Huh?

Simple Magic is a newsletter about skateboarding, the internet, and other means of escape. It's written by me, Cole Nowicki. Every week I publish the "Simply Ranked" Friday post along with monthly longform pieces. Those are usually out on a Monday, but sometimes Tuesday, and every so often, Wednesday. The 'sletter is also lucky to feature an expert wing of contributors. More on them below.

Who? (In the third person)

Cole Nowicki is a writer and publisher living in Vancouver. He was a columnist for King Skateboard Magazine, lead writer and researcher for the skateboarding documentary series Post Radical, and he wrote a book about the history and cultural impact of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater called Right, Down + Circle. His work has appeared in Thrasher Magazine, Closer Skateboarding, The Walrus, The Tyee, Quartersnacks, the Toronto Star, VICE, and elsewhere.

Subscriptions

Simple Magic is free to read and nothing is behind a paywall, but who am I to stop you if you want to support the newsletter with your hard-earned monies?

There are two paid subscription tiers, Custodian of Simple Magic and Champion of Simple Magic, that you can sign up for monthly/annually for $2.5/$25 or $5/$50.

If you get tired of me, you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contributors

One thing that becoming a paid subscriber does is help pay for Simple Magic's growing roster of contributors, who are some of the best writers in (and out of) skateboarding today. That includes Max Harrison-Caldwell, Mike Munzenrider, José Vadi, Ian Browning, Zach Harris, Andrew Murrell, Christian N. Kerr, Natalie Porter, and Ted Barrow.

You can find their special correspondences here.

Other fun stuff with friends

Dirt x Simple Magic
This is Sensuous Skateboarding, a series from Dirt x Simple Magic that takes a look, whiff, listen, taste, and feel of skateboarding’s effect on the senses. Paved with desireTed Barrow on listening for meaning in the negative space.Simple MagicTed BarrowUnder the overpassSkateboarding among the dirt and grime, there’
Ranked & Filed
An experimental co-production that brings you the headline story from the “Simply Ranked” Friday newsletter in multimedia form, courtesy of Skate Bylines. Follow Skate Bylines on Instagram, Bluesky, YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Courthouse drop: Tyshawn Jones sues Supreme | May 19, 2025 Tom Schaar: The best of what’s
Antisocial Skateboard Shop x Simple Magic
The perfect collab.

Contact

Email: colenowicki [at] gmail.com
Instagram, Bluesky, Twitter: @colenowicki


Sparrow logo by Allan Khorsheed. Newsletter name inspired by this totally real book title from Hiller Goodspeed.