Everything Jason Kottke likes about the culture of parkour is what I like about skateboard culture. From what little time I’ve spent moping around skate parks, the words discipline and determination spring lively to mind. Where there’s vanity or overt oneupmanship it’s kept hard in check, or scorned as out of line, at least on the surface. These skate kids will try and fail to hit a trick a hundred times or more, then once they can stick it they’ll pull it off a couple of times and move on to the next thing whether anybody was watching or not. Over and over and over. Fashion is a big thing yeah, but you don’t go bragging about how you can pull that blunt side half 6 stair whatever whatever whatever, you do it or gtfo, and don’t be doing the same thing tomorrow. The association between young skaters and recklessness or apathy is such bullshit, at least from what I’ve seen. I can’t imagine any 4H club or boy scouts that could teach discipline and detail the way they learn it in the parks.