Skatistan

Empowering girls in Afghanistan through skateboarding.

Brilliant.

Skatistan has been rolling on now since 2007. I first touched the pages of their brilliant 320 page, full colour, amazingly tactile and captivating first book months ago at the very rad Antisocial Skateboard Shop in Vancouver, which happens to also female owned and operated. I'm a bit ashamed I am only posting about it now. If you've been like me and were somehow hiding in a cave on Mars for the past six years, I'd highly suggest going to their website, watching their videos, and feeling awesome about what these guys are doing.

I remember as a kid being told "girls can't do [this or that]." It made me mad and I would usually do that thing (climbing the tall tree, throwing to second from home base, push ups, algebra) as much as I could just to prove whoever said that wrong. The joy of accomplishment was immense. The sense of eurphoria and excitement from mastering something with your body and feeling an endorphine rush made all the bruises and sprains worth it. I can only imagine that under the circumstances these girls face, the joy must be x1000.

Afghanistan's Girl Skaters – Kabul 2012 from Skateistan on Vimeo.

I had words hurled at me for sure, as many girls did in North America, but none of us were ever shot at for saying: "I can do that too."

Show some support. Head on over to their store and throw down some cash for their amazing first book, or some other sweet swag.




SKATEISTAN: TO LIVE AND SKATE KABUL from Diesel New Voices on Vimeo.

Love, Love, Love...