Oh my gosh, I love that you were a skater girl. I didn't realize it was so sexist back in the day. That's so cool that you did that for your kids. I wish I had learned to skateboard. I was too afraid. Now I'd probably break something lol I love the video of you, too. So cool.
I love getting caught up in your writing, your ongoing ability to find more ways to examine something. I’m always tempted by the links and get deeper into articles I’ve not yet explored.
And your piece about male anger is so good. Evocative of every trauma from yelling, angry males.
Growing up at the beach in the 70s most girls would roller skate instead of skateboarding.
I had a similar catastrophe to your bike injury at the intersection - my friend and I were skating down the strand, just getting to the lifeguard building when I slipped on sand on the road- a disaster for concrete wheels on concrete.
I ate it in a huge fashion flailing my arms and legs and luckily not hitting my head. But it felt like every cute lifeguard was laughing at me.
Then I got myself up and skated away from that experience.
At age 39 I finally met my person. He told me how he broke the knob off his shoulder bone while practicing headstands in the house. It was one of many ways I was attracted to him, knowing he had that drive to practice tricks and give zero F’s. Just how you described it.
Anyway. I’m always thinking through your writing. Xo
I really appreciate this comment, thanks so much! haha, if I had a dollar for every time I wrecked, tripped, bumped my head, wrecked my car in front of cute boys I could buy us dinner! So glad you found your person!! <3
I am seriously impressed that you built your own freaking halfpipe in your yard. That's some dedicated shit right there.
I was never cool enough to ride a skateboard, though a couple of my closest friends in high school did and I had the envy. Actually my closest male friend right now, who is 50, still rides his longboard from time to time. But I do wear skater sneakers, I am wearing them right now. (what a poser, right?!) My Cariuma sneakers. I dig the brand a lot. They plant trees with every sale and have their own skateboard team, which includes one female (so far - should be more!) Roos Zwetsloot. Yeah, that's her real name. Maybe you already know her? She's a Dutch Olympian, and now has her own shoe that was just released by Cariuma, the "Roos Zwetsloot Salvas Pro." Badass.
Anyways, I was more of a bicycle kid. Did some daredevil stuff on that growing up, as well as some truly stupid shit. You know, tackle football with no pads, playing war with my friends using home-made weapons that actually blow up (sometimes), paddling our hand-crafted styrofoam canoe made of a huge piece of packing material out into the Allegheny River, riding cheap plastic sleds down thorny hills in the snowless summertime, slamming head-on into brick walls at the bottom, etc., etc etc.
Yes, the 70s were a wild and woolly time to be a grade school kid.
Anyways, I know exactly what you mean about the "effortless" thing...that's nothin' but hard-won, time-tested dope-ness, that is. No doubt there is a payoff to putting in the hours...a very special and specific kind of joy to reap. Thanks for calling that out. :-)
I got on a skateboard for the first time at 48. Like you, when I was a girl it didn’t seem like an option. I don’t just “wish” I’d started younger, it’s a crevasse-deep longing for a life I might have known. As a middle-aged mom, I skated for 18 months, hard, every day, learning to skate bowls, even hitting coping. I fell madly in love with the feeling of flying, with the way skaters live to skate and (as you, and RF, said it!) acquire that beautiful ease from all that hard work of getting up over and over. Things I broke while skating: a front tooth, three bones, one heart. I don’t get into bowls anymore but I still love the sound of wheels on the pavement! Happily, sometimes they’re mine. Thank you for the beautiful piece.
Oh my gosh, I love that you were a skater girl. I didn't realize it was so sexist back in the day. That's so cool that you did that for your kids. I wish I had learned to skateboard. I was too afraid. Now I'd probably break something lol I love the video of you, too. So cool.
Hey you! I wasn't a skater girl! Wish I was. But I know what you mean. And I'm learning to skateboard now <3 <3
I love getting caught up in your writing, your ongoing ability to find more ways to examine something. I’m always tempted by the links and get deeper into articles I’ve not yet explored.
And your piece about male anger is so good. Evocative of every trauma from yelling, angry males.
Growing up at the beach in the 70s most girls would roller skate instead of skateboarding.
I had a similar catastrophe to your bike injury at the intersection - my friend and I were skating down the strand, just getting to the lifeguard building when I slipped on sand on the road- a disaster for concrete wheels on concrete.
I ate it in a huge fashion flailing my arms and legs and luckily not hitting my head. But it felt like every cute lifeguard was laughing at me.
Then I got myself up and skated away from that experience.
At age 39 I finally met my person. He told me how he broke the knob off his shoulder bone while practicing headstands in the house. It was one of many ways I was attracted to him, knowing he had that drive to practice tricks and give zero F’s. Just how you described it.
Anyway. I’m always thinking through your writing. Xo
I really appreciate this comment, thanks so much! haha, if I had a dollar for every time I wrecked, tripped, bumped my head, wrecked my car in front of cute boys I could buy us dinner! So glad you found your person!! <3
I am seriously impressed that you built your own freaking halfpipe in your yard. That's some dedicated shit right there.
I was never cool enough to ride a skateboard, though a couple of my closest friends in high school did and I had the envy. Actually my closest male friend right now, who is 50, still rides his longboard from time to time. But I do wear skater sneakers, I am wearing them right now. (what a poser, right?!) My Cariuma sneakers. I dig the brand a lot. They plant trees with every sale and have their own skateboard team, which includes one female (so far - should be more!) Roos Zwetsloot. Yeah, that's her real name. Maybe you already know her? She's a Dutch Olympian, and now has her own shoe that was just released by Cariuma, the "Roos Zwetsloot Salvas Pro." Badass.
Anyways, I was more of a bicycle kid. Did some daredevil stuff on that growing up, as well as some truly stupid shit. You know, tackle football with no pads, playing war with my friends using home-made weapons that actually blow up (sometimes), paddling our hand-crafted styrofoam canoe made of a huge piece of packing material out into the Allegheny River, riding cheap plastic sleds down thorny hills in the snowless summertime, slamming head-on into brick walls at the bottom, etc., etc etc.
Yes, the 70s were a wild and woolly time to be a grade school kid.
Anyways, I know exactly what you mean about the "effortless" thing...that's nothin' but hard-won, time-tested dope-ness, that is. No doubt there is a payoff to putting in the hours...a very special and specific kind of joy to reap. Thanks for calling that out. :-)
That last line tho 😭❤️🔥 THAT’S MY GIRLLLL.
Oh, you ❤️🔥
I got on a skateboard for the first time at 48. Like you, when I was a girl it didn’t seem like an option. I don’t just “wish” I’d started younger, it’s a crevasse-deep longing for a life I might have known. As a middle-aged mom, I skated for 18 months, hard, every day, learning to skate bowls, even hitting coping. I fell madly in love with the feeling of flying, with the way skaters live to skate and (as you, and RF, said it!) acquire that beautiful ease from all that hard work of getting up over and over. Things I broke while skating: a front tooth, three bones, one heart. I don’t get into bowls anymore but I still love the sound of wheels on the pavement! Happily, sometimes they’re mine. Thank you for the beautiful piece.