Skating, Number 2!!!!!!!!

I know, its been a long time since I did a skating post but I think it is finally time. This post has been brought on by a revelation I just had after a hard day of skating. I have a fairly large squishy bruise on both sides of both my knee's, my shins are an entirely different color from all the bruises, and as I'm typing this, my hand hurts from yet another bruise. On top of that, my board is pretty beat up. I have razor tail that could slice diamonds, a few layers on my nose got smashed pretty good, and my griptape looks like a piece of swiss cheese.
Why is this do you ask? So I could heel-flip a five stair. Now if that doesn't sound like an amazing accomplishment, you would be correct, it isn't. I'm probably not even the first person to have heel-flipped that particular five stair. But you know what, it was totally worth it. There isn't anything else I can think of, where the only two outcomes are pain, or success. And I embrace the pain, I used it as a motivator. After what was probably my fiftieth try, after I had stuck the landing but still fallen, I said to myself, "you have to land this, otherwise all this pain and damage will have been for nothing, visualize it, kick hard, keep your weight centered and don't be a pussy." Low and behold, the next few moments consisted of pop, catch, land, and thank gawd, I rolled away.
The satisfaction combined with the adrenaline rush of still being in one piece is not a feeling easily encompassed and it can't be beat. After you've torn holes in your jeans (and knees), after destroying your shoes, board, and health, there is no better feeling than rolling away from your hardest task of the day. And that my friends is the epitome of skateboarding.
P.S. I know this isn't exactly 500 words but I don't have much else to say, except why do cops still hate skaters so much? Seriously, get over it.

Teenagers

In the words of Gerard Way, "Teenagers scare the living shit out of me". There can not be a quote with more truth than that one. We are very scary, not only to adults but we scare the living shit out of myself too, if that makes any sense. The clicks we form, the rights of passage we have to go through to be accepted, it is, in every definition of the word, scary. Now, I know that this does not pertain fully to music, skateboarding, or education in specific, but there are elements of all of those that create the horror that is the teenager! (que scary music).
First element, music. Music has always played a major role in shaping youth. Think about rap today, if it wasn't around, there prolly wouldn't be as many gangs and violence today. Hip-Hop and rap are what made it cool really. I have nothing against hip-hop that has a good message and some intricacy, but the "gangster-rap" is just stupid really. But I digress, music affects fashion, it even affects our actions. It is a very powerful tool and the messages that are sent out can be used very easily to control our malleable youth.
Skateboarding hasn't had that much of an effect, except for creating new clicks and maybe more hatred toward today's youth from cops. So I won't delve into it anymore, it is definitely still a factor. I would say that the most dangerous element that has created today's youth is the educational system. Not so much what we learn, but just being in school, surrounded by other people your age. Being in this situation forces people to be in groups. I mean, its not like everyone can be friends, human beings have always tended to stay in groups.
Think way, way back, before civilization. Being in groups payed off, it offered more protection. A predator is much less likely to attack a group of something, than something that's by itself. And think of who you would let in that group, only the strongest and the people you like. Now that is very much true today. Clicks usually consist of similar people, and if you don't really fit in with anyone there you find a different group, which is always scary. And if you're like me and don't really like most of the groups. You find a different group of groups. Getting back to the school aspect, schools are groups in their own. People from Alameda, even if they hate each other, they still have some similarities. Those similarities are usually similarities not shared with people from say, Encinal. And it doesn't stop their, oh no. All teenagers in the city of Alameda can be considered a group, and we all have stuff in common that kids from Oakland don't have. And the same can be true for states and countries and even worlds, talk about clicky. It all makes for a very scary place and if "teenagers scar the living shit out of" you. think what we'll do when were the adults.

Skateboarding and Cops

Many people know about the age long rivalry between skaters and cops, but why does it exist? I'm not completely sure but I'll do my best to figure it out in this blog. I think it started in the 70's because of the skaters such as those in "Lord's of Dogtown", who were generally unlawful and harbored resentment for authority figures. And it's totally understandable that the police would take a disliking to this breed of skater. But as time progresses, their resentment still exists, and although some skateboarders are unlawful, most are not. And it's unfair that cops pick on us all the time when a lot of us really don't deserve it.
Their are so many police brutality videos when their are police officers that unnecessarily single out skateboarders. There's one titled "Go Skateboarding Day". Even before the video starts there's a picture of a cop on top of a 12 year old kid who was just skating on the street, choking him. At this point I guess the cameras catch up and the aforementioned kid is in handcuffs. The officer then tries to grab everyone watching that has a board. He ends up tackling a girl, arresting her, and two other guys when they weren't resisting.
The most frequent opening line for the cops/ person kicking you out is always "does this look like a skate park to you?" Well obviously it isn't a skate park if we are getting kicked out. Unfortunately most people live like 6 miles from a local skate park so were else are we supposed to skate? In every video I've seen it's always been the cops that start it, or at least throw the first punch. The typical setting for these ugly conflicts is there's a few people skating, obviously a person filming, in a place they aren't really supposed to. Then a rent-a-cop shows up, since he thinks he is the law, he starts hassling the skaters they get in a fist fight and then one of them backs down (usually the cop). This unnecessary resentment is probably what keeps it going on both sides. Skaters don't like cops because cops don't like skaters and vice-versa. It's a vicious circle that doesn't make anyone happy. I don't know what can be done to end it. There are some nice police officers, but there definitely aren't enough.

Canadian School bans Skateboards from School Property

Skateboarding is a very simple sport. You have a piece of wood with wheels attached to it, but its getting increasingly hard to do this. It's like the world's out to get us. They keep coming up with new ways to stop skaters from doing what they love. Thousands of skate stoppers are installed every day and with ever increasing numbers, there's just not very much to go around.
But skating can't, and won't, be silenced. As long as we have hammers, there will be a way to skate what was previously "stopped" spots. There are way too many of us to be silenced, we might not all get along but we all have a similar cause. But as i mentioned before there are forces uniting against our will to skate. For instance, here's an article about a school in Canada that has banned skateboards from school property.


Skateboard ban prompts student petition

A Calgary high school has banned skateboards from the property, upsetting hundreds of students who have signed a petition.

The principal from St. Francis High School wasn’t available for an interview, but Catholic school board spokeswoman Janet Sutherland said safety concerns were behind the decision.

"There is a district-wide policy that states that skateboards cannot be used on school property and some schools have gone a step further to make it their policy that skateboards cannot be brought to school," she said.

Liza-Jane Karieter, a Grade 12 student, said a skateboard cuts her commute by a third.

"It's fun just to go down hills and just go extremely fast, and if you fall off, then whatever, you fall off, you get back up and do it again."

Students who skateboard said the rule singles them out since it doesn't apply to bikes or inline skates.

"We're troublemakers or whatever you want to call them,” Karieter said. “I don't think it should be like that."

John Maitland, a Grade 12 student, said he isn’t allowed to even bring his skateboard into the school and put it in his locker.

"The rule is you're not allowed to take it in and put it under your arm because it's a weapon,” he said. "All I want is so that I can be able to pick it up and put it in my locker, so that I can go to school faster and leave school faster, even if they just made amendments to the rule."

The students have a petition with more than 800 names, but Sutherland says the policy is not up for review.

"They're in place for a reason so students may not like the policy, but it is there for their safety,” she said.

How fucked up is that? The word is out to make us look like bad guys. A lot of people on use them for transportation, what these people are doing is a form of discrimination, and it's just because we ride around on a piece of wood? Now you can see why some skaters are all like, "Stick it to the man!". It's because the man is trying to stick it to us, so I say, fuck the establishment.