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Thrasher Magazine, August, 2003

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HATE CRIME

I am wilting you guys regarding the article "BMX Jihad." So you are calling for a war against BMXers, and the writer doesn't even have the balls to sign it? See, not so long ago white people did not want black people on the same bus, at the same beaches, They found excuses: "We built the bus...you're not as clean as white people...you smell different." Hitler wanted all Jews dead because they were not "pure." Now you want BMXers out of "your" park because they are faster, have pegs, didn't work hard enough for the park to be built. I will tell you: It is your park when you build it on your property with your money. Otherwise, it is a public park for all of the public.

I just happen to skate and ride a BMX at the same level. I can grind any kind of coping on my skateboard. I skate street and go over a thousand imperfections without any problem. Now you are asking all the stupid kids that buy your magazine for a BMX Jihad? I also just happen to snowboard, too. So, should I try to keep all the skiers out of my halfpipe? Oops, I happen to telemark ski also, should I try to beat up that fucking snowboarder that is cutting the fresh snow in front of me because he is faster? I also have a dirt bike, so should I shoot the four wheelers that make those crazy offcamber berms on my trails? Please, if you want to find an excuse to hate another individual, you will If you feed hatred that's what you will get back. The opposite is true too. If you tolerate the differences you might be tolerated back.

Hey, one last thing. I happen to be from Brazil too, should I start hating American skaters? Or should I hate all those guys from my country that skate unbelievably good? You guys don't get it--the more people at the parks means more parks will have to be built... and yes, you will have to deal being around people different than yourself. Or became a Nazi.

Mauricio Natario

Brazil

Move to Paraguay. T-ed

BOTTOM OUT

Skateboarding is at one of its greatest peaks ever and many say it's going to die soon. I really do not think that is true. I want to see it lose popularity but skating can never truly die. It will always live on in our hearts forever...the great memories of spending time with your friends and just riding around on the streets, and memories of landing tricks for the first time or just plainly getting something on lock. Skating means everything to me and I don't think it will ever die. I have been skateboarding for far too long just to quit. It's a drug that is so addictive; I don't think I could quit or let it die. I am tired of people saying skateboarding will die, because it won't. It's a torch that's lit in my heart. It's my motivation and my soul. Throughout the years people have been corning into skateboarding now as a profession and not as something fun to do. It's looked at as a way to make money and gain fame. Those are the things that should die, skateboarding shouldn't. The day I put together my first skateboard was the day I was born. And I know in my body and in my soul that skateboarding will never die.

Frankie Gattas

Dying means that, at one time, you were alive. T-Ed

Columbus, Ohio

CONCHETE DUST

Magic Skatepark, which is outside of Reading, PA (Spinning Wheels to the old heads) is now officially no more. The roughest blacktop on the East Coast and the whackest pool transitions ever poured have finally been laid to rest. My first exposure to "Magic" was in an issue of Thrasher from the '80s. I still remember the two-page black and white spread with a little map and directions right in the corner. I remember showing my dad the map and him saying he could probably find it. He and my mom used to load up the station wagons and the coolers to take my friends and me there for my birthdays in the summer. My brother knocked Tom Groholski off his board the first time we were there and John Schultes gave us Vision stickers and told us how he left H-Street 'cause Tony Mag "was a dick" For almost a decade after it closed (for the first time) you could skate it relatively hassle-free just about anytime, as long as you parked at the school and left your ID in the car. My brother and I went to the same college just 20 minutes away so the spring/fall after class and early Sunday morning sessions were always a good time. The locals and taggers (TILC) took just enough care of it to keep the snake run clear and the bowls nice and dry. There were a lot of people that hated it 'cause unless you had some nice 60mms under your deck you were, not gonna go fast enough and you were gonna get tossed, hard. The blacktop was brutal and unforgiving. You could prop yourself up after a break in the shade and find your palms bleeding. If you put your time in you could find some real killer lines with "great" Canadian fly-out potential in the bowl at the end of the snake run. We all knew that the day was going to come eventually. It had to. I'm just glad my friends and I, along with countless others, got to skate it in its salad days. The East has now lost another.