Neighbors,
One comment I used to have an unhealthy relationship with: I can’t wait to see what you do next!
I’ve never viewed this comment as intentionally malignant. When someone drops it under a YouTube video or slides it into a conversation, the implication is often celebratory. You’re doing cool stuff. Cheers to all your future endeavors—I’ll be following along.
Still, my issue with the comment typically stemmed from a desire to recognize the wonder of the present, all the magic that went into bringing a project to life. After months (if not years) working on something, most creatives typically aren’t thinking about anything another year down the road. They’re probably not even thinking about what’s on their calendar a week from now.
Eventually, I made amends with this comment. At the end of the day, it’s a blessing for anyone to care enough about your output to share their sentiment and come onboard for the ride.
But we can simultaneously strive to do a better job of saluting the present. And while we’ve already started planning next season, that pesky Season Seven afterglow has been sticking around, a week-and-a-half later.
Scroll down for a new edition of Five Things I Think (I Think).
— NGL
P.S. Last blog, we explored Maya Higa’s Austin-based animal sanctuary, Alveus. You can watch it here.
One :: I think this magazine has come a long way. When I started Creator Mag, I was a twenty-two-year-old recent college grad who had just moved into his first “adult” apartment in Chicago. By day, I was running ops for a basketball creator and selling brand partnerships for college athletes; by night, I was writing (way too much) about what I believed to be the biggest story of our generation (creators).
Somehow, after four years of journalism school (and a childhood of collecting Sports Illustrated covers), I’d never made a print magazine.1 So I put twenty thousand words to paper; walked ten minutes north to Wrigley Field; took photos of my Issue One cover star (and then-current roommate) Mateo; and shared the bundled multimedia assets with a designer I’d met through Fiverr.
That first issue was thirty-four pages. I’m still quite proud of it—the cover story stood out in particular.2 However, it (to put it nicely) looked like a free marketing magazine you’d find crumpled in the back of an airplane seat pocket. My outright lack of InDesign skills didn’t help smooth things over, either.
Nevertheless, the vision was always to stick around long enough to make something bigger than myself. It only took four years and six more issues, yet I truly feel like that vision has become a reality. Our latest drop doesn’t just feature thirteen unique contributors, ninety-six pages, and a perfect-bound spine—it looks, reads, and feels like something that can live in bookshelves and bookstores alike.
I packed Issue One in my suitcase and brought it to the Block Party, specifically to talk about how much this thing has evolved. I had a whole speech planned around the virtues of patience, of playing the long game and being delusional and simply continuing to show up.
And then I forgot about all of it, and my last copy of Issue One sat in a box all week in Los Angeles. Oh well.
Two :: I think Moy more than deserves her flowers. There are a lot of people whose words, photos, scans, and artwork made Issue Seven great. Those people deserve a ton of credit for buying into our vision, contributing their time and energy to our upstart publication.
But I wanted to stop and make sure Moy, our magazine’s art director, gets her proper due. Because she’s more than just an art director—she coordinated this issue’s contributors behind the scenes and did a round or two of story edits on most (if not all) of the pieces. And oh, by the way, designed the ninety-six page spread all by herself.
On Friday, I asked Moy about the longest spread she designed for her college magazine. “Forty-two pages,” she responded. “And that was a ten-person team.”3
We’ve definitely operated with a certain amount of delusion; all small teams do. While publishing world veterans I’ve talked to say that the rigid turnaround schedule of print always lends to a scramble, all the way up until the bitter end, we could afford to bring in more semi-permanent staff members.4
In the meantime, though, Moy just shared a look inside the spread on IG. Go check it out—and show some love in the comments!
Three :: I think the creators we cover are building their own neighborhoods. Over the years, people always ask me how we decide who to feature.
For a while, I said it was individuals and organizations who have a why. The artists, filmmakers, online personalities, and Internet tastemakers leaving their mark on culture—and making an impact offline.
I still believe that. As the year has progressed, though, I believe that there’s a shared ethos between how both we and the people we cover deploy storytelling.
If you’ve been reading this blog (and the print), you know that we often talk about building a “creative neighborhood.” Our mission is to Make The Internet Feel Smaller—more accessible, less omnipresent. The “Block Party” label, therefore, emerged from memories of the neighborhood potlucks of our adolescence.
Back then, it didn’t matter how big your house was. What mattered was the unique meal (or voice) you brought to the table.
When I look at, say, Maya Higa, I see someone who’s built a neighborhood for animal lovers, those passionate about conservation and our environment. Sure, she reaches people online. Yet whether it’s expert researchers or wide-eyed college freshmen, there’s space under the umbrella for everyone—to spark conversations and even make real-world impact.5
I’m a little biased, but I feel like we’ve done a pretty good job of curating our featured stores. They’ll only get stronger as we continue to refine our publication’s slant.
Four :: I think we’re going to stock Creator Mag in stores soon. Before leaving Los Angeles, we stopped by Small World Books on the Venice Beach Boardwalk. If you live or work nearby, take a stroll and drop in—it’s officially the first brick-and-mortar shop to stock Creator Mag this year!
We’re planning on selling the print in more stores soon. Chicago friends, hit reply or drop a comment below if you have any shop suggestions.
Five :: I think I could use a break. I’m currently finishing this blog somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean. After a long week of packing magazines, shipping them, getting our latest longform video out, and running through lots of ops stuff, I’m on my way to visit my girlfriend in Geneva.
Yes, Vicky took a job in Switzerland this time last year. And yes, she’s still out there.
Long-distance is never easy. Intercontinental long-distance is a whole ‘nother story. But we’re making it work, and this is my second time now visiting since moving her in last October.
We’ll both be online this week, though she did plan a retreat for us in the mountains next weekend. While I’m quite exhausted—and sleeping in my bed in Chicago sounds nice right about now—I’m feeling extraordinarily grateful for the opportunity (and excuse) to travel.
It helps when a person you really care about is waiting on the other side of the flight, too.
Thanks for reading! Shoot us a reply, comment, or DM if anything resonated with you in particular—we respond to them all.
You could make the case that Mateo is doing interesting things these days.
Or was it forty-six? Apologies if my fact-checking wires misfired here.
That probably starts with an editor. We’re very open to referrals—drop a comment if you know anyone!
I came here to mention Quimby's as well they have a large collection of zines!
I would love to see Creator Mag in Chicago bookshops!! I think some great places would be Skunk Cabbage Books, Pilsen Community Books, Powell's, 57th Street Books, and Quimby's. Just to name a few