"o kosnos exei anagh k einai sti fysh mas na ton kaneis na noiwthei wraia oti anikei kapou an katafereis na peis me liga logia sti fasi sou, k n pisteueis afto pou les, to oti dld panw apo ola eimai edw k pernaw kala kanw ta patinia ta taxidia mou me ta osa fraga diathetw!!!! auto re file panw apo ola eimaste anthrwpoi!!!! prwsopika sevomai tous pantes mexri na katalavw to antithetoi meta einai les k o allos mou skotwse ti mana mou!!! dinw aploxera oti exw giati etsi noiwthw!!!! agapaw afto pou kanw alla kiriws agapaw afto t chill to aragma afou exeis xwsei!!!! thelei parea k katanohsei kiriws o anthrwpos!!!!"

-Vaggelis Bolanos

It seems like I've written this article 100 times before but its so hard sometimes to actually summarize what it means. There are different fascets to its presence here. Surely what it means to everyone is something different. Indeed for some, what it means is constantly changing because they lack closure; for some its always be a blur. When I read this quote it makes it a little more clear thou:

"People have a need and its in our nature to feel good about yourself and belong somewhere and be able to chat a little while in your element, and to believe what you're saying! In other words, 'I'm here and I'm enjoying myself and blading, I do my trips with whatever cash I have available and thats it! Mate, above all else we're human and humane! Personally I respect everyone until I realize different, and that hurts! I'm generous with whatever I have because I feel that way! I love what I do but first and foremost I love the post-skate chill out after a day of busting! (Blading) requires company, tolorance, and just be human!"

- Vaggelis Bolanos

Its what rollerblading meant to me for these past 16 years, particularly those summers I spent in Greece. In the states and in the UK I was just another blader kid. Which for me was constantly looking for a line to take, if there was an opening in the overcrowded local parks. Or I was out with my brother, when I wasn't rolling alone. That feeling of part of a 'kosmos' in rollerblading and just having lazy days were those early summers back in the 90's. How apprtopriete that I sought out familiarize that feeling of freedom to be yourself, take pleasure in the things you do, without passing of judgment, and in respect and appreciation for those participating at all my lowest points in life; the best moments in my life are characterized by that environment.

I wonder, everyone talks of cultures and sub-cultures. They are paradoxically bought and traded now like commodities, adapted to new skins or skeletons. Its as if the more exclusive you can be, the more legit a community is in its longevity. What a load of rubbish. Inline skating as a 'scene' if you will, was an infant amongst retro sub-cultures which injected those 'cultures' with an industry. Thats why they hate on it was so passionate back then, like prison sex.

So what? Perhaps the newly formed Action Sports industry just became trigger happy with shiny new marketing tricks!

I don't take it personally; scapegoating never is. I call it scapegoating because as all the people crawling out of the shadows that became 'action or extreme sports', some were looking for who to blame for why some people simply don't dig the culture. You know! the whole.... "thing"! Greece is like a time machine. People hear that said here and there. Its true. I feel privileged to have such an insight, as one might be if they have the gift of foresight. Aggressive skating as part of my lifestyle was at times I felt getting in the way of things, other times I struggled to make time for it. Over a long enough period of time, and thanks to those who have been a part of it long enough to say they will be ; blading was born of spitefulness countered by aggressiveness. Aggressive in the pursuit of what pleases you, at that moment and to share that moment with someone who knows the feeling or experience is what it is to be human! Its not exclusive to any one person, group, culture or otherwise. If you believe that the renaissance of expression through individual sport began at the start of the 1990's, and that Action sports are the 'alternatives' to Olympic sanctioned sports, then you have to believe that Aggressive skating was essentially born of that history. Its no wonder then, that what makes all bladers rollers and all rollers bladers consider 'skating' to be just a part of our 'culture'. Granted its what you can call the act itself but I have other ways to refer to myself apart from 'skater'; its what Vaggelis said, and I see that ultimately what rollerblading in Greece is rollerbladings history, true to form. In the end we want to belong, and be comfortable in what we do and how we feel, and we get that from the people we share our experiences. What makes blading the pivoting point for that pass to cross over and be accessible once again to the a larger audience, and I think I speak for most the people I blade with, is that these basic,  generic, human principles are something we do take personally; its what we do to stay sane! And its why we've always been here to stay.

Ponder that for a wile.

Written by :

Antihero