the warfare is mental

How Skateboarding Helped My Intelligence

This post was originally going to be titled "How Skateboarding Helped My Education," but by the end hopefully you'll see why education was swapped for intelligence. Though related, the two are not the same thing.

One way people learn things is by observation, which humans have been using to test claims long before science arrived on the scene. Science and its tools merely extend or accentuate our observational abilities, with the added bonus of providing a somewhat reliable filter for false claims. How does this relate to skateboarding?

Skateboarding - A Diversion From Desolation

Skateboarding and religion rarely cross paths in any sort of real way, but my friend Joe Haircut posted a link the other day to this New York Times article titled Skateboarding in Afghanistan Provides a Diversion From Desolation.

The article was the story of young Afghan kids who share a small concrete foundation no bigger than the fountain everyone skates at Golden Gate Park, described as "...a decrepit Soviet-style concrete fountain with deep fissures."

Despite the active environment around them, a half-dozen or more kids assemble peacefully to skate this thing fully-padded, with an instructor or two to keep an eye out for suicide bombers and other terror-related flare ups.

Ten-year-old Hadisa twice had to endure wire beatings from her older brothers for skateboarding with poorer children, but the most inspiring part of the story was a single sentence spoken by Maro, a nine-year-old girl who had just started skateboarding and wanted to skate as much as possible before reaching puberty and being required to spend the rest of her life wearing a veil in public:

[Skateboarding] gives me courage, and once I start skating, I completely forget about my fears.

I couldn't help but think that in a way, skateboarders, artists, writers and members of other creative subcultures have been sending this message to mainstream society for a very long time, but rather than listen, mainstream society typically responds by using our message to sell products and further promote the very messages our message seeks to undermine.

Skate Dog

No offense to Rob, but this beast puts Meaty to shame!

OG Cardiel

So I was cruising around Jake Rosenberg's page again, and came across this great footage of John Cardiel. The Embarcadero stuff is classic. Check the benihana down the big three! Stay down!

Skateboard Freely!

Do you skate freely? Or are you chained to your ego?

Perhaps the biggest hurdle to progress is ego. We cannot reasonably expect to learn if we are unwilling to take risks, fall and appear vulnerable. Ego smothers creativity and the experimental approach to almost any art form.

In skateboarding, as well as other creative endeavors, we are usually much better off to operate freely with a spontaneous, subconscious, experimental approach than a rational, logical, problem-solving one. This applies especially in the raw generation of new forms, tricks, styles or techniques, where we respond to impulses from within as opposed to generating impulses from observation of pre-existing stimuli.

I frequently skate with people who dramatically over-think much of what they are attempting. I can almost hear their internal dialog: “Can I do this? I don’t know. This is hard. Arggg!” Such people are not wholly playing. If we take a playful approach to skating and enjoy it, learning becomes smoother and more fun.

Of course, polarization is almost always paralyzing and the problem-solving approach has its place in skateboarding as well. Working out a complex trick involves use of the problem solving mind and asking oneself a series of questions: “Why does the board slip out? I need to lean a bit more forward. Why did I fall forward? I need to lean a little further back.”

Think of the some influential skateboarders, and more likely than not it was their unique creative approach that changed the game: Mark Gonzales, Rodney Mullen, Daewon, Tony Trujillo, Paulo Diaz and Christian Hosoi come to mind. However, skateboarding also has its share of left-brain powerhouses as well: Jamie Thomas, Kerry Getz, Paul Rodriquez and PJ Ladd.

In any art form, what we should strive for is balance, and the master learns to condition the mind to switch freely between approach. There is a time for the rational, logical, problem-solving mentality and there is a time for the relax, let go and have fun mentality.

Exploring Skateboarding's Familial Context

I can see how skateboarding gets messed up to the point of one skater disrespecting another. It’s just a microcosmical expression of something much larger.

Nowadays the humanity between people is often superficial. In our inner cities, some people generally spend the majority of their days surrounded by other people whom they rarely, acknowledge personally, if at all. Indeed genuine friendly-types exist who actually get to know the people they surround themselves with, but they are often looked upon with suspicion or a stigma of desperation.

In life, there are people who only exist and confide in a very small and limited, carefully pre-selected group chosen largely on accord of perceived congruence with self. The uncongenial attitude has now carried over into skating. In the beginning, there were very few skaters. Therefore, to see another soldier mobbing the streets was more of a rarity than a guarantee. After a while, most of the skaters across the country and even spreading further came to know each other. It was a tight-knit community. Now we have so many people into skating. Skaters commonly pass by or act aloof to other groups of skaters, taking them for granted, disrespecting their style, or whatever. I know it happens because I do it too. It's like an ingrained feature of humanity, but also one we need to question if we wish to progress.

On the other hand, it is also true is that now, there are so many skaters that to actually take notice of all them you encounter would eventually become encroach on valuable skate time, and here we find an equal argument for being an occasionally antisocial hater.

Ken Goto

Especially if you skate, I would recommend giving Ken Goto a visit.

New Potrero Del Sol Skatepark Opens July 4th

*recently appeared in the Potrero View.

Correction: As of 6-20, the proposed opening of the park is June 28th. I apologize for any confusion. July 4th was the 'official' date given when I inquired in May.

San Francisco's second public skateboard facility is set to open July 4th at Potrero Del Sol Park, located at 25th and Utah streets in the southeast outskirts of the City's historic Mission District. The skatepark will be a much-needed relief to local skaters tired of dodging traffic, thugs and broken glass at the usual street spots, while local food, gas and convenience item retailers can expect at least modest revenue spurts, especially in summertime and on weekends.

Mike Anderson Matix SF Trip

So this spot was knobbed for awhile but not anymore. A while back, Matix funded a homies trip and even flew Marty Murawski out from AZ. It was me, Mike, Angel Saucedo, Vinnie, Baby Sinclair who also crushed the spot, Marty, Ruben Alcantar, Tyler Bledsoe, Lawrence Quero, Andrew Livingston and Benny Maglinao. All rights reserved.

Not a lot of room to run things out if you stick here.

Luckily we found a McDonald's cup, paraffin-coated just like the food!

The drop is legit, the ledge is long, the hill is steep into traffic...

Not to mention you have to pop over the ending!

Long lens view, with Angel holding down the Gnaughty-cam.

"Oh, lemme do a couple smith grinds,
and tailslides and all sorts of other crap, too.."

Vinnie Peinado backtailed to fakie, bombed the hill switch and had to fall on crosswalk paint to avoid death. It was not a joke!

OG Embarcadero With Jovontae And Carroll

I pulled the following from Jacob43's YouTube page. Definitely miss those days. Although I didn't live in the City for the original Embarcadero, I spent my share of time gracing its bricks and eating at Carls Jr. Put simply, this period of time is a part of any OG skaters' life. So watch Tae and MC put the hurt on some raw, unadulterated shredding.

Mike Anderson Berrics Footy

I pulled this Manderson footy off Robert's YouTube page for you to enjoy.

Mrs. Piety Versus The Non-Persons

*originally published in SLAP, 2004

I had already gulped down my horchata by the time she handed me my change. I took my seat and began the wait for what could be called the skateboarders staple, a bean, rice and cheese burrito. Besides, I love the vending machines in this joint. They sell cool stickers with pictures of homies lifting weights and slinging ink and stuff. It seemed like forever until she called my number. I got my grub and went back to my little corner, hoping to have an uneventful lunch all by myself when some commotion across the street piqued my interest.

State Of Skateboarding In 2003

*appeared in Concrete Wave magazine, 2004

Corporate outsiders leeching off skateboarding is nothing new to the art, and skateboard companies pandering to the mainstream is old hat. As far back as the late seventies, magazines were decrying the impure motives of those who would merely jump on the bandwagon to turn a profit. “All of a sudden, businessmen with no knowledge of skateboarding or the skateboard market saw a lot of money to be made, and to be made fast. Cheap boards from Taiwan and elsewhere appeared, selling for approximately eight dollars per board. Manufacturers sprang up overnight. Retail outfits opened up in every area, parks were built by people who figured all skaters wanted was a concrete surface with a few slopes or undulations to skate on. Everybody wanted to be in on the craze…there were too many manufacturers and distributors for too small a cake and a lot of people in the sport for a quick buck.”

Ventura Skaters Will Push For A Plaza

*originally published in Ventura County Star, June 2004

In Ventura the situation is familiar and recurring: roving bands of young to middle-aged kids scouring city infrastructure in search of suitable terrain for moves on their skateboards.

The enormous skateboard boom in the late nineties spawned upstart generations of riders in most every city around the country and Ventura was no exception. As I travel the "New Art City" lately I seem to notice more and more of them lurking in the cracks and shadows behind strip malls, local schools and parking lots practicing their board control, or occasional lack thereof.

Time For Some Change

*originally published in Manifesto, 2003

The tired custodian emptied the trash and locked up, departing to Al's Liquor via bicycle for his standard three quarts of Schlitz Ice. He pedaled off, not knowing the bank he had just cleaned so meticulously was about to be visited by yet another customer. He didn't even crack the first quart before the commotion began.

"KLAK-GRGRGRGRGRGRGRGRGRGRGTTTTTTT..."

A few seconds later, this unusual sound was followed by another one, different, yet equally foreign and intriguing.

"TSHHHHHHHHHHHT..."

The aural combinations would be juggled and repeated for hours into the night. The smooth, marble benches and red, painted curbs surrounding the monetary fortress have provided skateboarders with a challenging playground for years, ever since they replaced the ugly, dried-up grass that used to run the perimeter of the building.