The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Midwest Shreds: Skating Through America’s Heartland by Mandy Shunnarah

---

Author’s Note

---

In conducting interviews for this book, I sought to cast  a wide net. The
skaters  in t hese pages  are Black, white, Hispanic, Latinx,  and Asian.
They’re  many letters in the  LGBTQ+ acronym.They are hes and shes,
theydies and  gentlethems.  They’re  abled  and  disabled.  They’re  plus-size
and   straight-size.  They’re  amateur  and   pro.  They’re   in  big   cities  and
small  towns. They’re  skaters, skate makers, skate  shop  owners,  and skate
product creators. They skate private skate parks, city skate parks, and  their
own secret DIY spots. They  ride  skateboards,  roller  skates,  roller  blades,
unicycles,  and wheelchairs.  Some of  them  have  been  skating for decades
and others for  only a  year  or  two.  Some  skate  competitively,  others  are
enthusiastic   hobbyists.  They   are,  like  the  Midwest  itself,  more  diverse
than they get credit for.

                                                      ***

    Midwest  Shreds is a look at skating in a  particular  time and a particular
place. New skaters are born and  made every day, and new parks  are  being
built   every  year.  Likewise,   every  day,  someone  gives   up  skating,   and
beloved skate  spots  are  demolished  or  fall  into  disrepair.  But  overall,  I
believe  the sport and its culture are evolving in a way that can permanently
sustain its life.  Skating  isn’t going anywhere in the  Midwest,  or  anywhere
else for that matter.



                                                   *******

Columbus, Ohio

SKATE NAKED

---

                                                        ***

    Jeff   Trasin  and  Jon  Hammond,  the  owners  of  Skate Naked, had   the
vision  to  see  what the old  warehouse  could  be, an indoor  skate park  the
city  so  desperately  needed.  What was first the Buckeye Potato Chip  plant
in  the  1950s,  then   later a golf  cart  showroom  and  then  a  window   and
siding shop, was transformed by their hands.
    “When  we  first  saw  it,  it   was   empty.  Nobody   else   would’ve  looked
at this place and  thought  it  was  awesome,”  Jon  said, speaking of  his  gut
feeling that this was where they should be.
    “I  was   like,   we   can   do  this,  we  just  need   to paint   it,”  Jeff  added,
laughing, knowing there was so  much more work ahead of them than  that.
    On     the   whole,    midwesterners    are   practical   people,   dedicated  to
function   and    resourcefulness.  Aesthetics   are   secondary,  and  in  Skate
Naked’s case, they’re hardly   considered  at   all.  With  the  exception  of   a
spray-painted  mural   above  the  big  bowl,  the   park  is  gritty, both in the
literal and figurative sense. The walls are painted black, and in some places,
they’re  built  from black painted plywood.  On one particular roll-in, you’re
liable  to  get  a  splinter  if you fall. The  roof  above  both bowls  leaks,  and
you  have  to  carve  fast on your feet to avoid wiping out on a rainy day. The



sheets of  coating over the wood ramps are  often flaking, and  woe  be  unto
you if you’re  the  unlucky soul whose wheels   add  just   the   right   amount
of pressure to break through  to  the   other  side.  I’m   always  surprised  by
the creative places patrons find to make  DIY  trash   cans—behind  a  ramp,
inside a wall where a piece of plywood has come loose,  or just  the  edges of
any old  platform—and I never leave without a  deep coating of black  grime
under my fingernails.
    And I love it. There’s no place I’d rather be.

                                                      ***

    Skating  is  inherently  rebellious.  It’s  against  authority  because we  say
fuck  private property  and  skate  there  anyway.  It’s against  infrastructure
because if  you don’t build us a skate park, we’ll make our own and terrorize
the  sidewalks  in the meantime. It’s against corporate  sensibilities because
indie  brands—whether  it’s  clothing,   shoes,  or   the  wheels  themselves—
rule  the  scene. It’s against  convention and sometimes even against society
at large because even though skating has its  communities,  it is notably not
a team sport.  Skating is  my  way of rebelling  against  diet  culture,  against
#thinspiration, and  against whatever  the  latest  shame-based  weight-loss
cult  du  jour  says. It’s  the only  way I’ve found  to move  my body in  a way
that doesn’t push me somewhere I don’t need to go.
    I  don’t  know  that  I  would  have  discovered my love of  skate parks  if  I
lived anywhere outside the Midwest, and  Columbus  in  particular. You can
be  a  beginner here. Columbus is constantly reinventing itself, and over the
last few decades, it has gone from  farm town  to corporate  business  haven
to  one  of  the fastest  growing  cities  in the  country.  It’s a city  beloved  by
people  as  disparate  as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Saeed  Jones, and  the late
Aaron  Carter—none  of  whom  are  from  here  originally but  who  all have
made the city a second home.

---