VOLUME 026 / SUMMER 2022
Words by Ben Giese | Photo by Ankit Sharma
The deathly talentless bow to their accolades, and the fools are fooled again. Everybody wants to be famous, but chasing the dragon of popularity is a dark tunnel with no light at the end. The deeper you go, the more hopeless it becomes. Still, we stumble forward like zombies guided by the glow of small screens, desperate for more attention, more views, more likes, more clicks, faster, bigger, better, now.
But what do you do when the screen goes dark? Who are you in the quiet hours when the limelight fades away? This is where the outsiders thrive.
Rodney Mullen comes to mind. Nicknamed the “Godfather of Skateboarding” and considered by many to be the most innovative skateboarder of all time, he usually skates late into the night. Alone. Until the early hours of the morning while the rest of the world sleeps. This is where the progression happens. Away from the crowds and without witness, for the pure, authentic joy of doing what he was born to do.
Legends are built in the shadows.
Cover photo by John Ryan Hebert
Like Kurt Cobain, whose genius poured out behind closed doors into guitar notes and scribbled lyrics in a spiral notebook that would eventually become an album that shook the world and changed the landscape of rock music forever. He hated the fame and accolades that came along with the success of his band. That’s not why he was doing it. He was an outsider, and he created music because it’s what he was born to do.
We need those outsiders, and that’s why this issue is dedicated to them. The ones who refuse to follow the crowd or jump on the bandwagon. The ones who don’t fit into a box. Who do things not because they are cool, but for the intrinsic value of the experience. The ones who push the envelope and choose to see the world from a different perspective. Who live their passions with reckless abandon and find the beauty of life bleeding out in the raw moments behind the scenes. The ones who don’t give a fuck about popularity and would rather pursue greatness. The outsiders. Living in the shadows and doing what they were born to do.
