In Response to "A Bunch of Friends 🏠"

I’ll mention tidbits of the original post here and there, but I recommend fully reading it once you’re done.

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I’m really out here talking to myself

My friends got off Discord. I was alone. I wanted to have a conversation. So I thought, “Alright, I’ll just talk to myself. I’m a writer, maybe I’ll write a response to someone. Like a letter.” I decided that someone should be Nate Graber-Lipperman. I had just finished reading A Bunch of Friends, and it touched on a few topics that are recurring rants for me.

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Before I start

At the beginning of his post, there was this poll in regards to posting pieces in Creator Mag’s zine vs online. They recently released an exclusive with John and Hank Green in print.

81% said they would read them online

6% said save them for the print,

and 13% said I have a different opinion.

I’m the 20%, and the rest of this is my long, drawn out, unsolicited opinion.

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I miss physical shit, I really do.

Modern tech brings a lot of positives and negatives. I’m mostly feeling the negatives these days. That’s why I love the idea of someone having a physical barrier…I don't even wanna call it a barrier..a physical manifestation of our experiences. You know what I mean? It's crazy that I refer to it as a physical manifestation because I'm so used to digital as the default.

It's not bad to read things online. I’ve been inspired by so much stuff online. But I need some things to not be at my fingertips. Especially because I love Hank Green.

If a youtuber decided to pull a Kanye (oof) and say they wanted to run for president, I would stand behind Hank Green.

Not sure if he would want to do that, but that’s just how much I respect that man. He’s cool.

And whatever they wrote about him and John, that’s something I want to consume. I’d consume anything that he creates. But I want that physical element when connecting with their work. I want that exclusivity. I want it to be a keepsake.

We put a lot of sentiment on keepsakes. We take pictures. We write in our journals. We have fields of study dedicated to collecting what others felt was worth creating. We are always at a point in history that could be analyzed later. It would be a bummer (but also kinda funny) if they heavily focused on all the TikToks we made instead.

My little dilemma

This is why I’m the 13%. Despite everything I’ve said, I wouldn’t mind THAT much if Creator Mag’s zine prints were also online. I want to read them in print, but I want people to read PERIOD. I don’t want to make it harder for them to read, and we don’t need anymore people walking around here not reading.

Before you call me judgemental or pretentious, you should know I spend WAY too much time doomscrolling. It’s a problem. Hence why I also prefer certain pieces of theirs to be physical.

Cognitive dissonance.

BE SILLY! PLEASE!

I watched the video he reviewed, and I loved it. It’s so cute. Humans are silly.

I also love that he acknowledged that some will call it brain rot and why it isn’t. It’s just friends being silly. We’ve always loved watching others do goofy stuff. I'm imagining two cavemen watching another caveman trip and laughing their fucking ass off.

I saw this Tumblr post that said, “Why do people think that profound thoughts have to come from such high places? The gutter also looks at the stars.” I wish I was the one who said that.

Share your existence

There’s a point where Nate discusses the art of documenting our lives and how important it is.

Couldn’t agree more.

I want to make shit with my friends. I want to make The Office, Parks and Rec style confessionals, and have us all watch them together months later. I want to write letters to people I see everyday, and only discuss certain topics in those letters.

Documenting our lives is the most beautiful fucking thing we can do because we have the capacity to acknowledge our existence in a way that no other creature can. We take it for granted. We’ve made it synonymous with a career path. We've made dance, drawing, crocheting, even reading books a skill to be monetized and not just one of those things that humans do. I want writing to be something that I just do.

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Wow, you read all of that?

I ranted SO MUCH. But if there was one takeaway I wanted people to have from this, it would be to just let your mind wander and make shit. It’s not that deep.

Also, read Creator Mag.

-Aaliyah ੈ✩‧₊˚