've digressed. I was born into a middle
class family in Jacksonville, Florida, so I
consider myself really fortunate. I grew up
fishing with my dad and playing soccer, but
nothing ever appealed to me as much as
skateboarding. I distinctly remember the
day my friend Mike let me ride his board.
He taught me backside and frontside bone-
lesses. I was ten years old. It was the best
because it was limitless; there were no rules,
no team to adjust to, and especially no
corny officials with whistles trying to tell me
what to do. Since that day in 5th grade,
skateboarding has been in my head every
single day, through school, through friends,
through girlfriends, through troubles - it's
always been there. My body has definitely
endured a lot of punishment. But there is
some addictive element there; even in get-
ting wrecked there is a certain release, a
jouissance, that you need. Though my life,
my persona, is comprised of many different
elements, one being skateboarding, they all
circulate, revolve, and intertwine to create
that one essence. Due to this multifaceted-
ness, I have chosen to present you not with
a linear, stylized interview, but with what I'd
call excerpts from typical conversations with
friends. That way I open myself up -
expose myself completely.
When I wake up in the morning, I'll go
feed my fish; then usually I proceed to
meet my friend Kristian. The following is
an excerpt from a typical conversation. I
have a mini recorder and Kristian asks
me questions.
K: Last night I was listening to Bob
Marley and one quote in particular I
remember: "Life is one big road with
lots of signs." What does that mean in
your life?
B: This quote has meant a lot to me. It
goes, "Life is one big road with lots of signs,
so when you're riding through the ruts
don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate,
mischief and jealousy; don't bury your
thoughts, put your vision to reality now.
Wake up and live." Well, I see it as life is one
road, one path essentially; but in this path there are
constant diversions and deviations to pull you off. There
are signs for money or power; signs for lust, popularity,
any of these false desires. It's like you're driving and
things are constantly trying to get you to exit and chase
these desires, but they're just there to complicate your
mind, you know? Keep it simple, pure, and stay on your
one road your one path. These diversions are just
temptations leading to hate, to mischief, and to jeal-
ousy. You get rid of these by getting rid of desires such
as money, fame, and lust. He's saying inside of each of
us deep down there buried, we know what is pure. We
know our road-don't bury this with layers of bullshit.
Uncover it and put it to reality. You know,
wake up and finally live really live.
Do you think everything in your life is a
sign? I remember you said breaking
your leg was a sign for you to quit tak-
ing for granted the situation you had in
skateboarding quit doing it for the
wrong reasons.
Everything is a sign, and that was a
huge sign for me. I had lost the essence of
what skateboarding meant to me. I start-
ed to take advantage of my role as a pro-
fessional skateboarder on tour and started
doing it for wrong reasons, like money
and such. I lost direction. Nothing will
give you direction as much as getting hurt
and not being able to skate. I quickly saw
the error of my ways, so I see it as a learn-
ing experience that was meant to happen.
and it got me to where I am right now. I
said, "I'm fucked; I can't skate for days.
What can I do? How can I utilize this time
to the fullest potential?" I would never
trade that accident for where I am in my
life right now, where I am in skateboard-
ing. I somehow grew closer and more.
connected to my skateboard in that time
I was apart from it. They say absence
makes the heart grow fonder, and in my case it's defi-
nitely true. I love my skateboard more now than I ever
have. So yeah, life is full of signs. You have to pay atten-
tion because the signs are gifts to help you do some-
thing more conscious and change your ways. They are
keys to enhancing your personal self. The signs are pre-
Opposite page sequence:
Blindside switch hardflip at the
world famous Derby skatepark in
lovely Santa Cruz, CA.
Below:
Childers chips away at the physi-
cal manifestations of our capitalist
society with a nocturnal crooked
grind on some corporate concrete.
Below:
A little cement goes a long way
to help this frontside rock in
Ventura, CA.
sented and it's up to you to
spend the energy to put
together the puzzle of signs
to find your own "big road."
We talk a lot about ego;
what is your view on that?
Ego is a dangerous thing.
It's pure vanity. Ego is just
some imaginary force we
build up. It's penetrable. If
you learn about ego and try.
to destroy your own ego.
then you can see right
through others' egos. Right.
away I notice ego; it's like De
La's "ego trip," you know?
Learn break down your
own ego and you're fucking
untouchable, I swear. You
won't get in any sort of con-
frontations because you can't
be touched. It's the most
valuable lesson I've learned
-I'm definitely still working
on it, but when I lose my ego
I'm on top of the world and I
give off that same energy. I'm
giving it to everyone I see.
I'm filling people up, and
some people can't take it
because they're on their own
ego trip and they feel weaker.
Society in its ideological con-
trol over the individual places
this ego on you. They want.
you to have this ego; they
don't want connections, they
want confrontations. Let's
lose our egos and start to
organize to unify.
fter a stimulating conver-
Asation like that maybe I'll
go pick up my friend Dave to
go skating. We take some
time from skateboarding so
Dave can ask a couple ques-
tions on a lighter note.
D: How has being born and
raised in Jacksonville influenced
your skateboarding or attitude
toward it?
B: Well, growing up in
Jacksonville, skateboarding was
good and bad. It's really hot and
only a few of us actually skated.
We had Kona skatepark, this
insane land of huge cement waves
and crazy shit from the 70's, like
bowls and snake runs. So I skated
there a lot, skated vert a lot. These
older punk rock kids used to skate
vert all the time too, and.I was a
little kid skating with them. I
looked up to them, but if I ever
started to whine or whatnot these
G
kids would slap me, call me a
pussy, so essentially they taught
me a lot about respect.
What is Childering? Why do
you think watches are "capi-
talistic devices to keep us
under control?"
Well, Childering is a term you
invented for my problems with
procrastination. I come from the
great land of procrastinators - it's
just "too hot out there" so we chill
as long as possible. Watches -
they're bad news. It's just a way to
keep you under control. You'll
always be saying, "I'm so busy, I'm
too busy."
Fuck that. If you're
gonna wear that
watch, then set it to the wrong
time. In France, the Situationalists.
take a map of one city, then go to
a completely different city and try
to follow the same map. You have
to disrupt the flow.
What influenced you to leave
Jacksonville in the middle of the
night, bringing your girlfriend
and a backpack as your only links
to home? How did you wind up
in Santa Cruz, California?
It was time for a change. I love
Jacksonville, but I was stagnant. I
just left without any intention of
landing anywhere. I had just
acquired a lot of money and sort
of needed to get out of town. So
my underage
girlfriend and I
left, without a
word to anyone,
in the middle of
the night, with
just a backpack
of clothes. We
just traveled all
over the country
for a month. We
gas runs,
dine-and-dash,
did
and
change
machines the
entire time. Her
parents wanted
to press charges
against me; it
was like in the
movies. We
were carefree
58 THRASHER
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