The spaces between bases
Slow Impact dispatches from José Vadi and Ian Browning, a dispatch from my couch, the end of time, and more.
The definitive weekly ranking and analysis of all the skateboarding and other things online that I cannot stop consuming and how it makes me feel, personally.
Dispatch from Slow Impact
A special correspondence by José Vadi
It’s a Sunday morning at Harlow’s Cafe in Tempe, Arizona, and the fourth and last day of Slow Impact 2026. Jimmy takes his spot at the diner counter two seats to my right. He places his belongings — an overstuffed tote bag, newspaper and hat — on the open seat to his right, ignoring the weekend rush. In a gravely Philip Morris-sponsored voice, he barks his order to the nearly all-female wait staff, asking for “his usual,” passive-aggressively indicating he has a bus to catch. Two framed autographed Gin Blossoms records stare back at me, as I try not to stare at Jimmy. He scratches off no less than five large lotto tickets, murmuring damns! to himself before opening a newspaper with a full-sized image of a building in flames and the headline WAR ON IRAN.
Jimmy’s vibe felt the opposite of Slow Impact’s participants. We are not the crotchety customers expecting to be served. We know the world might fail us and it's on us to skate, dance, and try until security or life gives us the boot. I look down at my skateboard, thankful for the solo morning struggle session.
But sitting there, I daydreamed about taking Jimmy to Slow Impact.
Behold, here are ten artists creating sculptures and charcoal etchings inspired by skate spots, like Alexis Sablone’s steel chair that takes after the grates at Flushing. I’d take him to the Great Skate Debate featuring Betsy Gordon of the Smithsonian, who proclaimed Archives, bitch! to a crowd full of skaters loudly reacting to either team's hot takes. We’d hit up Cowtown Skateshop for Kyle Beachy’s Anything at All reading series, and a Closer Skateboarding Magazine photo exhibit featuring the work of Jaime Owens, Norma Ibarra and Grant Brittain. We’d end the night admiring Jordan Taylor’s acting chops at the outdoor film screening of WKND skits, with Grant Yansura and PRO rider Tom K telling behind-the-scenes stories.
I’d try to show Jimmy how skateboarding can drop a pin on a spot as much as the unknown terrain of the heart and mind, with Slow Impact pulling attendees' collective heartstrings in every direction.
Slow Impact still acts like an amoeba of a third space, fueled by the possibilities that skaters uniquely create for themselves and the communities they represent.
Highlights from the two-day morning Paper Sessions included Farran Golding's survey results of the freelance economy behind skateboard media; Bryce Noe on freestyle skateboarding and its contemporary relevance; and Lee Dubin receiving a standing ovation for their presentation connecting locations for skateboarding as “sites for disorder” with how being nonbinary, for Dubin, is a means to disorder behaviours within gender.
We skated, we laughed, we learned, some drank too much — and we hiked. On day two, Ryan Lay was a trail shepherd, taking dozens across the Papago Buttes. Caves in nearby bluffs became amphitheatres for hikers ready for stargazing. My body started crab walking its way to the top, following the pairs of hole-ridden skate shoes ahead of me, deliriously asking myself, How did skateboarding take us here?
On the final day, Daniel “Tracker Dan” Santovin, currently battling stage four cancer, said a few words before the awards ceremony. He described seeing skaters like Lay and Ted Schmitz grow up. How he left Arizona to try and ‘make it’ in California, and the irony of a slice of the skate industry now being briefly present in Tempe. It was an extremely poignant moment of the weekend that showcased the intergenerational depth of Arizona’s skate scene.
The power of the skate crew and local scenes was also evident in the Tempe Spot Seeker edits, demonstrating the capacity to get clips on the streets and in the ER (15 stitches!) and represent for your hometown. I’m curious if these crews will start their own regional Slow Impact-inspired events, like Adjacency Bias in the Pacific Northwest.
I finally met skaters I’d known through writing for years, like Free Skate Mag editor Will Harmon, Farran Golding and Josh Sabini. On their inaugural trip to the States, Sabini’s energy was infectious. Like others, I upheld part of his crowdsurfing body amidst a moshpit-filled performance of forever cancellable GG Allin’s “Bite It You Scum” by the Van Deck Parks, featuring Sean Bonnette and St. Losers Randy Ploesser and Joel Dodson on drums and guitar/vocals, respectively. Jokamundo (Adam Burns) got on the mic for covers of Young Thug’s “Hoe Tendencies” from Ryan Lay’s Endless Beauty part, and Notorious B.I.G’s “Let’s Get It On” (Dirty Harry Remix), from Antwuan Dixon’s Baker 3 classic. Planned before Dixon’s attendance was confirmed, it made Burns’ performing the song in front of Dixon that much more amazing. Almost as amazing as Allin’s “Bite It You Scum” being the anthem of perhaps the most progressive skate conference in North America. The song would be played again to an even more intense, final boss of a pit.
After my run-in with Jimmy at Harlow’s, I walked down Farmer Ave back to my room. The heat was already scorching before noon, so I followed the shade along the sidewalks before a backyard full of people caught my eye. A long table featured a makeshift LAN computer gaming center, with two rows of desktop computers and gamer-headphoned players facing each other, a giant fan blasting in their direction. With my lips chapped, my body dehydrated and sore from skating and biking around town, I stared at my PC bangin’ brethren with equal parts curiosity, empathy, and joy. Indeed, what kind of psychos would subject themselves to such conditions? I hope to continue answering that question next year when I’m hopefully back in Tempe, Arizona.
The spaces between bases
A special correspondence by Ian Browning
From the prow of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, you can see the vast landscape of Phoenix, Tempe, and Scottsdale, Arizona, standing as an affront to the blistering sun, prickly succulents, and bone-dry washes. The metropolitan area is the product of the ingenuity and effort of the residents: people who dug wells, built dams, built towers, and carved cities out of the desert.
In the past few years, the locals have constructed something even more impressive: an annual winter gathering called Slow Impact that brings skateboarders from across the world together to connect, skate, gaze inward into our culture with borderline-academic eyes, and see one of the Kyles from the Vent City podcast.
I was there, baking in the sun, wishing there weren’t cracks in my pelvis while I pushed around on my cruiser, and asked people the important questions. Just kidding. I asked about wheelbases.
No. But if I had to assume, I'd say 14.25”.
How often are you thinking about wheelbase when you're buying a board?
I don't really think about anything when I buy a board. I don't even think about the size.
What have you been up to this weekend?
Way too much — I've been skating a lot. I've been to Perry Park three times. I went to Mitchell Park to try a line with 100 tricks in a row. I got to 35 as soon as I got off the plane. That was like the only thing I really wanted to do this weekend, but maybe I could go tomorrow morning and try to get a bit closer.
I do not.
Is this your first time here?
I kept meaning to come and just hang out, but this year I was fortunate enough to get accepted to the paper session and they paid for some of my travel. Thanks to the CSEF crew for the honour.
What was your paper about?
It was about the supposed death and revival of freestyle skateboarding.
What is the highlight of the weekend for you?
I think the highlight of the weekend was probably the opening session we had at Mitchell Park. I was so excited, and I got to meet a lot of people. It's just, like, a new experience. I [also] skated so hard during that session four days later.
No.
Do you think about wheelbase at all?
Nope — I’m all about the feel.
Why do you keep coming back to Slow Impact?
This is my fourth one. I love the friends that I make and the discussions that we have about skateboarding. There are a lot of very deep and thought-provoking discussions that come out of the people, panels, and all the sessions. It's really fun.
What has been your highlight of the weekend so far?
Rolling away from a board slide on the Triangle Ledge.
Baker. I love the shape of Baker boards.
What’s been your favourite part of the weekend?
I have no clue*.
*I’m pretty sure Z 50-50'd the entire flatbar across the wedge, which was cooler than any answer he could have given.
I think this one is a 14.5”.
So you think about wheelbase?
I didn't until I got one that was too short; I had a really bad time. I ate shit so crazy going down a bank, [fell] to flat. I could never get used to that board. I think it was 14.25”.
Is this your first Slow Impact?
I didn't know this was a thing until last month.
What's your favourite thing that's happened this weekend?
The main thing we came for was Antwuan Dixon. I really enjoyed the [WKND] skits yesterday, and skating Mitchell Park.
I don’t.
Is this your first Slow Impact?
Yes, it is.
What's your impression of the weekend?
It's cool. It's like a little conference vibe: panels, people talking. Pretty cool.
What has been your favourite part?
Just vibing with the folks, as they say. It's pretty much about them. You know what I'm saying? It's good to just kick it and joke around with people.
*Antwuan was generous with his time but wanted to skate, and maybe thought the wheelbase questions were pretty silly, so I didn’t measure after we finished speaking.
Dispatch from couch
Rank: 3
Mood: 🛋️
Oh, you enjoyed those thoughtful reports from a beautiful event that centres the vast and varied ways skateboarding can be interpreted, shared, and inspiring on a deep cultural, intellectual, and personal level? Well, here's what I have to report after eating a bag of baby carrots and watching the third Professional Skateboarding League event over the weekend:
There's just something about thick red letters with a little racing stripe accent that makes a sports-centric initialism pop. There is also something to be said about an organization in the UFC that was once desperate for legitimacy, aping the branding of the worldwide leader in sports, and then, years later, entering into a broadcast partnership with said worldwide leader. Branding as manifestation, perhaps. And there is probably something else to be said about the PSL modelling their branding after both the UFC and ESPN, this inaugural season desperate for both legitimacy and success, given that its creator, Mike Mo Capaldi, has wagered his house on it.
These were some of the sharp insights I was turning over in the old mindbrain on Saturday, as I munched carrots and watched Christian Dufrene absolutely clean up on defence in his team's PSL match-up, enjoying an overall more polished event than the previous two, before being legitimately startled by this Chris Cole jump scare.
In a fittingly awkward exchange, play-by-play announcer Clint Peterson tried to fill this moment on the broadcast by asking his partner and colour commentator, Sean Malto, if he and Cole had been sponsored by DC Shoes at the same time. Malto confirmed that no, they had not, and the air sat dead for a few moments.
Want to know what else I saw while on the couch? Two-time Olympic gold-medalist Yuto Horigome no longer rides for Delta Airlines and has since jumped Airbus to All Nippon Airways.
42,000' glow up! | Images via Instagram
A suggested post for an international airline is a novel way to learn about a skateboarder switching teams, as is this video feature on Paige Heyn by The Platfrm, the Rockstar Energy-funded media outlet. In the piece, Heyn rips a few local skateparks and mentions getting on Rockstar (obviously) and moving on from Toy Machine to Girl Skateboards.
Interesting times. Anyway, the best thing I saw while on the couch was far and away this:
Video via Twitter
Ending time
Rank: 24
Mood: 🕛
If you happen to have enough power and its levers are in reach, you can not only stop time, you can end it.
This week, David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, announced that the province he governs will be adopting permanent Daylight Saving Time.
Michelle Cyca
“This decision isn’t just about clocks. It’s about making life easier for families, reducing disruptions for businesses and supporting a stable, thriving economy. I am hopeful that our American neighbours will soon join us in ending disruptive time changes,” A statement from Eby read.
Seven years ago, the province passed legislation to do away with the twice-yearly time change. Since then, the West Coast states of Washington, Oregon, and California — some of British Columbia's biggest trading partners, all of which have agreed to the idea in principle, either through legislation of their own or via polling — wouldn't or couldn't commit. The province was tired of waiting; time having dragged on too long, so March 8 will be the last time the clocks move forward in BC.
That's one way to stop time, one that most researchers say will be a net positive. There are other ways, though. Or so some would believe. Like the extreme Christian Nationalists leading the United States military, as it, and Israel, ravage Iran and Lebanon in a war that a startling number of American commanders believe will bring about the end times. Armageddon. Eschaton. The second coming of Jesus Christ.
Sara Braun
If that gets you going, you could, for a brief while on Tuesday, place a bet on Polymarket for when you thought the nukes would start dropping. Is that what the so-called prediction market meant when it said "Journalism is better when it’s backed by live markets" while announcing its partnership with Substack? Insider trading that leads to news of a nuclear holocaust.
That should stop any reasonable person in their tracks and make them ask how we can make the times less unprecedented. At least in that way. It's possible to do good things, big and small, with the time we have here. To show unprecedented levels of humanity. Care. Love. But we also need to seize those levers, because now, time races, bends, and stops at the whims of the worst of us.
In the meantime, if you need a quick break, we have access to something that lets any of us stop time for just a moment, to sit outside of it for approximately 32 seconds. All you need to do is click on the video below:
Video via Twitter
Something to consider: Getting specific with your resentments.
Dan Brooks
Good thing:
Another good thing: Brian Glenney, Indigo Willing, Neftalie Williams, and Paul O'Connor dropped a new article, "The grey work of lifestyle entrepreneurialism in skateboarding: carving out pathways in an era of precarity and flexible professionalism."
A good thing about a bad thing:
The Editors
A weird, fascinating thing:
Nate Rogers
A thing I haven't watched yet, but assume is good, and will later'd:
Good thing about a bad slop thing:
Jackson Ryan
Good pod round-up:
That is correct, another good thing (about a bad thing):
Zachariah Webb
Until next week… sometimes you just need to quit your job.
Laser Quit Smoking Massage
NEWEST PRESS
--------------------------------
A collection of essays that I think you might like. The Edmonton Journal called it a "local book set to make a mark in 2024," The CBC said it's "quirky yet insightful" (lol), and it won Trade Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2025 Alberta Book Publishing Awards.
Book cover by Hiller Goodspeed.
Right, Down + Circle
ECW PRESS
--------------------------------
I wrote a book about the history and cultural impact of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater that you can find at your local bookshop or order online now. I think you might like this one, too.
Photo via The Palomino.
