Dylan Beck
Comp 1
4/5/07
“Where would I be without it?”
“Skateboarding is such a manipulation of other people’s expectations. Here is a bench-sit on it, that’s all it’s used for.” I don’t think so. As skateboarders, we are creators of our own world. We use “their” objects to create. Stairs, rails, walls- we alter all their definitions. Have you ever thought about how differently you think? That our world is so completely different, yet the same objects appear in it as they do in everyone else’s? I know it all might sound strange at first, but just listen. When a skateboarder pulls into a new town, or sees a new building in the making, their mind starts seeing opportunities. When I see an object, or image, I look beyond what it was created for and manipulate it. I alter its meaning. I expand its definition.”-Jason Munn, Transworld Skateboarding 1998.
There have been many people, places, and other happenings in my life that have made me the person I am today. Nothing however, was more influential than skateboarding. Skateboarding for the last five years has had a major effect on my life, including the way it helped shape my taste in music, introduced me to the people that I am close with today, and brought me more satisfaction than anything I have ever invested time into.
The first major effect that has come from skateboarding is music, which is extremely important in my life. Every skate video that I have ever seen has had great music in them. I will watch a video so many times that I when I hear the song I know the trick that is being done. When I am looking for CDs, I am usually looking for an artist that I hear off of a video. Some of my favorite bands today like Atmosphere, Spoon, and many others have all accredited to skate videos. Another way skateboarding has affected my music taste is in the sense of what I like to hear when I skate. I like to have an iPod, CD player, or at least a song running through my head whenever I skate. Skateboarding and the iPod have been pretty hand in had for the last couple years. The music I listen to is usually music that flows well with skateboarding. Punk rock for the days I want to go big, and throw myself down some stairs or attempt a gap of some sort, and hip-hop for when I am cruising a park, mini-pipe or just having a session on a box or rail somewhere. Music and skateboarding go hand and hand and because of one I have developed a deeper appreciation for the other.
Another thing that I have thanks to skateboarding is the relationships I have developed. I often think of the friends I have made because I started skating, and who my friends could have been if I hadn’t. Being that skateboarding is so universal, when it comes to friends, there are not too many factors that rule people out. When you go skate in a group, age is no longer is a factor. We will have a group of skaters ranging from 12 to 29 years old. That being that case, you tend to meet people in a different manner. I was always younger, but because of skateboarding I had met the guys older than me which went on to be the friends I have today. Also, because of skating, it took me absolutely no time to make friends when I moved to
Duluth. Within a week of living here I had a met a group of skateboarders that were all close to my age and shared my interests. It is the same people that I met then, that I will hang out with still today, skateboarding or not. It is rare to meet somebody who loves skating that I don’t get along with. It is nice to have a passion that is so deeply shared by others, and because of that passion I do not feel uncomfortable going into a new town.
Last but not least, the greatest effect that has come from this piece of pressed plywood balancing on four wheels is the amount of self satisfaction I’ve received. It is hard to put into words what the feeling is that comes to me with the thought of stepping onto a board. It is hard to describe the high I get when I land that trick for the first time. The sense of relief and empowerment received the instant I stomp the trick that I have tried 70 times in a row, wrecking myself every time, but knowing that there is no leaving until it is done. It is incredible, and nothing can bring me satisfaction like that can. I will never receive the love from friends in the same way I receive it when I stomp a line for the camera. People give you just much respect and so many props for doing what I just did, whatever that may be
Nothing has ever brought me so much pain, and so much pleasure, so much love and so much hate, giving me such freedom, and yet, complete enslavement at the same time. Skateboarding has had an affect on my life that could never be explained in words alone. It is not only a simple sport or hobby, but a lifestyle, and it has defined the person I am, and will shape the person I will become.