Pilgrim TalesHow do you end a story? This is undoubtedly a...
Pilgrim Tales
How do you end a story? This is undoubtedly a challenge as whatever narrative we construct can merely be a signpost, a way to divert attention to a phenomenon. I knew that I would face this problem in probing the connection between skateboarding and religion. My book hasn’t provided a definitive treatment of the topic inasmuch simply kicked down a door and shown that the issue there. Every week I get multiple new threads to add to the skateboarding and religion story.
The very best thing about having written the book and it being out and circulating for consumption, is the responses that I get from skateboarders. Occasionally I receive a message about how some arcane religious connection that skateboarders have. But more often than not I am the very grateful recipient of pilgrim tales. The notion of skateboard pilgrimage has resonated with plenty of folk, far and wide. As I have always had a fascination for pilgrimage I am endlessly delighted to hear these stories, and anecdotes. I do hope that they continue for years to come. The most recent of which I share below…
I’m sure you have heard many such accounts but it reminded me of my first trip to Albuquerque to skate ditches. I arrived on my own, went to the cheapest hotel I could find online near the Indian School ditch. The Hotel was I think fair to say ‘worn’, I flopped down on the bed, tired from the travel, wondering what I was doing there and feeling lonely, almost immediately I noticed a small Indy sticker in the very top corner of the window ( I wish it had been some other brand but never mind ) and instantly felt better, some other skater must have made the same journey and chose the hotel for the same reason.
This pilgrim tale comes just as I begin to teach a course on Modern Pilgrimage at Charles university. Beyond skateboarding I have been surveying a whole host of research ranging from dark tourism to virtual pilgrimages. I realised along the way that I have been doing my own forms of virtual skateboard pilgrimages via Google maps. A similar theme was recently addressed in a Jenkem video where Google maps provided a neat spot-hunting tool. In 2015 The Atlantic also reported on the D.C. Downhill Club and their use of satellite imagery to find old pools to skate. It is an increasingly common practice, a great rainy day activity, and a bond between technology and older forms of skate culture.
At the end of 2019 I found myself hunting down spots in the Blips Cover Version video. Specifically Harry Lintell’s ender with a ridiculous tre-flip into a gnarly bank. It took a bit of sleuthing but I was able to locate the spot and saved it to my Google maps library for a future visit. All good virtual pilgrimages contain the possibility of a future physical visit.
Hoping to hear more pilgrim tales which I will continue to share.
