Thoughtful Words from Indra No. 6 - A Community in ATL?
Replicating something I haven't felt since college
It’s been a bit of a whirlwind of activity in the last month. Starting Sora, moving to a new apartment, family troubles, and all. Thankfully, things have slowed down to a routine now and I’ve had more time to collect my thoughts and reflect. I haven’t had boba for a couple of weeks until today—now I’m sitting at Tea House Formosa along Buford Highway, where I personally think I do my best thinking and writing.
I’ve been kicking around another idea for a little while (not a startup, I’m still trying to make sure the one I’m doing now works and grows lol). Ever since I left Georgia Tech—college in general—I’ve kind of missed the community there. Not necessarily friends, but the nature of a group itself. People that I would sit with and work together on stuff—side projects, companies, homework, hobbies, etc. It was an odd mix of productivity and camaraderie that I have yet to match anywhere else. No matter how much companies like WeWork push their “community”, I haven’t found a place where I could get that same feeling. Switchyards in ATL has been the closest I’ve seen, and maybe if I were a woman living in NYC or SF I’d consider something like The Wing.
It’s hard to describe. The group would need some structure—informal or formal—and a place to meet, like Switchyards. It would have to operate in the evenings or weekends, mostly to allow normal working people and not just college students to participate. As for what would actually happen in the group: I don’t know. There doesn’t have to be any formal definition. I was really inspired by South Park Commons in SF—simply put, I want a place where “technologists, tinkerers and entrepreneurs who have come together to freely learn, explore new ideas, and help each other launch our next venture”. Maybe a bit looser of a definition on tinkerers. Just people working on interesting projects and hobbies, really, though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t prefer ones that leaned more technologically-oriented versus artistic.
Picture this: a small group of people in the evening, 7 or 8 at a time, sitting in a warm, yellow-lit room with some couches and tables and chairs strewn about. Two people next to the door are chatting animatedly about some idea for a side project—maybe it’s an idea for a new music mix, or an app, or a video. One person’s on headphones and working in the corner of the room, not to be disturbed lest their flow be broken. Two people are sitting at a table in the middle and exchanging a few words every now and then as they casually work. One person is on a phone call—they had a call scheduled with a friend overseas and are taking a break. Another person is chilling at the couch, just writing a blog post and vibing.
That’s the feeling I miss from college. Not the classes, the programs, or the professors, but the feeling of community and, in a lot of ways, limitlessness. That sense that there’s no real urgency or social capital on the line. The atmosphere of curiosity, feverishness, and accomplishment. I haven’t been able to replicate that yet—it’s kind of hard to do because so much of working life for many people is isolating. You go to work, go back home, eat dinner, sleep. Insert working out and hanging with some friends every now and then.
This wouldn’t be for everyone, of course. Not every person is some weird hacker or hobbyist who wants to constantly work on stuff and discuss heavy topics, even if it’s not “work” related. This would definitely require some density of a certain type of person: very easy in a place like SF or NYC, but a bit more difficult in ATL. But I think enough people would want it.
Part of this is the fact that there’s not as many third places in our communities anymore (this is from my own perspective, maybe a ton of people have found something I haven’t), particularly of the variety I’m looking for. I’ve mitigated this with online resources (looking at you Subversion Commons and a lot of Twitter), but there’s something to be said for a physical community, which, on a different note, is something I think will be the basis for a lot of new ideas and startups in the near future. I have to actively curate these experiences now, but it’d be a lot easier if it was grouped together.
We’ll see where it goes.
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General Life Updates
I finally moved! My new apartment in Dunwoody is pretty sweet, and I can’t wait to start hosting people for get-togethers :)
I’ve been so busy with Sora, family stuff, and the like, I’ve barely been able to write anything
My birthday happened—I’m 23 now!
I’ve been running more as of late, so that’s good for my health
Trying to find some time to make it out to the Bay Area this fall—hopefully in late October or November :)
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Recent Medium Articles
The Reality Distortion Field: Harmful, or Necessary?
Check out my Medium in case you want to read some of my past work.
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As always, if you ever want to suggest any ideas to me or have any comments about this newsletter or my writing, you can reach me through my Twitter.
Or, if you know me personally, just DM me :)
Cheers,
Indra