Author Jessie Tu shares her experience learning to skateboard at age 30, exploring her motivations for taking on this challenging hobby and the lessons she learned about failure, self-perception, and the yearning for youthful freedom.
The day after my first novel was released in 2020, I walked to my local skate shop in Redfern and purchased a $270 skateboard.
In truth, I was afraid that having accomplished what I’d wanted for so long , I was at risk of becoming an asshole, too confident in myself. I wanted to dive into something awkwardly tricky, but specifically, something uncomfortably outside myself. I wanted to become close acquaintances with the feeling of weakness.
Skating’s anti-authoritative subculture is inextricable from youth. Carrying a board signals a sense of looseness, aplomb, and nonchalance. It has always felt too cool for me. But I admired skaters’ aerial grace and found their physical swiftness deeply appealing, not as something I necessarily wanted to replicate.My partner used to skate as a kid. Growing up in rural NSW, that was how he bonded with the local boys.
In the summer of 2020, he had an excuse to pick it up again. He taught me the basics. We skated/walked to Carriageworks every day, spending hours going back and forth along the expansive concrete. During that time, there were often other people playing tennis against the walls, roller skating, and riding scooters. Several times, many established skaters would stop to give me a few pointers.
Literature SKATEBOARDING SELF-DISCOVERY FAILURE YOUTH WRITING
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