from the magazine shoot hanging on their office walls. Since it’s been two years, I can now admit that I staged the snowball fight pictured above. Call it taking “artistic liberties.”

Four :: I think the world needs more good people standing up for what’s right. If you’ve been on the Internet over the last week, you might’ve seen this viral video of Kat Abughazaleh—a Chicago-based journalist and TikTok creator running for Congress—getting thrown to the ground by an ICE agent:

I’m a little biased here, as I got to know Kat pretty well while writing a profile on her for our last magazine. And what I can say is that she’s pretty fearless.

It’s not just leading sit-ins outside the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, where masked, badge-less ICE agents are teargassing protestors as the federal government organizes increasingly more aggressive raids in Chicago. It’s also the onslaught of attacks Kat is receiving online, from problematic figures such as Libs of TikTok, who tweeted this:

“FAFO” stands for “F**k around and find out”

We’re at a point in time where violent rhetoric online is leading to violence in real life. Reading through the comments under the Libs of TikTok tweet is quite frightening, to say the least.

But seeing Kat continue to stand up in the face of all this—and wield her platform—is quite inspiring. “If you want to call it ‘influencing,’ by all means, go for it,” she told me back in May. “I just care that the work matters.”

I have a feeling we’re going to be hearing her name for a long time.

Five :: I think I gotta get these blogs done earlier. Sorry for the late sends, y’all. I’ve been doing a little too much.

Nonetheless, as a foolish man once said, The Blog Must Go On. See you again Thursday.

Thanks for reading! Shoot us a reply, comment, or DM if anything resonated with you in particular—we respond to them all.

* If you’re based in the Austin area (or ever looking for a freelance videographer while visiting), check out Joseph’s portfolio here.

** I mean, I was also only twenty-four then. Yet during our hourlong sitdown interview, these guys had to take multiple breaks just because they made each other laugh so much (for those keeping score at home, lots of tickling was involved).

*** Fun fact: It’s the first thing we worked on together.

**** I’m twenty-six now. Unc status comes at you fast.