like odb said, its for the children...
i dont usually re-run real life in this thing....but this was pretty dope...i made a new friend tonight. his names carlos and hes about 9 or 10 years old, im guessing. i was skating tonight at the park city skatepark, well more like just rolling around and having a blast...and there was this little hispanic kid there skating too. park city has a very large, poor, immigrant work force, thus a lot of semi-impoverished families. carlos rolled up to me right when i got to the park and asked me if i would trade him skateboards. mind you, this is a 10 year old kid, who spoke like an intelligent teenager. he even tried to sell me on the trade because he had drawn some type of graff style picture on the grip tape. he actually said, "come on man, mines got a picture drawn on it and yours doesnt have anything on it."
i didnt bother to mention to him that i had wu tang lyrics written on the bottom of my board...
besides the point though...
it was one of those afternoons in park city in may, it was super sunny, not a cloud in the sky...but it was still pretty cool out...i managed to skate most of the time i was there with a sweatshirt on. it was the kind of day you didnt want to end, no matter how tired you got and no matter how close it got to becoming time for you to go do something more important that just skateboard. if thats even possible.
anyhow...the day passed by and after a couple hours, i found myself sitting on one of the benches just watching everyone else roll around, and watching this kid either kick around the park with the wrong foot...yeah mongo...either that or he was dropping in on the mini transitions sitting down. still not sure how he figured that one out.
carlos was that kid. it was pretty obvious no one in his life had ever ridden a skateboard, no one had ever shown him the correct way to stand on a skateboard, no one cared enough to buy him a quality deck, more likely they couldnt afford it, no one had bought him the proper shoes, adidas basketball shoes with no laces could work i guess...and no one had ever told him what was cool or shown him someone with good style, and im sure he had never seen a skate video in his life. and the best part about it was that he could care less what anyone thought of him. he was having fun. he would yell at older kids when they went by, he would fly off his board into the fence when he was going too fast, or just shoot the board into the fence to see if he could chip the nose or tail (something no one my age would EVER do) and he didnt care at all. just skate how you want, push around, or scoot around, and have fun.
it seems like its always the poor kids, the ones without the material possessions, the ones that walk to the park and go home when it gets dark...the ones who dont know about the style or fashion (thank god) and the ones who dont care about...they are the ones who are really escaping...using it for what its worth and making it all count. every push. every fall. every torn pair of jeans and scuffed up pair of shoes. they get it...more than most of us ever will.
at a later point in the evening, this kid skated up to me and started talking again. he asked the typical grom question of "can you do any tricks" but he said it in a way that was more like the way youd ask your older brother a question. so instead of a smart ass response, like most skateboarders would typically give, i told him i knew a few, but it wasnt really about how many tricks i could do anymore. i didnt care about the tricks, i just liked rolling around. like being outside, and liked being around skateboarding.
instead of responding the next thing out of his mouth was, "i wish i had some money so i could get something to eat, im starrrrrving."
i laughed at this one, and i told him maybe he should look into getting a job.
his response?
"im ten. what am i going to do?"
i laughed again and told him i had some chores he could do for me, like washing my car or cutting the grass in front of our house, neither of which he seemed to thrilled about. i watched him kick away, mongo foot, and thought about the first days i had ever skateboarded. on my driveway. the one with a massive hill built into it, which would pummel you into the street if you werent careful, not to mention the street that connected to it was another massive hill, which would pummel you into a gravel filled wash at the end. 360 kickturns, grinds on the edge of the concrete by my moms flower bed...ollie attempts onto the love seat on the porch...yeah sorry about the cracked tile dad...it was hours of something new. something that would become more than just a hobby...something that just seemed to ease my mind at the right times and make the world just go away. you cant really explain it, i guess. maybe you can...but im not going to bother trying.
this kid skated back by me again and asked me if i had any money on me and i told him unless he could break a 20 i didnt have anything. that was actually the truth. of course, it was about then i remembered the ashtray in my car was full of loose change, and kept falling open anytime i would go over a rough spot on the road. pretty embarassing if you are me, pretty funny if you are anyone riding in my car with me. talk about ghetto.
then the idea was formed...
after a quick agreement with carlos that he would make a habit out of asking people for money, i bet him two dollars in change, for chips and a soda, that he couldnt learn some skateboard basics. the kid just about fell out of his shoes, as did just about anyone else in the park who was watching me roll back and forth between three cracks in the park and try to show this kid that kept getting in their way how to skate. we started with ollies, and after a solid ten minutes of me and him putting our wheels in a crack so he wouldnt roll and trying to teach him how to stomp his back foot down and jump, he got the basic idea and managed a few "ollie" attempts that looked half way decent. mind you, this kid had no idea even what an ollie was when i said it to him, but he was all about having someone to skate with for a bit.
after that i decided to go a bit more basic and we focused on two things, manuals (rolling on just two wheels for those who might not skate) and pushing the proper way, ie with his back foot instead of with his front. i picked two cracks and we spent about 30 minutes trying to get him to manual from one to the other...he came close a couple times, but didnt quite get it, but still he wasnt about to give up. even when i was standing around, he was trying it. finally i got annoyed with how ugly and awkward his pushing was so i showed him how to push with his back foot. he wasnt too stoked on this at first and when i told him that he was doing it wrong and that mongo footing was like making out with your sister he replied to me, "who cares," but none the less, he gave it a go and figured out how much better it felt and looked. every manual from there on that he tried, i made him kick the proper way or i told him it didnt count. theres just some style points that shouldnt be sacrificed and whether or not style mattered to a ten year old, i thought i could at least save him a life of frustration later on.
it was about time for me to go when i noticed he was getting tired too from trying to figure out some new moves and i made him the final clincher bet for the two bucks. i sat a handful of loose change on the ground and told him if he could push around the entire outside of the park with his proper foot and not do it mongo that id give him the change and he could roll to the 7-11 and grab a snack. without only a few questions about where he had to go, he took off skating. the sun was setting and the sky was turning colors as it always does, and i smiled as my new friend kicked all the way around the park and dropped into a speed line down the last hill before skidding out into the gate by the entrance. he got up, i gave him his money and told him he needed to keep skating. i asked him where he lived and his name. carlos lived over by our place, and i told him id see him around the park this summer and he asked me if i would keep showing him some stuff on his skateboard. i told him of course and we shook hands and i rolled out.
i dont know who was more pumped on the session, me or him, but as i rolled out of the park he was still in there trying to do manuals and kick with his back foot...instead of walking down the sev for a snack.
maybe its the small things, maybe we dont ever take the time out of our own little worlds to notice the things going on around us, maybe we dont care, or maybe we do and are too scared of what other people think. but i know for sure that every now and then, it all gets put on hold. the sneakers dont matter, the music turns itself down, the car you drive is cool no matter how beat up it is, the places you go are always fun, no matter how routine, and everything just sort of falls into place. and sometimes that kid with the trashed payless kicks on his feet, pushing around on a two by four, smiling and yelling and having a blast becomes all of us, and sometimes you just have to let it go and remember how small it all really is. i dont doubt that it would do us all some good to think about all the carlos' we know or see on a daily basis, all the people who are struggling to make ends meet but still smiling, all the people who take the bus and dont complain, all the people who work jobs that we cringe at and smile because at least they have a job, all the people who still sing and dance and laugh even though it might not seem like there is much to sing and dance and laugh about... and maybe just maybe...we can take a few extra minutes to tell them whatsup or give them a high five or a smile or hello, or even give that person a sincere thank you when they hand you your groceries or bring you your food... or even just look past your daily routine to acknowledge them and realize that not everyone is as fortunate as we are in this world, and it wouldnt kill us to give a little bit back sometimes.
i didnt bother to mention to him that i had wu tang lyrics written on the bottom of my board...
besides the point though...
it was one of those afternoons in park city in may, it was super sunny, not a cloud in the sky...but it was still pretty cool out...i managed to skate most of the time i was there with a sweatshirt on. it was the kind of day you didnt want to end, no matter how tired you got and no matter how close it got to becoming time for you to go do something more important that just skateboard. if thats even possible.
anyhow...the day passed by and after a couple hours, i found myself sitting on one of the benches just watching everyone else roll around, and watching this kid either kick around the park with the wrong foot...yeah mongo...either that or he was dropping in on the mini transitions sitting down. still not sure how he figured that one out.
carlos was that kid. it was pretty obvious no one in his life had ever ridden a skateboard, no one had ever shown him the correct way to stand on a skateboard, no one cared enough to buy him a quality deck, more likely they couldnt afford it, no one had bought him the proper shoes, adidas basketball shoes with no laces could work i guess...and no one had ever told him what was cool or shown him someone with good style, and im sure he had never seen a skate video in his life. and the best part about it was that he could care less what anyone thought of him. he was having fun. he would yell at older kids when they went by, he would fly off his board into the fence when he was going too fast, or just shoot the board into the fence to see if he could chip the nose or tail (something no one my age would EVER do) and he didnt care at all. just skate how you want, push around, or scoot around, and have fun.
it seems like its always the poor kids, the ones without the material possessions, the ones that walk to the park and go home when it gets dark...the ones who dont know about the style or fashion (thank god) and the ones who dont care about...they are the ones who are really escaping...using it for what its worth and making it all count. every push. every fall. every torn pair of jeans and scuffed up pair of shoes. they get it...more than most of us ever will.
at a later point in the evening, this kid skated up to me and started talking again. he asked the typical grom question of "can you do any tricks" but he said it in a way that was more like the way youd ask your older brother a question. so instead of a smart ass response, like most skateboarders would typically give, i told him i knew a few, but it wasnt really about how many tricks i could do anymore. i didnt care about the tricks, i just liked rolling around. like being outside, and liked being around skateboarding.
instead of responding the next thing out of his mouth was, "i wish i had some money so i could get something to eat, im starrrrrving."
i laughed at this one, and i told him maybe he should look into getting a job.
his response?
"im ten. what am i going to do?"
i laughed again and told him i had some chores he could do for me, like washing my car or cutting the grass in front of our house, neither of which he seemed to thrilled about. i watched him kick away, mongo foot, and thought about the first days i had ever skateboarded. on my driveway. the one with a massive hill built into it, which would pummel you into the street if you werent careful, not to mention the street that connected to it was another massive hill, which would pummel you into a gravel filled wash at the end. 360 kickturns, grinds on the edge of the concrete by my moms flower bed...ollie attempts onto the love seat on the porch...yeah sorry about the cracked tile dad...it was hours of something new. something that would become more than just a hobby...something that just seemed to ease my mind at the right times and make the world just go away. you cant really explain it, i guess. maybe you can...but im not going to bother trying.
this kid skated back by me again and asked me if i had any money on me and i told him unless he could break a 20 i didnt have anything. that was actually the truth. of course, it was about then i remembered the ashtray in my car was full of loose change, and kept falling open anytime i would go over a rough spot on the road. pretty embarassing if you are me, pretty funny if you are anyone riding in my car with me. talk about ghetto.
then the idea was formed...
after a quick agreement with carlos that he would make a habit out of asking people for money, i bet him two dollars in change, for chips and a soda, that he couldnt learn some skateboard basics. the kid just about fell out of his shoes, as did just about anyone else in the park who was watching me roll back and forth between three cracks in the park and try to show this kid that kept getting in their way how to skate. we started with ollies, and after a solid ten minutes of me and him putting our wheels in a crack so he wouldnt roll and trying to teach him how to stomp his back foot down and jump, he got the basic idea and managed a few "ollie" attempts that looked half way decent. mind you, this kid had no idea even what an ollie was when i said it to him, but he was all about having someone to skate with for a bit.
after that i decided to go a bit more basic and we focused on two things, manuals (rolling on just two wheels for those who might not skate) and pushing the proper way, ie with his back foot instead of with his front. i picked two cracks and we spent about 30 minutes trying to get him to manual from one to the other...he came close a couple times, but didnt quite get it, but still he wasnt about to give up. even when i was standing around, he was trying it. finally i got annoyed with how ugly and awkward his pushing was so i showed him how to push with his back foot. he wasnt too stoked on this at first and when i told him that he was doing it wrong and that mongo footing was like making out with your sister he replied to me, "who cares," but none the less, he gave it a go and figured out how much better it felt and looked. every manual from there on that he tried, i made him kick the proper way or i told him it didnt count. theres just some style points that shouldnt be sacrificed and whether or not style mattered to a ten year old, i thought i could at least save him a life of frustration later on.
it was about time for me to go when i noticed he was getting tired too from trying to figure out some new moves and i made him the final clincher bet for the two bucks. i sat a handful of loose change on the ground and told him if he could push around the entire outside of the park with his proper foot and not do it mongo that id give him the change and he could roll to the 7-11 and grab a snack. without only a few questions about where he had to go, he took off skating. the sun was setting and the sky was turning colors as it always does, and i smiled as my new friend kicked all the way around the park and dropped into a speed line down the last hill before skidding out into the gate by the entrance. he got up, i gave him his money and told him he needed to keep skating. i asked him where he lived and his name. carlos lived over by our place, and i told him id see him around the park this summer and he asked me if i would keep showing him some stuff on his skateboard. i told him of course and we shook hands and i rolled out.
i dont know who was more pumped on the session, me or him, but as i rolled out of the park he was still in there trying to do manuals and kick with his back foot...instead of walking down the sev for a snack.
maybe its the small things, maybe we dont ever take the time out of our own little worlds to notice the things going on around us, maybe we dont care, or maybe we do and are too scared of what other people think. but i know for sure that every now and then, it all gets put on hold. the sneakers dont matter, the music turns itself down, the car you drive is cool no matter how beat up it is, the places you go are always fun, no matter how routine, and everything just sort of falls into place. and sometimes that kid with the trashed payless kicks on his feet, pushing around on a two by four, smiling and yelling and having a blast becomes all of us, and sometimes you just have to let it go and remember how small it all really is. i dont doubt that it would do us all some good to think about all the carlos' we know or see on a daily basis, all the people who are struggling to make ends meet but still smiling, all the people who take the bus and dont complain, all the people who work jobs that we cringe at and smile because at least they have a job, all the people who still sing and dance and laugh even though it might not seem like there is much to sing and dance and laugh about... and maybe just maybe...we can take a few extra minutes to tell them whatsup or give them a high five or a smile or hello, or even give that person a sincere thank you when they hand you your groceries or bring you your food... or even just look past your daily routine to acknowledge them and realize that not everyone is as fortunate as we are in this world, and it wouldnt kill us to give a little bit back sometimes.