thinking about community

as I mentioned in class, the creation of a mind map made me realize just how distinct the two communities of park skaters and street skaters are. Joe (my first informant) posted this video on facebook recently and it got reconsidering my statement, though the video itself doesn't actually "state" anything relevant to what I said.

if you don't feel like watching it, it's essentially a montage of different guys skateboarding in cities and parks. even to a blind eye, all the boys in the video are at least acquaintances. since I know a little bit about Joe and his skateboarding (though not a lot, just peripheral knowledge I gather from bits of social networks) I know that all of them are friends and travel to specific places together to skate together. I enjoyed the video a lot both because I like skateboarding and it was impressive and because it made me a little envious of the closeness of the group. I've never really been a part of any small community like that and I can only imagine how much fun it'd be to do something like skate around a city together.

In my interview with Joe we mainly discussed the Owen Bell skatepark and his park skating, but clearly this video is fairly street/city skating based. I don't know any of the boys personally besides Joe but I want to say I've gleaned that they began park-skating (all at different parks, though exclusively at none), which makes me wonder: though they travel to street-skate, I wonder if their initial connection was founded upon their similar "park skating" communities. I'm not really sure how to phrase it and already my words feel sort of shrouded.

I guess what I'm thinking about now is just how distinct the social/what-have-you dichotomy between street-skating and park-skating is, whether or not they are two corresponding playing fields or if they are somewhat substitutable depending on the person -- or if the mindset of a park-skater permeates the atmosphere of street-skating when a (former?) park-skater is doing the street-skating. I know my friend Connor said that he preferred street-skating because it was less competitive, more relaxed, and less eyes were on him, but the video makes me think that it just depends on the group of people. I'm confusing myself here. Hahahah. Oh well.

A poem

I'm not a skateboarder
I just see myself as a person
rolling down the street

in the zone
you finally get it
and it's fun
and easy
and relaxing

I don't have to
impress anyone
you learn
you fail,
for fun

you know
you start to ride or have fun
to do a trick and
I skateboard
and you don't call me a skater
but it shaped me
the same

a poem I pieced together using bits of dialogue from my interview with Connor. it presented a much more poetic and artistic view of skateboarding than I had originally interpreted through his words. it makes me think a lot about self-perception vs. outward appearance  in regard to activities. perhaps what you consider yourself to be is the conclusive factor that makes you that thing.

interview #2!

I am actually pretty excited about how this went! it was with one of my friends, whose name is Connor. it was interesting to talk to him about something he's passionate about in a semi-academic way. he had a lot of good things to say, and it was a neat experience because we hadn't really had a conversation of such depth before. I think I improved my execution of follow-up questions this time around as well as balancing out open and closed questions. this second interview made me realize how impersonal my first interview was and how much I didn't ask Joe (I can justify that with it being my first interview or that I don't know Joe personally but I can also blame myself for not putting enough thought into the process).

Unlike Joe (though he implied that he was in the middle of a skateboard shift), Connor is exclusively a street-skater. he prefers to skate alone and, like Joe, sees skateboarding as a sport, but also utilizes and treats it as a performance art rather than a competitive activity (something I wish I had inquired about when I was interviewing Joe -- oh well). the conversation tied in very well with my literature review, which I tried to make about the relationship between skateboarding and "space" (internal space, i.e. "headspace," and external space, like location). Connor even referenced the [internal] skateboarding "zone" which one of my sources referred to and I further tried to elaborate on in the paper. the literature review helped me frame the space in which I posed my interview questions, I think. I also think I might have taken a few steps closer to a more specific "focus" for this project over the past week.

interview #1!

woohoo. so I had my first interview, with a skateboarder (and photographer) who goes to the Owen Bell skate park frequently. this also counts as my first interaction so I'm hoping that my next visit to the skate park will feel a little less awkward and I'll talk to a few more people. though Joe and I basically hadn't talked since middle school, it was pretty casual and not as uncomfortable as I anticipated. It made me happy that Joe seemed to be very accepting of all skaters (of all ages/gender) because I was half-expecting to hear about ageism (not necessarily from his perspective, but just in general at the skate park). I liked hearing about the community at the skate park and in the skateboarding world.
However I do feel that I could have had more of a structure or theme to my questions. It wasn't the interview itself that did it but just my uncertainty with my project so far. Joe provided me with some good information so I need to spend some time analyzing his answers as well as researching for the literature review to try and find a smaller focus! hmmmmdhfuimshdufami

Progress?

I have yet to make an on-site interaction but I have scheduled two interviews, one with my friend Connor, a skateboarder and longboarder (who does not frequent the Owen Bell skatepark but skates a lot around town), and one with my acquaintance Joe, who goes to the skatepark frequently and is also a photographer like me. Having established a connection of some sort makes me feel a bit better about not having had any "interactions" yet but soon that won't matter because I will interact with someone the next time I go, no matter what. During my last visit, right as I was going to approach a skater, the skater in question entered the skate park and since I'm definitely not going to just walk in he wasn't accessible at that time anymore. As a back-up plan I was going to approach an acquaintance who was skating but he didn't stop riding back-and-forth long enough for me to get his attention. I guess the worst they can say is "whatever" so I should just yell their name or something and get over myself/my fears. I remain motivated!

Snapshots

circa 10/27/13

The Skatepark, Digitalized

What a useful tool the internet is. it's fairly frightening how easily one can find information about any given topic but quite beneficial when doing a research project such as my own. I came across this nifty WikiHow article entitled "How to Go to a Skatepark" which is somewhat inapplicable to me on paper, but helpful and somewhat humorous when viewed in the right light. Note step five which recommends that one does not stand in the middle of the skatepark. I found it amusing. Essentially, the list directs a skatepark-newcomer to take baby steps and to avoid nosediving. Advice that is relevant in basically any new and unfamiliar scenario. Though clearly the tips about learning new tricks and falling don't apply to me, I appreciate the ones that are more communication-based, as they do apply to me in my research, especially,"Ask one of the more experienced skaters to tell you about the park, you'll need to know what moves are prized in that particular park, the skaters you want to avoid, and the skate lingo that is used." I'm a little disturbed by the section describing warnings ("
Watch yourself.") but I have never heard of any violence whatsoever occurring at the Dayville Skatepark so I won't get overly nervous!

In my searches, I came across a video montage of the Dayville Skatepark itself, which can be viewed here. Fair warning, someone flips off the camera in the first shot of the video. Oh well. Duly noting the punky grunge stereotype's exhibition in the flesh. If you google "Dayville, CT Skatepark" there are quite a few videos from Youtube and Vimeo that pop up. I'm not surprised as I know that many skaters in town are also photographers, which is kinda cool to think about. I guess skaters are essentially performers, entertaining their audience as well as satisfying themselves with their success, no matter how small. It only makes sense that there are photographers around to document the "show."

I also came across Skatepark.org, a site designed by skaters who advocate/support the opening and preservation of public skateparks throughout the world. The site provides a step-by-step process explaining how one would go about acquiring a skatepark in their town, which is pretty neat. There are also interviews with skateboards (including a female skater) as well as skatepark testimonials and many articles which represent skateparks as optimistic communities, though a news article about the fatalies of skateboarding makes me think that though the writers are happy skaters, they aren't ignoring potential "dangers" of their lifestyles.

A very intriguing webpage I came across is a site dedicated to the Ann Arbor Skatepark in Michigan. It's a list of "30 Reasons Why" the town needs a skatepark. Most of which I've never really considered. My favorite one, the most provocative and captivating to me, is #30, which states, "If the city doesn't have a skatepark, it is a skatepark." This very much molds a new perspective for me. I'm now looking at skateparks as if they are somewhat equivalent to playgrounds -- if there is no playground, kids will have no designated area to play, and thusly will play in the streets, yards, etc, vulnerable to the dangers of town. I don't exactly think skaters would be "vulnerable," per sé, to any dangers within a city but I guess they would be threatened by the city itself, roads and steps not made to be skated or ollie-d upon. Nearly every town has an accessible gym or track or set of athletic fields, so why should skateboarders be any different, as they are also physical artists/"performers." I had never thought of it that way at all. It is a very thoughtful way to peer into the space of skateparks, and since it comes from skaters themselves, I now feel that they are more conscious and artful than given credit for, or at least than what I had personally previously thought.

Very optimistic and positive vibes and I like that. Even when viewing pros and cons (fatalities, injuries, financial impacts, skateparks being a supposed "haven for crime,") I feel that the idea of them equating to a playground overrules that in my head... Crime happens everywhere. Potential isn't always reason for the punishment that is absence, I don't think. I really believe that I have a newfound appreciation for skaters now, and am grateful to have done this research before conducting any interviews.