Just a Stick Chick
t the ripe age of 18, when I officially became an adult, I did what every responsible grown-up does and took reckless abandon to the next level and began skateboarding. Days were on the road or board and nights fast asleep on the local playground equipment, in the back seat of my tiny Tercel or huddled in the 3 way spoon in the tent, waking up to shotgun blasts in the Phoenix desert. The battle scars I still bear are a testament to my commitment to this new hobby, but at this time I really had no conception of where it would bring me. Ten years, a ramp, 2 videos and countless road-trip stories to tell at cocktail parties later, I boast as an expert not necessarily regarding skill, but knowledge of this pseudo sport.
In this column you will find tales of yore, best of Denver and surrounding skate parks, critiques of videos, demos, shops, premiers, styles, parks and products, coverage of the best skateboarding related events and concerts and more. Though I know I am just another skate rat at heart, there is a particular trait that sets me apart from your average skateboarder and without be too graphic, I would bet my readers could guess it. For the sake of the stoner or the blind, I am female. This creates a new dynamic regarding skate park etiquette, but when I smoke the guys or they catch on that I am just another snake, the real session resumes, regardless of my anatomy.
In 2004 I conducted an Ethnographic study on the female in skate park culture. I interviewed both sexes, observed behaviors on different occasions, times of day and conditions in varying locations. I assessed factors such has aggressiveness, skill, focus, scale and more. I spent countless hours to determine if the gender roles really made any impact on what I had coined as skate park culture. Twenty-five pages and way too many hours later I came up with one main general conclusion. Throughout the pages of this column I seek to reflect all the ways female skateboarders can be different from males and what they bring to skate park culture and the entire world of skateboarding, but my ultimate conclusion was that I was more similar than different than my dude-like counterparts. In the end, the entire project proved to be interesting, though a complete waste of my time, as I found of many of Anthropological endeavors. In the end, I am just another body to avoid colliding with, though I suppose the only thing that might change is where his hands might go to break our fall.
Read my other articles as Denver's first skatebaording examiner!
http://www.examiner.com/x-2594-Denver-Skateboarding-Examiner~y2009m1d26-Lincoln-City-Oregon
In this column you will find tales of yore, best of Denver and surrounding skate parks, critiques of videos, demos, shops, premiers, styles, parks and products, coverage of the best skateboarding related events and concerts and more. Though I know I am just another skate rat at heart, there is a particular trait that sets me apart from your average skateboarder and without be too graphic, I would bet my readers could guess it. For the sake of the stoner or the blind, I am female. This creates a new dynamic regarding skate park etiquette, but when I smoke the guys or they catch on that I am just another snake, the real session resumes, regardless of my anatomy.
In 2004 I conducted an Ethnographic study on the female in skate park culture. I interviewed both sexes, observed behaviors on different occasions, times of day and conditions in varying locations. I assessed factors such has aggressiveness, skill, focus, scale and more. I spent countless hours to determine if the gender roles really made any impact on what I had coined as skate park culture. Twenty-five pages and way too many hours later I came up with one main general conclusion. Throughout the pages of this column I seek to reflect all the ways female skateboarders can be different from males and what they bring to skate park culture and the entire world of skateboarding, but my ultimate conclusion was that I was more similar than different than my dude-like counterparts. In the end, the entire project proved to be interesting, though a complete waste of my time, as I found of many of Anthropological endeavors. In the end, I am just another body to avoid colliding with, though I suppose the only thing that might change is where his hands might go to break our fall.
Read my other articles as Denver's first skatebaording examiner!
http://www.examiner.com/x-2594-Denver-Skateboarding-Examiner~y2009m1d26-Lincoln-City-Oregon
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