#skaateboard

[ibikewithstyle]

[teenytinyone-blog]

[mosaiccollective]

Manliness 101 - Issue Fourteen

Board to Death

Some people, too many people, see skateboarding as a dirtbag distraction, a nuisance, and a sure path to drugs, drink, and depravation. They choose not to see the people who have devoted not only their time (and bodies) to these sports, but their lives. Or worse, they declare the dedication misguided, that time and those lives squandered. But they're wrong.

It's not just a plank on wheels or a board with fins. These are kinetic works of art, mobile meditations in pursuit of perfect moments. 

Dark Side of the Lens

Ask Irish surf-photographer Mickey Smith. He lives, breathes, and bleeds waveriding, not for glory or fame, but for its grace and serenity. Mickey lives behind the camera, not before it. The man on the dark side of the lens.

Through surfing, he's winnowed life to its essence: "If I only scrape a living, at least it's a living worth scraping. If there's no future in it, at least it's a present worth remembering." That speaks to more than gliding across a wave. 

Read Mickey's transcript here.

Project Skateistan

Passionate pursuits are the opposite of diversions--they're focusing tools. They give perspective and drive. That's why two Australian aid workers offered skateboard lessons to 350 kids in one of the most chaotic places on earth: Kabul, Afghanistan. Project Skateistan gives those children a safe place to stabilize their world through skateboarding and education. Visit their site and help them out.  

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." More than likely Bertrand Russel wasn't talking about skating, but it applies. Our passions bring the world into perspective. Through the scope of these smaller actions we see the big picture. So I'll grab my board and hit Vic West's bowl, and you should do whatever makes you happy.