i was a teenage poser

in the spring of 1987, i was a chubby kid in 7th grade. i had a few friends, a good family, a newborn sister, and my eyebrows hadn't filled in yet. it was a confusing time of pressure to conform with the culture set out by the other 7th graders, as the social hierarchy was striating as it usually does. for the first time in my life, i had begun to feel self-conscious about my appearance and my clothes. i managed to convince my parents that my future was dependent upon me getting a polo shirt, just like the other kids.

so we went to younkers and i bought a pale yellow ralph lauren that was on the sale rack. i wore this shirt proudly the following day. my wardrobe increased one afternoon, when my father had found two more polo shirts at a garage sale. i was up to three, and near a full week's rotation. nice.

anyway, around this same time period skateboarding became über hip. i found that the other boys wearing polo shirts were now toting a fine line of powell-peralta designer boards--not that i ever remember them riding them much, they were a fine accessory otherwise. i first got a target (you know, the discount store) board and was a closet skater. i actually spray painted all over the non-brand markings to further cover my shame. alas, within a few months of saving i was able to secure $50 bucks necessary to purchase a lance mountain board as pictured here:

i would regularly skate with a few kids in the neighborhood to work on my skills. but most of my fond memories with the board were skating to the bus stop with juanny d. and hopping on the bus to go downtown to the skate shop to look at the new boards and stickers, all whilst wearing a pale yellow polo shirt i neglected to add. years later, we put our pride aside and determined that we were indeed, posers. i also had rounded out the fad by regularly reading thrasher magazine which was and still is good fun.

i was not disingenuous to my desire and curiosity to skate board, or to be a prep for that matter, but i was certainly immune to the awareness of the pressures that i was feeling to harmonize with the masses and file into line. obviously, life becomes a compromise of determining when to stand in line, when to sit it out, when to run away, and when to lead. fond memories and essential life lessons, skateboarding taught me.