Expository Writing (105-0-21)
Topic
The Art(s) of Skateboarding: Writing, Journalism,
Instructors
Smith William Yarberry
Meeting Info
Locy Hall 303: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
In this course we will consider the skateboard, the skater, and, of course, this wondrous activity known as skateboarding through the various arts that have come to shape the sport. By reading literature on the subject from personal essays ("On Being the Oldest Guy at Skate Camp" by Cheston Knapp) and poems ("The Rebel" by Jose Hernandez Diaz) to examining journalistic forms like magazine articles and photojournalism in magazines such as Thrasher and Skateism to watching documentaries (Minding the Gap dir. Bing Liu) and films (Skate Kitchen dir. Crystal Moselle)—we will secretly (or not so secretly…) be learning the modes of academic, creative, and public writing. We will pay special attention to how race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, and other factors of identities come to surface in the tenuous culture of skating.
As self-proclaimed "literary critic and has-been skateboarder," Jonathan Russel Clark, writes in his book of essays Skateboard, "...the real history of skating exists not in archives or texts but in a hodgepodge of random and iconic videos, tattered photographs, and, mostly, in the blurry memories of the people who lived through it all." With that in mind, the class looks not at a singular or complete history of skateboarding but a version of it—embracing Clark's suggestion of the "hodgepodge" while putting pressure on his claim that skating's "real history" is void of texts. As we will see through poetry, articles, stories, film reviews, essays (some by Jonathan Russel Clark himself…), and much more—one medium that has kept the wacky history of skateboarding alive is very much indeed the writing and reading of texts, in just about every iteration of the term.
Class Materials (Required)
Out for Air by Olly Todd ISBN 978-1-913850-07-4