At grumpy on couch in yellow shirt – read my text. I didn’t know what he looked like. Was it the guy on his laptop looking at me curiously? Or was it the one in the blue shirt drinking coffee? Maybe he wasn’t here yet.
Don’t get excited, I wasn’t on a blind date. And don’t ask why I was wearing a yellow shirt. I’m in a lifelong fashion coma that began when my Mom let me dress myself as a toddler.
I was arriving for a “blind meeting” with founder of 7 Stops online magazine Dustin Coates.
It was so satisfyingly creepy to get the text back: right in front of you.
If it were a blind date I would be happy with my prospects. Dustin is very handsome in a smart understated way, engaging and has a sincerely inquisitive gaze. Thats how I knew it wasn’t a date; he was listening.
Cofounded by Dustin Coates, Josh T. Franco, and Meagan Elliott and joined by Editor Kate Gavino, 7 Stops began for “selfish” reasons, Dustin candidly admits. After moving to NY from Austin he wanted to have something interesting to read on the seven stops it takes to get to work in the morning.
“There is no higher purpose,” he explains. Not trying to save the world, they are putting out good writing for the sake of good reading.
About the G train, Dustin says, “I actually like the G train. The conductors wait for me when I am running late and they are the only conductors who make jokes in the morning.”
Each month the magazine presents seven works, the longer the better, from seven writers based on a specific theme. Last month’s theme was Half a Glass.
In a world of twitter and facebook, writing-style books like Microstyle by Christopher Johnson cater to the shorter attention spans of online readers who are bombarded with constant bursts of information. It’s refreshing and quite serene to visit 7Stops, a sanctuary for contemporary long form that is online. Plus, the website design is a pleasure.
7Stops takes “long form submissions from around the globe” and a few have been specifically about Greenpoint, like this month’s article written by Adam Warner called Bees Grow in Brooklyn or Benjamin Korman’s Nature Does Not Knock about the ironic Newtown Creek “nature” walk.
When Dustin moved to Greenpoint from Austin he knew no one. He explains that Greenpoint is a lot like Austin in that everyone knows everyone.
“How do you meet people?” I asked.
Dustin says the magazine has been the biggest way he has become part of a network of like minded creative people. Which is why we were meeting that day.
I’m putting this on repeat. When the internet serves as a means for people to meet in real life, not just online, then it has done its job. Blogging is why I ended up in Greenpoint among amazing people and why I have a new friend whose magazine I encourage you to subscribe and submit to.
This month’s theme: Street Level. Issue is online November 7th.