This book explores how cultural, social and political change happens through a unique analysis of the ‘ethical turn’ in skateboarding today. Insights shared by key change-makers and industry insiders cover themes including First Nations, Black and People of Color, skater-run creative innovations, anti-colonialism, anti-racism initiatives, and a growing focus on equity and empowering skaters historically discriminated against due to gender and/or sexuality. These dynamic changes are also connected to conceptual and theoretical frameworks from skate research, journalism, and sociology. This is a must-read for anyone interested in subcultures and social change.

Pocket Change Collective was born out of a need for space. Space to think. Space to connect. Space to be yourself. And this is your invitation to join us. "Wow! Leo's vulnerability and authenticity allowed me to experience his pain and triumph. A great testament to the positive power of skateboarding and the dangers of gender." --Elissa Steamer (skateboarding pioneer) "In Skate for Your Life, Leo Baker invites us on the intimate journey toward self-realization. Leo's deep passion for skateboarding is beautifully communicated while bringing to light the difficult reality of breaking the mold on a public stage. This book synthesizes what so many LGBTQIA people can relate to--the lifelong journey of seeking out spaces where we fit in, and when we don't find them, making new ones." --JD Samson (musician, producer, and songwriter) In this moving, personal story, professional skateboarder Leo Baker shares their journey within the sport and the importance of authenticity and allyship as a non-binary athlete. Pocket Change Collective is a series of small books with big ideas from today's leading activists and artists. "Your authenticity is your superpower." That's the motto that professional skateboarder Leo Baker lives by and champions. But like any hero's journey, learning about their power didn't come easy. In this installment of the Pocket Change Collective, Baker takes the reader on a complicated, powerful journey through the world of skate and competitive sport as a non-binary athlete.

This book explores the ways in which religion is observed, performed, and organised in skateboard culture. Drawing on scholarship from the sociology of religion and the cultural politics of lifestyle sports, this work combines ethnographic research with media analysis to argue that the rituals of skateboarding provide participants with a rich cultural canvas for emotional and spiritual engagement. Paul O’Connor contends that religious identification in skateboarding is set to increase as participants pursue ways to both control and engage meaningfully with an activity that has become an increasingly mainstream and institutionalised sport. Religion is explored through the themes of myth, celebrity, iconography, pilgrimage, evangelism, cults, and self-help.

Skateboarding and Femininity explores and highlights the value of femininity both within skateboarding and wider culture. This book examines skateboarding’s relationship to gender politics through a consideration of the personal politics connected to individual skateboarders, the social-spatial arenas in which skateboarding takes place, and by understanding the performance of tricks and symbolic movements as part of gender-based power dynamics. Dani Abulhawa anaylses the discursive frameworks connected to skateboarding philanthropic projects and how these operate through gendered tropes. Through the author’s work with skateboarding charity SkatePal, this book offers an alternative way of recognising the value of skateboarding philanthropy projects, proposing a move toward a more open and explorative somatic practice perspective.

Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR • Southwest Review • Electric Literature Perfect for fans of Barbarian Days, this memoir in essays follows one man's decade-long quest to uncover the hidden meaning of skateboarding, and explores how this search led unexpectedly to insights on marriage, love, loss, American invention, and growing old. In January 2012, creative writing professor and novelist Kyle Beachy published one of his first essays on skate culture, an exploration of how Nike’s corporate strategy successfully gutted the once-mighty independent skate shoe market. Beachy has since established himself as skate culture's freshest, most illuminating, at times most controversial voice, writing candidly about the increasingly popular and fast-changing pastime he first picked up as a young boy and has continued to practice well into adulthood. What is skateboarding? What does it mean to continue skateboarding after the age of forty, four decades after the kickflip was invented? How does one live authentically as an adult while staying true to a passion cemented in childhood? How does skateboarding shape one's understanding of contemporary American life? Of growing old and getting married? Contemplating these questions and more, Beachy offers a deep exploration of a pastime—often overlooked, regularly maligned—whose seeming simplicity conceals universal truths. THE MOST FUN THING is both a rich account of a hobby and a collection of the lessons skateboarding has taught Beachy—and what it continues to teach him as he strugglesto find space for it as an adult, a professor, and a husband.

Chronicles skateboarding's rise in popularity, interweaving the stories of early skaters while discussing how innovations in board design enabled new tricks as the sport evolved.

Be Relentless! Hamish Brewer (aka the Tattooed Skateboarding Principal) grew up in a home disrupted by poverty, addiction, and family dysfunction. He understands the feelings of fear, lostness, and desperation that overwhelm too many children today--because that was his life. That experience is what drives him to work relentlessly to empower people living in the toughest areas to envision and create a better future for themselves. Disrupt the norm. That is the challenge Hamish, a Nationally Distinguished Principal, calls educators, students, families, and communities to accept. And as he authentically shares his life experiences and adventures in this book, you, too, will be inspired to . . . Believe that something bigger and better is possible. Pursue your best, whatever it takes. Transform your school. Become the educator you always dreamed of being. Leave a legacy that pushes others to achieve their best! Relentless is more than a motto. It's a mission of total passion and purpose. And it's the only way to win at work and at life. Are you ready to take your life and work to the next level? Be Relentless! "Hamish proves that passion, love, and thinking outside the box have the power to change children's lives." --Michael Ien Cohen, director and producer, Humanity Stoked "This book is no gimmick; it is a way of being. It is real. We must fight for all children. We must be all in. So, roll up your sleeves. Show those tattoos. And be Relentless." --John P. Broome, PhD, associate professor of education, University of Mary Washington "In Relentless, Hamish Brewer shares a story of hope, love, and inspiration for making schools better. It is one part memoir, one part school-improvement guide, and a whole lot of motivation." --Beth Houf, principal, Fulton Middle School; coauthor, Lead Like a PIRATE