The Skateboard Life: Movers, Shakers, Makers & Rulebreakers: The Quintessential Story of Skateboard Culture by Neftalie Williams, PhD

Dr. Neftalie Williams’ book ‘The Skateboard Life: Movers, Shakers, Makers & Rulebreakers: The Quintessential Story of Skateboard Culture’ was published in October by Artisan, and it’s an impressive feat, celebrating a diverse array of individuals who have made skateboarding what it is today, combining biography and iconic photographs, many of which were taken by Williams himself.

On my first browse through this book, what impressed me immediately was that the stories of women and non-binary skateboarders were consistently included throughout the text. I’ve been disappointed in the past when skateboarding history writers offer a token gesture of inclusion, like a paragraph or a chapter on “the girls” at the back of a book, because it feels forced and like an add-on rather than part of the core story. But I’m not surprised that Dr. Williams took a different approach, considering that he has been an advocate for diverse voices and equitable representation in skateboarding media for his whole career.

I also appreciated how, among some of the obvious skateboard legends and Olympians featured, aka Tony Hawk, who offered a blurb of support, The Skateboard Life gives equal attention to someone like Lisa Whitaker. Whitaker, as a skateboarder from the late 1980s, became a webmaster, filmmaker, and company owner, and has been incredibly influential in cultivating awareness of women’s participation in skateboarding and supporting their efforts, so her inclusion alone validates this book in my mind.

Dr. Williams has a lyrical style of narration that manages to break up cold, hard facts and Wikipedia precision because of his descriptive enthusiasm. Simultaneously, he avoids pandering to readers who may be outside of the scene and clueless to trick names and insider knowledge, but without alienating them. In fact, his energy invites people in to revel in the drama.
Here’s an excerpt from the chapter on Stephanie Person: “You hit the first wall on the vert ramp, you’re climbing to the top. Wait for the click of your tail against the coping. Bam! It’s go time! You blast a huge frontside Indy air. Front leg boned out and hyperextended. Back leg tucked tight. Daaaaamn. The crowd goes wild. Caballerial on the next wall. You got this. Layback to tail… You are Stephanie Person, the first African American female pro vert skater, lighting the world on fire on the biggest stage at the time” (p.104).

The Skateboard Life also recognizes a variety of influential skateparks and contests, gives a nod to the artistry and fashion elements of skateboarding culture, and paints a rich, broad overview of what it means to be a skateboarder regardless of your age, gender, sexuality, race, and culture.
My only concerns, which I’ve noted in other book reviews, are that for someone doing research, it’s really helpful to include a detailed contents page, especially if there’s no index to reference. This decision not to include these formalities was likely made by the publisher, and the same goes for acknowledging photographers. Dr. Williams included a gracious acknowledgement of these contributors at the start, but for ease of use, it’s nice to see their names tagged alongside each photo.

Overall, I regard The Skateboard Life as a must-have for your skateboarding book collection. It’s so much more than a stylish coffee table book thanks to the insight, passion, and wordsmithing of Dr. Williams.

– Porter

The Medium Picture By Roy Christopher

In a mode appealing to members of any subculture, Roy Christopher’s dense but slim The Medium Picture charts the changes in culture as dictated by technology on both a personal and intellectual level. Like the history of our media itself, he first references large monolithic examples – radio/music and television shows – that have become embedded in our culture, then complicates and fragments our relationship to them. One example focuses on how the change from record to tape in the music industry helped to alter our cultural expressions and how we synthesize information. He moves through post-modern history and shows how more technology can create corrosive representations and information, like a copy of a copy of a copy. 

A sort of punk rock luddite – Christopher has never owned a TV and hasn’t had a car since the 1990s – he draws from subculture crossover icons like Gang of Four, Laurie Anderson, and Ian Makeye as well as well-researched academic theories from people like Marshall McLuhan to show how things like zines and mixtapes led to the tiny screens of today. The theory is sprinkled in references; I personally was drawn in with the often-cited works of William Gibson, a robust establishing of skateboarding’s relationship to his topic, and the dozens of chapter-opening quotations from films, poems, music, or authors like Kim Stanley Robinson.

 This vast collection of references is supported by well-referenced theory and research that mesh with the book’s easily readable format. Christopher’s claim of lifelong journaling seems very likely given the easy, conversational manner in which he delivers so much information. It is our insights into his own relationships to the theories at hand that make this book most compelling, and Christopher exudes a real love for the things he talks about. I maintained interest through loftier, hard-to-grasp ideas with clearly illustrated connections between seemingly disparate topics like metaphor and technology, while receiving new insight into everyday things such as walking.

The Medium Picture probes many of the questions and desires that we feel as people and may not have words for. The extremely clever title gives a very accurate idea of what the book is about – a play on words that folds in on itself from multiple angles. There is even a nicely designed title page logo calling attention to these interlocking angles, not to mention the pleasing chapter and section headers. Importantly, at only 162 pages, Christopher makes a seemingly intimidating topic appear tackleable and packs a lot into his punch. Perhaps the best thing A Medium Picture does, though, is recognize that it is a piece of a larger hole – a very important and often forgotten thing for cultural theory to do. For that and much more, it is worth your read.

– Abada