My son is fifteen and a dedicated skateboarder. I think it's quite a different experience for kids today - now there are skateboarding coaches, and the parents stand around the skatepark socialising together. At least that's how it is here in Belgium. But a lot of the things you talk about are very true for him too today and really resonated with me - the belonging, the ethics, the negotiations with fear. That last one always amazes me. He falls hard so many times in one session and just carries on. Just one of those falls would have me crippled for a week. They're among the bravest, most disciplined athletes out there imo, and yet they're still struggling with the way people see them and treat them almost as much as you were. My son's own father doesn't even get it. He came to a contest and was sitting in the audience with one of my son's friends and said to that friend "I prefer gymnastics personally." (He's my ex-husband, of course).
Thank you so much for taking the time to sit with what I wrote. I’m overjoyed to hear so much of what you’re sharing with me - for you, and especially for your son. Skateboarding has come a long way since 1985, when I first started, and I’m so glad that your son has not only safe spaces to skate with his friends and people who will provide guidance and encouragement, but your support as a parent as well. We seem to have galaxies of beautiful, untapped energy at our disposal when we are children and young adults - being allowed the license to unleash those energies in spaces where it is sanctioned and encouraged, whether it is in a skate park or a live music venue, is the best a society can do for them. I applaud what you are providing your son in Belgium. Keep it up. He will bring the best of himself to the world because of it.
Bravo, my friend. I appreciate those words more than I can explain!
The appreciation is mutual, homie 🙏
I still listen to this album regularly!
An audio psalter or novena… Such a masterpiece. Thanks for reading.
My son is fifteen and a dedicated skateboarder. I think it's quite a different experience for kids today - now there are skateboarding coaches, and the parents stand around the skatepark socialising together. At least that's how it is here in Belgium. But a lot of the things you talk about are very true for him too today and really resonated with me - the belonging, the ethics, the negotiations with fear. That last one always amazes me. He falls hard so many times in one session and just carries on. Just one of those falls would have me crippled for a week. They're among the bravest, most disciplined athletes out there imo, and yet they're still struggling with the way people see them and treat them almost as much as you were. My son's own father doesn't even get it. He came to a contest and was sitting in the audience with one of my son's friends and said to that friend "I prefer gymnastics personally." (He's my ex-husband, of course).
Thank you so much for taking the time to sit with what I wrote. I’m overjoyed to hear so much of what you’re sharing with me - for you, and especially for your son. Skateboarding has come a long way since 1985, when I first started, and I’m so glad that your son has not only safe spaces to skate with his friends and people who will provide guidance and encouragement, but your support as a parent as well. We seem to have galaxies of beautiful, untapped energy at our disposal when we are children and young adults - being allowed the license to unleash those energies in spaces where it is sanctioned and encouraged, whether it is in a skate park or a live music venue, is the best a society can do for them. I applaud what you are providing your son in Belgium. Keep it up. He will bring the best of himself to the world because of it.
I can relate to all this big fucking time. ✨
My man
Anniversary of the night they were discovered in a talent competition yesterday 👍