Psyched!

SUMMER CAMP - Round the Moon from Paddy Power on Vimeo.

Summer Camp - Ghost Train (viral) from Paddy Power on Vimeo.

Funny Old Clip

Flailing armed nosegrind to plant leaf kick in the face!... Sick green shirt and purple shoes combo too ha!

FUCK.

YES.

An essay...

This is an essay I wrote for my english 102 class about skateboarding. Keep in mind, this essay was written for a particular professor and also an audience that knows next to nothing about skateboarding. I do sound like a twerp and there's a lot of crap in this essay, some of which I don't even feel the same way about anymore. (I.E. if your going to build a park, why make a street plaza and replicate exactly something from the street that has been made before, why not build something new and different that you could never find in the streets in the first place. Although, anything to skate is good.) However, some of its points scattered throughout somewhat show what skateboarding is to me. We don't really need parks, although it'd be nice and fun, thats just a bunch of crap I thought of to write about for school. It's funny, I wrote all four of our main essays on skateboarding in that class. Its all I really care to do anything with at this point.

James Munk

Essay #4, Argumentative

December 10th, 2009

Un-knobbed

                       

            Do you remember when you were a kid and how much fun you could have with even what now would seem as the most mundane of things? But, why in any world would you ever continue to do something so simple and so much fun, when it may not be paying your bills in the future? When our society seems to be plagued with depression, obesity and varying mental illnesses you wonder if there is something that could be done to help solve such a problem. Skateboarding may just be a viable solution.

Sure, almost everyone must realize that at some point in our lives we need to earn some form of income that is substantial to live healthily off of. In an article titled, If You Like To Skateboard I Hope You Never Have Children, By: Brad Posero, he starts off by stating, “Skateboarding is a cool sport at the professional level. Seeing guys drop off a nearly vertical ramp and accelerate to high speeds, only to go straight up and whirl through the air before landing smoothly, is endlessly entertaining.” I can completely agree with this statement. Anybody who can make a living off of something they love is a lucky person.

            Later in the article, again praising skateboarder Tony Hawk, Posero says, “he skateboarded his ass off and made the sport what it is today.” This quote is praising what Hawk did for a living and how he did it. It is again an easy statement to agree with. However, Posero then goes on to attack, ad-hominem, people who go down different paths and who are simply “fat, bearded douchebag, making sex tapes and starring on the worst reality TV shows ever to be green-lit (Dustin Diamond) or dating the ugliest “woman” alive while simultaneously giving credence to the idea that redheads are the spawn of Satan (Lindsay Lohan—kioli!).” Obviously many low blows were laid out in this statement, but it is only leading up to his purpose for the article, which is to state why people should not skateboard simply because the odds are that they will never make a living off of it. Posero attacks skateboarders relentlessly and unjustifiably when stating that, “There are way too many tight jeans wearing, world hating, spoiled skateboarding idiots today.” The purpose of his article is not only to attack skateboarders and make wild assumptions for all of them, but to also state that “There’s a family that lives a few houses down from me, and they have two sons, ages 11 and 9, let’s say. They like to skateboard in the street—whatever, not my problem they’re wasting their youth on a dream they’ll never achieve.”

My question is why can we not simply have fun doing something we love even if we will not become professional at it; despite what Posero says. After all, our overall happiness is affected greatly by our physical activity. As stated by Barak and Achiron,  “happiness has been associated with health and success in most areas of life, including performance at work, sporting achievement and social functioning.“ Physical activity is the root of emotional happiness and skateboarding will keep you as physically active as you want it to. Barak and Achiron also note that there are, “Several effective approaches to increase happiness employ activities to engage and stimulate patients who might otherwise be unoccupied and isolated.” Skateboarding will keep you occupied, engage you in learning, help you meet new people, and see new things all the time. Thus skateboarding will lead you towards a greater happiness in your life.

            Also, with the recent decline of “traditional sports,” such as baseball, basketball, football, and lacrosse, along with the rise of “action sports,” and in this case skateboarding, there is an obvious need for a lawful place for skateboarders to go. Almost everywhere you look, there are baseball fields, football fields, and basketball courts, yet there seems to be next to nothing for skateboarders. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, “found that among after-school activities, the likelihood of being an overweight adult was reduced 48 percent for those who skated or biked more than four times a week. For those who played soccer or other organized sports three or four times a week, the odds of being overweight later were reduced 20 percent. The researchers found that jogging, dancing and gymnastics did not significantly reduce the chances of being overweight as an adult” (Cohn). Skateboarding is not only a source of emotional well-being, but also a way to effectively keep in shape.

There are an enormously growing number of skateboarders around the world who ride down the street everyday, with nowhere to go legally. In Sacramento California, journalist Michael Pulley, discovered a real estate manager who even said, “ ’It's a horrible battle,’ said Knorr, adding that because skateboarders don't have a place to go in Sacramento, ‘They use shopping centers as a playground(s) (sic).’ “ Real estate managers have taken tolls on their business when they have to pay for damage caused by skateboarders, and at the same time there are no designated skate areas. Skateboarders everywhere need a place to lawfully go.

While businesses and government buildings are Skate Stopping their ledges and rails, public parks that were once legal for skateboarding have also being taken away and some have become completely illegal. For example, “The area under the Brooklyn Bridge has been a popular skateboard park for decades, but its days are soon coming to an end, at least temporarily. The city plans to use the internationally known Brooklyn Banks skate park as a staging area during the Brooklyn Bridge reconstruction, which is starting later this year and will last until 2014” (Under Cover). An influential skate spot on the east coast of the United States that was made illegal a couple of years back is Love Park, also known as JFK plaza, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Love Park is a world-renowned skate spot and tourist attraction. Love is in the center of city, and not only is it a prime destination for meeting up, it is filled with granite ledges ideal for skateboarding. Love Park had been featured in the video game, “Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2,” which attracted even more people to come skate there. Plus, Love Park and all its publicity also brought the X-games to Philadelphia in 1999. The city government may not have realized how much revenue the skateboarders bring in to local businesses. Skateboarders had become a huge part of the community of Philadelphia, even if they were grinding down some of the expensive granite.

            In some states, lawmakers have come up with ways of putting in skateparks, or skateplazas, where there is no supervision required. Instead, a series of rules is put in place that mainly state that whoever is there must realize that they are at their own risk of getting hurt. In the recent years, conglomerates such as Nike, Mountain Dew, Adidas, and Red Bull have become involved with the skateboarding community. With the large sums of money these companies are able to commit to skateboarding, and also as the popularity of skateboarding increases, there seems to be a growing number safe spots, skateplazas and skateparks everywhere. Nike, along with their pro team rider, Paul Rodriguez, has recently teamed up to build their own skate park, which they modeled after real world spots. “In the process of crafting a skatespot, low-set ledges and other landscape features are transformed from tools for social order and urban beautification to temporary autonomous play zones” (Bey). Nike, Paul Rodriguez, and many others are trying to create places like what Bey talks of in real cities all over the world. These real spots, that are unintentionally perfect for skateboarding, are the reasons skateboarders are attracted to skate places that are illegal in the first place.

            As the problem persists, there needs to be a large movement towards a greater understanding of both sides. Some, such as Lorie, owner of Skate Stoppers, at, www.skatestoppers.com, believe that, "The attitude is 'Hey, screw you, I'm not going to the park anyway,’ ‘That's just the attitude of street skating,’ " (Pulley). Others such as Francisco Vivoni, believe, “Skilled skateboarders perform on a wide range of terrains. Purpose-built spaces such as public skateparks both marginalize skateboarders from city centers and serve as training grounds for appropriating urban spaces. While in the streets, skateboarders are both criminalized for defacement of property and commodified as urban guerrilla performance artistry” (17). In the meantime skateboarders will continue to do as they have for decades, trespassing just to skate somewhere fun, while the businesses will continue to try by any means necessary to deter them.

            As more readily available deterrence occurs there is an overwhelming need for a place for skateboarders to go. This space is necessary for the continuance of not only what to the masses is known as a “sport,” but also for what few know to be an art, a way of expression, and ultimately a source for greater happiness. When most people as of the 21^st century view skateboarding as a “sport,” that is shown on TV and practiced in skateparks, it is good to know that there is something beyond the sponsorships of energy drinks, and video games. Skateboarding can be practiced anywhere. To most, it is a nuisance or a crime; to us it is a way to explore uncharted area for new spots, adventure, to meet new people and to learn to focus our mind, body and energy to be more creative. We are taking this modern world of concrete skyscrapers and wasteland and actively utilizing it for a creative “sport” without any rules. We are a community where each one of us can look at one another and know, know the inexplicable feeling exerted when a trick, even the simplest, is accomplished. To be a part of such a unique group is the epitome of the importance of being a part of something, something that is always progressing, and moving forward, and that is what life is about. So therefore, even if you are not able to make monetary advancements from skateboarding, go pick one up at your local shop, ride down the street, get some exercise, and experience the simple happiness that it can bring. Then you will see why it has become so increasingly popular and why there needs to be more skateparks everywhere. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Barak Y, Achiron A. "Happiness and neurological disease". PubMed.gov. November 11, 2009 .

 

(Bey, 1991). Bey, H. (1991). T.A.Z.: Temporary autonomous zone, ontological anarchy, poetic terrorism. New York: Autonomedia.

 

Cohn, Meredith. "Ramped-up Exercise". The Baltimore Sun. December 9th, 2009 .

 

Pareso, Brad. "If You Like To Skateboard, I Hope You Never Have Children". Long Island Press. December 12th, 2009 .

 

Pulley, Michael. "Property managers battle damage by skateboarders". Sacramento Business Journal. Friday, July 22, 2005 .

 

"Under Cover". The Newspaper of Lower Manhattan. Volume 22, Number 23 . October 16 - 22, 2009 .

 

Vivoni, Francisco. " Spots of Spatial Desire: Skateparks, Skateplazas, and Urban Politics ". Journal of Sport & Social Issues. March 23, 2009 .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh the good ol' days...

Over the past years of 12 or 13 of my life I have been skateboarding and using cameras. I have collected hundreds of hours of footage, most of which sits around collecting data dust on a computer, and tons of footage never captured, but occasionally it's fun to reminisce over all of the fun we had. I can without a doubt say that I do not regret anything from these years and would not change a thing. It's sad to say and almost cliché but I seriously doubt that other than those small random occasions that times will ever be so innocent and enjoyable. The innocent enjoyment is why I skateboard. From now on a new feature I've decided to include on my blog will be the inclusion of clips of footage from the past that never made it into our montages. Trust me, they're hilarious. 

Here are a few montages that have been up for years. Take your time watching them... its a lot, I know.

hahaha, frontside flips and headbanging...

YESSSSSSS!

I thought it was cool...

Skating in helmets in the street all the time... fuck you.

Lots of the same footage in a lot of these. I just liked to edit and it was something to do.

Some young Tyler Lyles footage in there if you can recognize him.

You know what I don't understand...?

Almost Everything.

True Words.

In The Field - Greg Hunt from Joshua Zucker on Vimeo.

A mazimus meech weekend, lots of shred meechin' with some bros! Check it out!

MEECHY WEEKEND!!!

Patinamos Aquí

Allen Danze, super-human filmer

Jake- Big meechin'

Pensando...
Viendo...

Monty-CAM

Around Towson chillin, skating, and randomness.

Aburrido

I was bored around the house one day so I got out the camera, fiddled around with some of the settings and ended up with these. I thought some of the angles in the photos were interesting. 

Check it if you have or haven't.

Dontae Benjamin

If you read or follow my blog then you most likely know who Dontae is. If you don't, then I will tell you that he is one of the best skateboarders I've ever met and skated with. Its an honor to ride for the same shop/team as him. Definitely a skateboarder I have looked up to. If you get the chance to watch Dontae skate he will with no doubt amaze you. 

We took Hampden to the movies!

Yesterday I realized that my dad had a flip video thing and that I should break it out from the dusty shelves and put it to some good use, definitely a good time... More to come

Raw, Uncut, Unedited, Gnarchill

Brooklyn, Baltimore

So, more than a few days ago, and extremely randomly, we all heard of a new skate plaza in Baltimore; Brooklyn, Baltimore to be exact. I say randomly because there are few skateparks at all around Baltimore or Towson where I live in the first place and for one to just pop-up out of no where and to not hear anything of it beforehand is even stranger. So Zach and I drove down there and found the usual people you would expect to find somewhere new to skate in town and we skated for the entire day. People were killing it! As usual. 

The park itself was somewhat strange and not very fun to me. It was essentially a square of smooth concrete, 3 ledges (one A-frame, a small one and one over a dirt gap), and 3 small banks. The park had no room to cruize around. If its crowded you get frustrated and too much is going on. But, hey. Its a new park, and thats good. Hopefully there will be more and they will be at least a little bit bigger and more creative... I will say that it was much better with a lot less people there. If your there with 3 or 4 friends with no one else then this park would be a lot more fun.

driving down....

.
Peeps.
Boring.
Switch Back Tails?
The kids there were interesting. Whether the first thing they said was "fuck you," or "Get out of my way," they were all cool and funny little kids that have just been brought up with less manners. The kid in this photo in particular asked us right off the bat if we had a blunt. We proceeded to ask him what he meant, and he said for smoking, pretty obviously. At first we laughed a little but were mostly just astonished when he said he was in 2nd grade. Sad...
Hopefully having a skatepark will turn the community around and help give kids something to do thats good for them.