When I was in high school, I hated being the ‘new kid’. At college tours and orientations, I balked and was irritated by the way the students were crowded together and talked down to, herded like cattle. When, during orientation, we were finally given freedom to explore the campus, I made a point of getting [...]
I often doubt myself. I doubt my determination. I doubt my stamina. I doubt my ability to reach my dreams. Sometimes I even doubt my ability to have dreams. I’m thirty years old and I began my journey in parkour just over a year ago. What the hell was I thinking? Too old, yes. Too [...]
My job has recently taken me on a two-week trip to Taiwan. Since my parents and the large majority of their friends were raised in Taiwan, I’ve heard plenty about the island growing up, and there were expectations for the trip. Most notably, everyone I knew who had any experience with Taiwan made [...]
I recently read a thread on a parkour and freerunning forum, where the original poster was asking for advice. He had regular run-ins with some bullies who made fun of him for training parkour, and he needed help with how to handle it. The majority of the respondents had the right idea — ignore your aggressors, they advised, and pursue your own training.
Diversity isn’t really something we need to talk about when we’re on the concrete. The only thing that matters is how hard we’re training, how hard we’re pushing ourselves. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to be. For advocates of a discipline that we tout as being great for everyone regardless of background, we sometimes are unaware of the insensitive implications of our speech.