Little could I have known. Let alone, guessed...
November 22nd, 2009 was the day that I posted the first Solitary Life article. The subject? A travel article about an Old Indy Skaters session in Greencastle and Terre Haute, Indiana. That post represented the first step in an unforeseeable journey that would take me to places that I never could have imagined.
Here's the second photo that we ever ran here at The Solitary Life. The caption was, "The sun rises over Greencastle, IN. 9:00 AM, November 21st, 2009". I kinda wanted to run the first photo we ever ran, but there was one problem with it: It Sucked. Ah, well... you live, you learn. Besides, I liked this one more anyway. It was quite literally, the dawning of a new chapter in my life. And, this was a great way to start...!
The fact is, nobody can accurately predict what the future holds. The very best that any one person can do is to take that first step, and see where you end up. Taking that first step, though, is the critical part of the equation. No step? No movement. No movement? No good. Because skateboarding is all about movement, exploration, discovery, and the journey. If you ain't movin', son, then you ain't doin' shit.
That single post was the net result of years of frustration. Frustration with print magazines (for which I had previously worked). Frustration with editors (that loved to carve the juicy guts out of any article that I presented). Frustration with the whole advertising paradigm (that causes massive ethical issues when it comes to journalistic integrity in the press). Frustration with big-business interests governing the media (I think that one pretty well stands on its own). Frustration with the whole notion of cutting down trees to move information around. Frustration with the lack of imagination, ingenuity, and creativity in skateboard media. When I think about it, I guess I was pretty much pissed off at everybody and everything. Thus, The Solitary Life.
Right off the bat, we had some real shit to say. And by Gawd, we were gonna say it! Now, you tell me: What magazine out there says such hard-hitting truths, in such hard-hitting ways?! None. Why? They're pussies, and they have advertisers to suck off at every turn. We're simply not burdened by these sorts of things, you see.
To this day, we're still hardcore supporters of the independent skate shop. And Zumiez can still go to hell.
There are times in your life... in mine, at least... when you have to take the bull by the horns, and go it alone for a while. Show 'em how it's done, so to speak. Throw off the shackles and the chains that are holding you back, tell the world to fuck the hell off, and make something happen. From Day One, The Solitary Life was neither "blog", "periodical", or "magazine"... but rather, a fun little combination of all three. Advertisers were encouraged to come on board, but they weren't allowed to pay one red cent to be here. "Merit" was the judge of inclusion on that one, and only companies with merit showed interest in being here. IASC was told to go screw (because they have no merit), while small companies of every sort lined up to support what we're all about. The Gigantic Leveling Of The Playing Field kicked into high gear. And hopefully, that will continue unfettered for a good many years.
This right here might have been the smartest thing we ever did: Give Away Advertising. For free! It allows us to do and say whatever we want, with virtually nobody to answer to. If the advertisers don't like what we have to say? Then, they can simply go advertise somewhere else (for free). Chris Chaput got kicked in the nuts with this one real quick, and to this day we've never again supported Abec 11, Retro, or any of the Sk8 Trip family of brands. Nobody... and I mean Nobody... fucks with a truly independent, free, and blatantly honest media. Some dudes were a little slow to get that memo. Bummer for them.
The first rule of running an effective media paradigm is: You've Got To Have Integrity. Some media dudes don't have it. We do.
But really, it isn't about the politics. Politics come and go, but the pursuit of adventure, fun, and a little bit of idealistic troublemaking always remains a skateboarding constant. I would advise anyone and everyone to do as I have done, and become a writer/photographer/blogger/editor/publisher/whatever, today. Simply because, you have no idea what you're missing out on, kid.
Greencastle. Terre Haute. Lawrence. Zionsville. Richmond. Carmel. Mt. Bohemia. Perfect North. Danville. Plainfield. Evansville. Muncie. Greenwood. Franklin. Lawrenceburg. Rising Sun. Carrollton. Madison. North Vernon. Florence. Louisville. Jeffersonville. New Albany. Philadelphia. Colerain. Mason. Newport. Cincinnati... the places that we went, and the parks that we skated were epic, and endless. Our first year had us traveling all across Indiana on a regular basis, along with the occasional long-distance road trip. These are all travels that I might not have taken, if I didn't have a journalistic responsibility to get the hell out of the office and go report on what's really going on out there.
The best reason to become a blogger, kids: Opportunities Like This. Colerain, Ohio's big-ass kidney. Don't miss out on the time of your life by staying at home, and wasting away on the couch watching endless reruns of Rob and Big. Get out there, and get some of this shit.
The really funny part of all of this, is that it didn't take long at all for The Solitary Life to become a less-than-solitary pursuit. Through our advertisers, our contributors, and our staffers, The Solitary Life grew from one dude talking smack, to a whole family of dudes talking smack. AJ Kohn, Richard Kirby, Michael Brooke, Lew Ross, and Daniel Gesmer have all made key contributions throughout the year, and we're glad to have them on board. At the same time, upstarts like Miles Keller and Aaron Ross are giving us an infusion of new blood and fresh perspectives that, hopefully, will keep The Solitary Life relevant for years to come.
The one thing we don't do around here, is discriminate. We live by the mantra that "Everybody Should Skateboard, and there should be a Skateboard For Everybody". You got a problem with that? Then you can go suck it. We support all types of skating, and all types of skaters. As this PSA illustrates, that even includes (but, is certainly not limited to) women.
Daniel Gesmer gave us a lot of feedback on this PSA series, saying that Laura Thornhill and Warren Bolster would have been proud of our dedication to this cause. Well, I say that there's no better icons to answer to than Warren Bolster and Laura Thornhill. If you don't know who these people are, then Google 'em and learn something, lazy ass.
Fausto Vitello probably said it best: "Skateboarding is skateboarding. It is about nothing else, but itself". Skaters intrinsically like to hang a bunch of useless bullshit on skateboarding's ass, in the name of self-serving self-interests. Skateboarding is [supposedly] about progression, drugs, outcasts, rebels, beer, bitches, parties, bros, blow, art, science, yin, yang... whatever you want to project onto skateboarding's hind quarters in order to make your own stupid, sorry ass look "cool" this week. Ironically, Fausto's brainchild (Thrasher) solely exists these days to perpetuate this sort of blatant, closed-minded, mass brainwashing. This is what generally happens when visionaries progressively lose clout, and then pass on. The fact is that skateboarding is all-encompassing, and all-accepting. Street, vert, mini ramps, freestyle, cruising, slalom, longboarding, speedboarding, bowlriding... depending on which moron you ask this week, only "some" of these things are skateboarding. Ask a longboarder, and they'll tell you that all street skaters are fags. Ask a street skater, and they'll tell you the same exact thing about longboarders. Well, the truth is that you all suck: Rollerbladers are the true fags, so get the fuck over yourselves, smarten up, and get with the program. Forget what everybody else is doing. The only thing that matters is that you're doing something, and that you're enjoying it.
I could say the same exact thing to a nation of skateboard company owners out there, while I'm at it. But, you know what...? I don't have to. Because, I already did.
We support a whole nation of small companies out there. Why?!
A. I used to own a small company, myself.
B. I know that the small companies of today will be the big companies of tomorrow.
C. Small companies are actually run by skaters (that skate), and not by corporate bigwigs with dreams of fat wallets.
D. Small companies are far more responsive to the needs of skaters (and independent shops) than big companies are.
E. I'm sick and tired of the same-'ol, same-'ol.
F. While the Big Guys are outsourcing our country left and right, the small guys still use American wood, made by American woodworkers.
At the end of the day, nobody represents these ideals better than Chuck Hults at Deckcrafters, Danny at Factory 13, Tim at Five Points, and Lew at Fickle. Long-live skater-made skateboards...
To be honest, I haven't had this much fun since the days of The Cleveland Superboard Factory (my old skateboard company). In those days, I'd spend hours up at Cleveland HQ, pulling all-nighters, screening boards, designing shapes, building ramps, and generally making a mess of everything around me. As a strictly spiritual and creative outlet, I never would have thought that those days could ever be recaptured. Ten years on, and I find myself doing much the same thing, all over again. Very different mediums, of course. But fundamentally, very similar inputs and outcomes. Love goes in, and memories come out.
One year, and this is the stuff that we've screwed with, and re-written the rules on. I seriously wonder what Year Two is gonna bring...
Bud Stratford
Senior Editor,
The Solitary Life.
