Hey Jamie,

My favorite spot got blown yesterday. I’m pretty bummed about it, what should I do?

-David

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Hey David,

Sorry to hear about your spot. This has happened to all of us. What’s important to remember is that everything is ephemeral. You are ephemeral, you’ll only be on earth for a blink, and skate spots rarely have the longevity that even we have. I could go on a head-trip about how losing skate spots is symbolic for life being meaningless and whatnot, but let’s just stick to skating. Skating is really meaningful, and I know that skate spots are held near and dear by the people who ride them.

So obviously the next thing to do is go spot hunting. Skateboarding, after time, is all about searching for that feeling you got the first time you pushed down the street. Sometimes you have to do gnarlier stuff to get that rush again. Maybe your next spot is inherently more aggressive and dangerous? That’s a good thing; you’ll adapt your skating to conquer more terrain. On the flipside, maybe your next spot is mellower or with less features than you’d like. That’s when you have to get creative. Stick a stop sign against a wall and learn to wall ride—wax the curb and learn slappies. Anywhere can be a skate spot if you look at it through the right lens.

Ultimately, your new spot is going to become an old spot at some point, and either it will become unskatable due to unforeseen circumstances, or you will grow out of it as a skateboarder. Regardless of that, get out there as much as you can and skate it with everything you’ve got. You don’t know what your city or township has planned. . . You could wake up tomorrow and find construction workers ripping up the entire street, including the sweet concrete you just poured last week. I’ve been there! These things are to be taken in stride though, because even concrete is not an indicator of permanency.

Love your turf while you can still skate it, because ultimately, every spot gets blown in some way. Film with your friends. It doesn’t matter if it’s even just on your phone. Someday that footage (and fading memories) might be all you have left of the spot where you finally landed that trick, looking back at your friends while rolling away, and smiling. Stay up, and go shred your locale.

- Jamie (the fiend formerly known as Ed)

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