Mail Drop

Thrasher Magazine, Feb, 2002

AFTER LIFE

We never seem to be alive until we start skating. It's strange, but I'd say 90% of my memories are of skating, or of things my friends and I who have met through skating have done. All those times were the greatest in my life, and I make more everyday and everywhere I go in this world. There are skaters everywhere, and once you meet them, you're friends for life.

Sometimes death sneaks right into the session and steals that friend from you who meant the most. On Sept. 20th, 2001 death took my friend Christian Lee Jenkins, 34-years-old, and still as in love with skating as he was on the first day he picked up a board. He managed to burn in the fire for 12 years--as pro for Zorlac and BBC, following the footsteps of his best friend Jeff Phillips all the way. Now I'm alone. Where do I go from here? R.I.P it up, in Heaven and Hell.

Jimmy Pearson

Groton, CT

Once you stop skating, life starts. T-ed

LOVE BUZZ

I just finished reading the Stacy Lowery interview in the November Thrasher. The account of his fish frying by light of electrocution in China was hilarious. Then he was talking about the difference in "the kids" nowadays compared to the type of kids who skated back in his day. That pretty much nailed it. He said when he started skating other guys had a lot of things in common, things that probably contributed to the breed of their beings. These days it's true that every fat-ass Jack and Harry on the block has X-Games fantasies while making their first skateboard purchase--the blood has become diluted. Parks are everywhere and skateboarding as a product is thriving. When the sessions were tight with real- true-to-life skateboarders, the things they all had in common signified the trueness of the breed. Now there are droves of soldier ants that have invaded our picnic blanket out there like that pod head Jeremy Matthews from Baltimore, MD whose letter was printed in the November Mail Drop. Are you serious? Wa s that a fake letter that someone wrote in as a joke? It can't be real... Can it? If that is a real letter from a real kid that really thinks the way he writes, well then shit. Truth is stranger than fiction. Whatever, back to the Stacy Lowery interview--the best part of the issue.

Stacy had a lot of rad things to say. In the beginning of the interview he gave a little bit of philosophical wisdom about life. He was talking about how he had gotten into some confrontations over having a first name which is uncommon among males. Nobody talks shit about Charlize Theron. James King probably had to kick some asses, too. He said he "got in a few fights at first about it. And then when I realized I could fight I realized I didn't have to." That's fucking rad. It's his guru calm-like thinking that has obviously assisted his endeavors. He rocks. (And he's cute and tall). He has binocular vision and "likes symmetry" and sway. How old his he? Obviously old enough to know a thing or two about...things. I like his ending comment about how he has taken to his new climate. Nice interview, good pictures; a fine dining experience for inspiration.

Mia Shanks

Los Angeles, CA

Sounds like you're smitten. T-ed

I am 14-years-old and I've been skating for about two years, and I think I'm pretty good. I just built a funbox and a kicker ramp; it was harder than it looks. I think the state that I live in is a flicking shit hole. There are some pretty cool places to skate, but I'd rather live in California, I go to a ghetto-ass school with nothing but gangsters. The only music I listen to is punk and I skate everyday. My cousins and brother skate, too. My favorite skaters are Tony Trujillo and Geoff Rowley. I hate fucking Tony Hawk 'cause he's a fucking pussy. Anyways, skaters rule. Jocks fucking suck cock.

Jason Ulibarri

Albuquerque, NM

Heavy words from a little guy. T-ed

I have been meaning to drop you guys a line for some time now and send some words of wisdom to all the youngsters out there. I'm in prison right now and almost done with a five year sentence. I wanted to make my present incarceration clear before responding to Mr. Six Strikes (Mike Weber, Portland, Oregon) in your August issue: Shut the flick up and quit whining like the bitch that you are. Fact is, you did the crime now do the flicking time, pussy. You list your crimes like you want a Brownie Button or something when you should be letting all these youngsters out there hear it from you as living proof that drugs and crime do not pay. Nobody put you where you are at today but yourself--look in the mirror, moron.

Take it from me: I've been skating since 1978 and I'm 30 now. My favorite board was a Duane Peters model; it was a fat-ass tank with routed out ridges in the bottom that I used to conquer Upland with. Please take heed and try to stay off drugs; and until the day you die, always skate and destroy! It's not about how fat of a rail you can conquer or any shit like that, it's about having fun and finding new spots with your bros in the eternal search for Animal Chin. Drugs will ruin your entire ability to grow in your skills as a skater and you will become stale and in prison, or die! I'm not going to sit here and preach because I think most would agree that I've made my point.