sk8 or die

I attended my sophmore year at Lakewood High School in Los Angeles County, their claim to fame being the infamous Spur Posse. But while the other girls were busy becoming another point on the boys’ bedknob, I was trying to become one of the boys. I was trying to skate.

Seventeen years have passed since I attempted a kickflip, but my beloved skateboard (whom I christened “The Dill Pickle” because its underbelly was green, not because I liked pickles) still rests in my garage. When i moved to my current house, John tried to give The Dill Pickle away to my neighbor’s kids. I had to run over there and reclaim my DP. I knew i would never get on the board again, but it’s a token of childhood I can never give up.

It tickled me when I found this video of Tommy Carroll, a young blind skateboarder from Illinois. You go, guy.

• And watch Tommy’s interview with Tony Hawk.