There he stood, at nearly 6 feet tall, umpiring a Tee-ball game, wearing an extra large plaid shirt, shorts and socks — both to his knees — oversize skateboard sneakers and a golf cap turned backward on his head.
“Who is that boy?” I heard someone say. “And who let him go outside looking like that?”
He was mine, I said, maybe not as proudly as I should have, as the woman remarking on my then 15-year-old’s appearance sank slowly into her lounge chair.
My younger son was a skateboarder. A kid who didn’t dress like the rest of his class, loved drawing attention (often negative) to himself and frequently tried my patience.
In December he got his bachelor’s in electrical engineering. He pays his own bills, holds down a full-time job and someday soon will marry a young woman who finds him handsome, charming and hysterical.
Remembering how my son’s wardrobe choices were condemned makes it difficult to sit in on meetings where Northfielders much more senior than our city’s skateboarders so easily criticize kids who don’t look like Beaver Cleaver. You know what I’m talking about, those subtle digs and cutting insinuations, where people talk about those “other skaters,” not the kids who’ve worked on getting a new skatepark built in town.
“Those kids” — they’re the ones who will attract drug pushers and fly past unstable seniors on their skateboards, they say.
Maybe it’s me, but I haven’t met any of “those kids,” not in Northfield, not in Minnesota, not anywhere. I don’t know any “bad kids.” I have, however, known troubled kids, kids on drugs, kids who think they don’t fit in anywhere and those who have nowhere to turn for help. I know lots and lots of good kids who made really bad mistakes, errors in judgment that have had serious, life-altering consequences.
Bad choices don’t make kids bad, neither do their choice of outfits.
Josh Wood, a 16-year-old member of the Northfield Skateboard Coalition, has heard more than his share of negativity about skateboarders, yet he continues to push forward for a new park, holding his head high.
“We try to do ‘in one ear and out the other,’” said the NHS sophomore, admitting that the comments about him, his friends and skateboarders in general, hurt.
Some skateboarders have lost the motivation to work toward a new skateboard park in Northfield, Wood says, mostly because they walk into meetings trying to feel positive, only to be let down by those who criticize.
Not all adults have been critical or unsupportive, said Wood. Those who’ve helped lead the charge, have helped the teen realize that the coalition’s hard work and willingness to work within a system that doesn’t typically give them a voice has changed some minds.
“We’ve turned some haters into believers,” he said. “We’ve gotten a lot of people on our side in the community.”
One day soon these young people will be our community’s leaders. They will have college degrees, pay their own bills and find someone they want to spend their lives with.
Maybe then we won’t judge others by the way they dress, we’ll be ready to look at each individual. And if that happens, we’ll have kids like Josh Wood to thank.
—Reach Suzanne Rook at 645-1113 or srook@northfieldnews.com
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By: pietro on 5/26/09
Wow, Suzy. Really, really good piece.
By: pietro on 5/26/09
Wow, as in genuinely wowed. Really, really good as in richly textured. This small gem of a piece exemplifies some of the best, or at least a favorite, of a school of writing. It is a great example of how we should read and write columns. Not devoted to just 'this or that' it is born of not just a point, but an axis of intersection between multiple experienceable realities of the writer. It is a thoughtfully articulated reflection offered for consideration to the community. The style would not fit every piece or column but is wonderfully appropriate here. This 'caution' should keep all who read it engaged with even their putative adversaries, it gracefully suggests reflection over reaction. Thank you, Suzy.
By: Uberstadt on 5/27/09
Sorry Suzy, but I could not help but notice that pietro was the author of such bi-polar points of view on your writing skills. I enjoyed your commentary article by the way and feel you all do a fine job at the Northfield News.
A COMMENT FROM PIETRO REGARDING YOUR MAY 8TH ARTICLE ABOUT FORMER MAYOR LEE LANSING USING THE PROPERTY AT SIXTH AND DIVISION:
The form of this article, has everything to do with Suzy Rook, sloppy and incomplete reporting, assertions expressed without attribution, and statements made by interested parties taken at face value, i.e., without substantiation, without any reporting that would support or discount said assertions…
As I illustrated its not trivial to the standards of a profession, if its fundamental to its practice. “Who, what, when, where,” is Journalism 101...no, Intro to Journalism. So, is this an isolated occurrence? Survey says: Sadly, no.
Correction: Dec 3, 08 Reporter: Rook Correction: Dec 8, 08 Reporter: Rook Correction: Jan 7, 09 Reporter: Rook Correction: Feb 4, 09 Reporter: Rook Correction: Feb 10, 09 Reporter: Rook Correction: Feb 18, 09 Reporter: Rook Correction: May 8 ,09 Reporter: Rook
This is the -incomplete- list from inside of the last six months. At this pace, by the end of the year, there may be more corrections than awards on that trophy shelf. As for high standards, we pay the Northfield News for a deficient product, someone should seriously consider offering an alternate source of news to the community. The Northfield News interject themselves into the public arena by choice, to profit; subject to all of the attendant scrutiny, accolade and criticism. They shouldn't do it if they can't hack it. No pun intended.
By: jingham on 6/10/09
well, in regards to the Lee Lansing story, No matter how bad the reporting may/ may not have been, Lee Lansing is a Crooked, untrustworthy, GREEDY, Liar. There is no defending him, or his actions. He should have been run out of town YEARS ago! And anyone who supports or defends that Idiot have been blinded by his lies and his Schemes.
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Wow, Suzy. Really, really good piece.
Wow, as in genuinely wowed. Really, really good as in richly textured. This small gem of a piece exemplifies some of the best, or at least a favorite, of a school of writing. It is a great example of how we should read and write columns. Not devoted to just 'this or that' it is born of not just a point, but an axis of intersection between multiple experienceable realities of the writer. It is a thoughtfully articulated reflection offered for consideration to the community. The style would not fit every piece or column but is wonderfully appropriate here. This 'caution' should keep all who read it engaged with even their putative adversaries, it gracefully suggests reflection over reaction.
Thank you, Suzy.
Sorry Suzy, but I could not help but notice that pietro was the author of such bi-polar points of view on your writing skills. I enjoyed your commentary article by the way and feel you all do a fine job at the Northfield News.
A COMMENT FROM PIETRO REGARDING YOUR MAY 8TH ARTICLE ABOUT FORMER MAYOR LEE LANSING USING THE PROPERTY AT SIXTH AND DIVISION:
The form of this article, has everything to do with Suzy Rook, sloppy and incomplete reporting, assertions expressed without attribution, and statements made by interested parties taken at face value, i.e., without substantiation, without any reporting that would support or discount said assertions…
As I illustrated its not trivial to the standards of a profession, if its fundamental to its practice.
“Who, what, when, where,” is Journalism 101...no, Intro to Journalism.
So, is this an isolated occurrence? Survey says: Sadly, no.
Correction: Dec 3, 08 Reporter: Rook
Correction: Dec 8, 08 Reporter: Rook
Correction: Jan 7, 09 Reporter: Rook
Correction: Feb 4, 09 Reporter: Rook
Correction: Feb 10, 09 Reporter: Rook
Correction: Feb 18, 09 Reporter: Rook
Correction: May 8 ,09 Reporter: Rook
This is the -incomplete- list from inside of the last six months. At this pace, by the end of the year, there may be more corrections than awards on that trophy shelf. As for high standards, we pay the Northfield News for a deficient product, someone should seriously consider offering an alternate source of news to the community. The Northfield News interject themselves into the public arena by choice, to profit; subject to all of the attendant scrutiny, accolade and criticism. They shouldn't do it if they can't hack it. No pun intended.
well, in regards to the Lee Lansing story, No matter how bad the reporting may/ may not have been, Lee Lansing is a Crooked, untrustworthy, GREEDY, Liar. There is no defending him, or his actions. He should have been run out of town YEARS ago! And anyone who supports or defends that Idiot have been blinded by his lies and his Schemes.