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Chepooka

Thrasher Magazine, May, 2004 by Ryan Morratt

In the movie A Clockwork Orange a young man seeks to create as much pain, angst and chaos as possible, and in turn tails into a state of harmony, I mean, he made love with two chicks. If you don't call that harmony then I don't know what is. Anyway, the point of this illustration is to describe the way we skateboarders are always looking for the deepest pool, the sharpest lip, the gnarliest slash, and by achieving these we attain a deep state of melancholy bliss--nirvana, if you will. As skaters this is what we strive for--not for the sponsorship, not the photo props, not even the celebration from your friends. As lovely as this seems, there is a dark cloud threatening to corrupt this pure, chaste, unspoiled sensation. This dark cloud is inherent in every topic ranging from best trick to SOTY, to the very sacred art of skating pools. The ominous and fearsome cloud of mass-commercialization is threatening our (skaters') very existence. I skate, therefore, I am. The survival of an organization that seeks to exploit our very livelihood and not be entirely demolished by the victims of this truly parasitic relationship is a paradox. The fact that skating was founded and based upon the bold ideal of individualism and then to be exploited and sold to mass jocks, posers, and no-good-niks like a preadolescent Mcauley Caulkin-to-Michael Jackson baffles us true skateboarders. All is not lost. There are a handful of raw, grassroots companies out there not interested in the full manipulation of innocent skateboarders, but instead preserving the rich friendships and camaraderie shared by all skaters everywhere. Sadly, they are a rare breed. It is unfortunate that the chosen few who run the mass corporations hell-bent on destroying everything we, as skateboarders, hold sacred will never have the pleasure of tipping up a rail or carving the sickest run or even tasting their own blood after landing in the flat from six-feet up. Truly heart-wrenching. Ah, fuck 'em. Screw Wal-Mart. Forget Nike. Destroy posers. Ex-lames, eat it. Skateboarding is not a sport and skateboards are not toys. 'Til next time, my drogues.

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Ryan Morratt

La Mesa, CA

Chepooka

Thrasher Magazine, May, 2004 by Ryan Morratt

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