The other day I was listening to Aster Aweke and…I dunno…sometimes music just transports you to a place…in this case…it was Addis Ababa. I went to Addis in 2012 on my honeymoon and it was transformative. I lived with a few guys from Ethiopia throughout college, so I had participated in a few cultural benchmarks. I was familiar with the sound of the language, the food, the music and some dance.
When I went to Addis in 2012…I did a bit of exploring on my own…amongst the good, there are two things that really stuck out in my mind
1. NSR: In the city, I tend to look down. I once happened on this street that appeared to be the only street in town where everyone went to get their car fixed. It was about 2 blocks long off of one of the main drags, and every shop on both sides had guys working on cars or in discussions about working on cars. In the states, I’d kind of expect it to be a gross street with all kinds of rusting crap littering the landscape. But in Addis…it was lively…sure there was some rust but ALL of it was being worked on. What I remember most was there was tiny shards of broken glass everywhere…Presumably from broken windows and windshields…but it absolutely covered the ground with such a fine dust that the ground glowed. Like literally glowed.
2. Also NSR, but I remember walking downtown near this lion statue and saw something I hadn’t seen before: I was surrounded by skateboarders. It was the only city that we had been to where I saw anyone skateboarding. I was transfixed. I can’t really come up with any other word to describe it than ‘dope’. It was dope.
As a white dude, I always feel a bit strange commenting on or questioning other cultures - as if there isn’t enough of that - but I’ve watched quite a few @ethiopiaskate videos and have yet to see anyone rocking a pair of dunks. And I love that for two reasons…1. Nike hasn’t totally taken over the world. And 2. How can anyone gatekeep when there’s little to gatekeep with?
While we’re over here talking about whether or not these baby blue velvet shoes should only be worn or purchased by ‘real skateboarders’, real skateboarders on the other side of the world couldn’t care less.
That is all.