Sunday's Best

"Do what you love. Love what you do."

To Skateboard Or Not To Skateboard

"Cowabunga, dude! Skateboarding in Kabul?" That's Mikey expressing his surprise after Master Splinter told him over the phone that he's being invited by a clothing company to teach skateboarding lessons to kids in Kabul, Afghanistan.  

The teenage swashbuckling sewer-dwelling turtle as skateboarding teacher in Afghanistan is far fetched even for a beloved cartoon character but the skateboarding kids in Kabul are not.

Young skateboarders skillfully maneuver the dusty and pot-hole 

ridden streets of Kabul. 

Skateboards first surfed the sidewalks and pavements of Southern California during the 50s. Since then, it has evolved into a popular culture involving a skilled tribe of people—school children, teenagers like Mikey and his dudes, young adults (dudes and dudettes), and even some grown-up men who defy the challenges posed by their sagging assess and weakening knees due to age and degeneration—who fly and ply the concrete jungle with their boards. Dogs and monkeys have dabbled in skateboarding too just check YouTube.      

Skateboarding, in fact, has permeated almost all asphalt and concrete jungles around the world and it created  niche  micro-cultures of individuals wanting to have a creative outlet within societies regardless of cultural background, social status, age, or even gender. 
So, what's the big deal about a skateboarding school in the heart of Kabul? I'm not sure. Is there something wrong with Afghan children skateboarding in the streets of Kabul? Maybe.  

I must admit, there's this part of me that is discomfited by idea of skateboarding in post-Taliban Kabul—a still fragile time when Afghanistan as a self-ruling "free" country is yet to show political and cultural oomph. Afghanistan is in the throes of rebuilding, redefining, and re-enforcing its identity as an ancient nation of strong-willed people who have endured and struggled under different invaders and oppressive regimes and many armed conflicts just in the last three decades. What remains of the Afghan culture as a whole after the Taliban rule of tyranny are vestiges of its glorious past. Now that music, movies, TV, books, beauty pageants, porn, and a whole lot more of forbidden things banned by the Taliban are once again back in the mainstream, I am hoping for caution through a more tempered approach in introducing things like a skateboard, which is very pop culture Americana. 
Perhaps, I'm still enamored with the idyllic scenes of kite flying Kabul children portrayed in the book and movie, "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. But then again, that was pre-Taliban era.     
Eureka!

Afghan kids flying on boards in the streets of war-ravaged Kabul. 

Skateboarding in Kabul? Why not? It's 2011 and it's been 10 years since the US with the help of British Special Forces and the Northern Alliance invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban Government. Osama is dead.    

Obviously, I've had several turnarounds while writing this post (within a span of 20 minutes) whether I should problematize or antagonize the promotion or introduction of skateboards in Afghanistan or whether I should just take it as it is and marvel at the heartfelt and guileless hunger of Afghan kids for something purposeful and for something they can claim as their own. 

And then, the remarkable story of how Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz and the "Surfing 4 Peace" movement with the help of One Voice made many Palestinian surfers in Gaza happy when they received donated old surfboards from Israel came to mind. Their story, which received considerable media attention, was an inspiring one and it proved that a surfboard can become a bridge between two sides. New surfboards came and a wave of support landed on the Gaza shores straight from California through the Gaza Surf Relief started by Seweryn “Sev” Sztalkoper.
If good things can come from boards like the surfboards in Gaza then it must be a good sign too that boards with wheels have made its way through the urban maze of Kabul, the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. 

“It is solely because of the support of Skateistan that I am standing now.” Murza, one of the skateboarding Kabul kids in the short documentary, "Skateistan"

Funded by Dazed & Confused and Diesel (the Italian clothing and apparel company) through an artistic collaboration called "Diesel New Voices," "Skateistan" is one of the three short documentaries tackling youth "micro-cultures" in different places around the world. The documentaries aimed to highlight "how a small number of individuals can have a positive social impact by going against the grain, and forging a shared identity through opposition to social pressures." This documentary was part of the official selection during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.       

FROM THE FILMMAKERS:

Skateistan: To Live And Skate Kabul by ORLANDO VON EINSIEDEL is a beautifully shot film that follows the lives of a group of young skateboarders in Afghanistan. Operating against the backdrop of war and bleak prospects, the Skateistan charity project is the world’s first co-educational skateboarding school, where a team of international volunteers work with girls and boys between the ages of 5 and 17, an age group largely untouched by other aid programmes.

Instant Superstar Aimi Eguchi: The Best of Everything

Do you remember the Andrew Niccol movie "S1mone" starring Al Pacino and Winona Ryder? It's the story of one film producer's soon-to-doomed response when his star walks off set so he creates a digital actress he names S1mone. She becomes an overnight sensation and fools people that she's real, as in human.

The S1mone example is a not so far-fetched idea at all. Although graphic artists have done the amalgamation of several features of different individuals rolled into one before in print and photography, we are yet to see this digital "manipulation" of sorts to take off and flourish on TV and Film creating a "real" superstar like S1mone (but of course sans the drama).

In 2007, Japan released a female performing hologram character named Hatsune Miku. She became an instant hit and was showcased during live events and was aggressively featured in mass marketing campaigns.

And now, the Japanese candy company Ezaki Glico is making waves, wows,oohs, and ahas when it featured in its most recent candy commercial the newest addition to the famous Japanese girl brand group AKB48, which serves as the candy's major endorser.

Her name is Aimi Eguchi and she definitely is beautiful and the best of everything (or everyone).

Watch her charm you with her typical Japanese cute shyness:

Aimi Eguchi created a fuss among AKB48 millions of fans when she was first introduced as the girl band's newest member through a candy commercial and not the same way as before, which was in an internationally televised popular awards show.

Watch the girls and let them make you think that you need a candy right now:

She's real.

She is real as real according to most of her fans. She has her own profile in AKB48's official website detailing her hometown and age. She appeared together with the group in several print and photo ad campaigns.

But she's not what you think she really is. There's no major birther controversy here. Have a look how she came into being:

No doubt, Aimi Eguchi is appealing, delightful, and really attractive. She's the best of everything after all.  

Les Miz Polish Flash-Mob Singing

For the Les Miz super fans or those familiar with the musical, you won't be needing translation because you know this song by heart.

For the uninitiated, the video features the artists in the 2011 Polish Original Cast Album recording of Les Miserables promoting the album's release through flash-mob singing in one of Warsaw's largest shopping malls.

I know some people who won't be able to resist in joining the chorus if they happen to be in that mall. They might steal the show too but their movements are for Cats the Musical only.

Jose Antonio Vargas: Define American

There are an estimated 11.1 million illegal immigrants in the US right now. Many of these illegal immigrants are faceless, nameless, and with no permanent home.

Tell me if this person doesn’t fall into the definition of the usual American:

• He grew up in Mountain View, California.
• He attended Crittenden Middle School, Mountain View High School, and San Francisco State University and studied Political Science & Black Studies
• Even before he graduated, he has already worked in publications like Mountain View Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Daily News
• After finishing college, he was hired by the Washington Post
• In 2007, he and other colleagues were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for their coverage of the Virginia Tech University shootings
• Writes an online column for the Washington Post called “Clickocracy”
• 2009, he joined The Huffington Post as Technology and Innovations Editor
• He’s a true master of the social media 
• Co-producer and writer, The Other City, a documentary about the AIDS epidemic

His name is Jose Antonio Vargas. His stellar accomplishments certainly eclipse many of the curriculum vitae and résumés of a lot of ordinary Americans like him except that his life story is more than extraordinary.

Vargas came to the US as a 12-year old child. His mother sent him to the US to live with his grandparents in the Bay Area with someone introduced to him as his “uncle.” This “uncle” (a person who facilitates the border crossing of illegal immgrants) was his ticket to the American life, totally unbeknownst to him then.

He lived 20 years of his life afraid, extra careful, and vigilant because he doesn’t want people to know his secret, which he only found out when he went to DMV to get a driver’s license when he was 16, one of the passports to official adulthood, and found out that his permanent resident card or green card was fake.

In an article he wrote today for  The New York Times Magazine, Vargas officially outed himself as an undocumented immigrant. He recounted the details of his Moses-like story except that there there was no threat to his life when he left the Philippines. His mother wanted a better life for him. He made good use of the opportunity he was given and he succeeded.

"I'm an American, I just don't have the right papers." - Jose Antonio Vargas

In the hopes of re-directing and re-igniting a constructive dialogue on immigration reform especially concerning illegal immigrants in the education system, he founded "Define America." What really is the definition of an American? What is a true American?  


Jose's life story is just one of the many other stories of undocumented immigrants in the US today. He may have successfully surpassed many obstacles during his 20-year ordeal, he now hopes that Americans will listen to the stories of the others who are still undocumented. He wants to make a change. Watch him tell his story and define what is American:

The Father, the Son, and the Sparrow

The young boy asked his father, "Dad, let's go camping this weekend?" The father, busy watching a football game on TV the said, "We'll see. I have a game of golf with our clients. It's important."

When weekend came, sure enough the boy's father left early at first brush of sunlight to head to the golf course. 

Ten years later, the teenager asked his father, "Dad, can you take me to the DMV to get my driver's license?"

"Son, ask your mom. I have investors coming from Europe to entertain. We need that for our business. I'm sure you understand that," the Dad said.

"But Mom is busy with her book club and bake sale," the son replied.

After 30 years, the father now a retiree, paid his son a visit in his top-floor corner office downtown. 

"Son, let's go fishing. I still have the fishing rods you gave me when you got your first pay cheque."

"Dad, I'm sorry but I'm busy. Next time, call my secretary first it's a long way to town. I have a board meeting this weekend and I'm heading to Russia next week for business. Next time, we'll go but call me first."       

The story above needs no explanations. No matter how pressed you are with time, always devote a special moment with your love ones whether it's a brief phone call, a sweet text message or email, a charming postcard, a cute Post-It reminder, and other small but meaningful gestures of affection and generosity,   

"Minor things can become moments of great revelation when encountered for the first time."                                                       

                   - Dame Margot Fonteyn, English premier ballerina 

Here's an interesting video that proves beautiful moments shared with love ones can really change a life, a person's future, and relationships:

Well-Lived Life: World's Oldest Living Person, 114, dies

Guiness Book of Records' Oldest Living Person has died.

Brazil's Maria Gomez Valentim died in the hospital on Sunday after suffering from pneumonia, which was later on complicated by an infection. She was 114 and only days away from her supposed to be 115th birthday on July 6.

Born on 1896, she was born in the time of Brazil's Old Republic (1889-1930) when women like her were barred from voting. She survived a military dictatorship and witnessed her country's rise to superpower status in South America.  

She had one son, four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren.