KEEP THE DOOR OPEN // 11.3

Keep the Door Open

I’m going to keep this brief, because I hope you’ll move onto to the rest of this issue, which is filled with faces and voices that are mostly new to these pages. In all my years of doing this, I’ve never put any parameters on what or who goes into the magazine. It’s just got to be rad skateboarding, plain and simple. Beyond that, sponsors, gender, skin colour, and any other markers didn’t matter. If the photo, story, or interview had a spark of some sort, it was in. 

This is the first time that we’ve put together an issue with some limits, which if they’re not clear yet, they will be as you continue through the pages. We want to include everyone, always, but sometimes you just have to step back and actively make some space.

We’re seeing more people than ever before getting into skateboarding. Just the other day at my son’s school, I saw six kids with skateboards, and five of them were girls. And while we can give partial thanks to ladies at the pro level, getting promotion and support from big brands, we have to acknowledge those at the local level, skating their parks and spots, putting on events, and making an extra effort to be all-inclusive in everything they do. 

Move over and make room. Invite others in with you. Snuggle up. Share the fun. In the end, we only benefit from having more skateboarders on our side. More skateboarders might mean the difference between your local shop scraping by and thriving. More skateboarders mean more advocates for our causes. More skateboarders mean more parks and more public tolerance. Let’s make sure this door stays open for anyone with good intentions, anyone that’s here for a good time and a long time. 

—Jeff Thorburn, editor

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