As part of a terrific series of interviews, Derek says:

{fray} was the way I reached out to the world. I put up stories of freaks and losers and people with broken hearts like me.

And the more people posted to those stories, the less alone I felt. I realized that we’re all freaks. We’re all making it up as we go.

Every day, every post to {fray}, reminds me of that. The site has been my salvation. I owe my life to it, professionally and personally.

And then, later…

The heart of {fray} is you.

And it strikes me that, besides all the work that Derek’s done for years in bringing heart and emotion to the web, these are some of the bravest things I’ve seen someone write online in a long time. The best part is, this guy not only does it all the time, he helps other people do it, too.