José Vadi’s “Chipped” Looks at Life from a Skateboarder’s Lens

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A chipped skateboard — one where a piece has come off the nose or tail — is the symbol of a boarder who is dedicated to their deck, held together by nothing but grip tape. It’s also a metaphor for lessons learned, observes José Vadi in his new memoir, “Chipped.” “No matter the age, being a skateboarder lends itself to caustic stares from passersby,” he writes. Vadi delves into skate culture, from its music to its videos, and what it means to identify as a skateboarder. We talk to Vadi about how that lens has shaped his views of public space, geography and his life as a writer. Guests: José Vadi, author, "Chipped: Writing from a Skateboarder's Lens"; Vadi's previous book is "Inter State: Essays from California" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:43.1	From KQED.
0:59.1	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:02.6	Every hobby or passion will shape the way you see the place you live.
1:07.4	Cyclists will know the wiggle through San Francisco, runners the nearest trails or track.
1:09.3	Birders have their secret spots.
1:13.6	But it may be that skateboarders have the most intimate connection to the city, or so Jose Badi argues in his new book, Chipped.
1:17.6	Because it's skateboarders who know and love the forgotten places,
1:20.6	under the bar, behind the school, down by the freeway,
1:24.6	and they reimagine those places with their boards and their cameras.
1:28.3	So today, Body will give us a skater's view of the city and our times.
1:33.3	That's all coming up next after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal. I want to start with a place known to skaters all over the Bay Area, but perhaps less well known among civilians, among whom I count myself.
1:58.0	It is the Rockridge Curbs, that bit of Bart parking lot that's turned
2:02.7	into a tiny carnival nearly every day by a variety of skaters working on their tricks. It's
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