Is Skateboarding A Crime?

This is an essay responding to the issue of if skateboarding should be illegal for Language Arts.

It’s been a hot topic for a while now. The main reason is because all the adults think these young teenage skateboarders are just trying to be rebels and cause trouble. Truth is though, these kids are just trying to have fun. Skateboarding is more than a sport, it’s a lifestyle. There’s no reason why the law should take that away from millions of skateboarders, and today I’m going to show you all why it shouldn’t be taken away.

Skating is more than just a sport. Its more than just grinding rails and “ruining your property”. It’s a life. There’s so much more to it. There’s just a feeling you get when you land a trick that makes you feel better than anything else. Skateboarding accepts every culture. The many friendships that people have made through skating is amazing. There’s no reason to take all that away from these kids. They’re not destroying property at all. We leave scuff marks on rails at most. Maybe the person that freaks out about a black mark on their shiny precious rail should be the one changing their lifestyle. People need to lighten up a bit and let us teenagers be teenagers.

The cruelty towards skaters should be the real crime. The law is harsh on skaters only because the other teenagers set bad examples for us. They see us as rebels and smokers and stupid kids, but really skaters don’t do that kind of stuff.  One of my friends was once fined $200 because he sat on a bench eating a sandwich with his skateboard right next to him. I’ve seen videos on YouTube of skaters being threatened by people when the skaters didn’t even do anything besides try to have a little fun. There’s videos of skaters being attacked by uncivilized people. The funny thing is, most of them are elderly. If the elders want some respect, skaters should be treated the same.

Skateboarding also shouldn’t be a crime because there are thousands out there making money off of it. There are multiple millionaires in the skate industry. Why would you want to make some kids future illegal? Even pro skateboarders get chased by the law for leaving a tiny scuff on a rail. The owners will also say it’s for insurance reasons, but we skaters know what we’re getting ourselves into. If I get hurt on someone’s property, I will pay for my own injuries. People think we are disrespectful teens but we can actually be nicer than most people.

It’s funny how some cities worry about skaters more than actual crime like drugs or stealing. In Philadelphia, the law enforcement actually just looks for the skaters. It’s almost like discrimination. Theres no reason the skateboarder should have to deal with that. They get called potheads and rebellious teens when in reality they can’t do drugs because it would mess up their skating and they are actually probably some of the most respectful of the teens if they’re actually treated with respect too.

Skateboarding isn’t really a crime. It’s really just discrimination and misunderstanding. Some few skaters may set a bad example but that doesn’t mean you should make the whole sport illegal. It ruins it for everyone. Skateboarding is not a crime, it’s a way of life, a way to meet people we’ll never forget, a career, maybe just a hobby, but skateboarding is truly the best thing that’s probably happened to me and it’s just irrational to take that away from all of us.

This is a parody of This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams. Its supposed to be kind of based off of “Who Stole The Cookies From The Cookie Jar”. The tone of the piece is kind of sarcastic and the mood is trying to make the reader feel jealous.

The Cookie

I have stolen

the cookies

that were in

the jar

and which

you were probably

hiding

from little children

Forgive me

they were so crunchy

so chocolaty

and so yummy in my tummy 

Compare & Contrast

This is my Compare & Contrast piece for Language Arts.

There are so many weird things us peoples believe in. From phobias to religions and even superstitions, there’s crazy stuff people will buy. It’s almost like a person’s mind is a wacky book, like The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The stuff in that book shouldn’t compare to some things in our own world, but today we’ll find out how weird our world is compared to a book that has a cheese god.

In this book there’s some pretty crazy religions. On a planet named Nano, a supposed recreation of  Earth, there was a cult. This cult believed in the God of Cheese. The form of their god was basically a fifty foot block of cheese. The religion banned eating any other things other than cheese in their village. There are other weird religions in books like The Lord of the Rings. They see dead people with weird names as their gods, and pray to them when they are about to die in battle. Now, in the real world, there is a religion called Jediism. It worships the practice of the fictional “Jedi” from the movie Star Wars by George Lucas. They carry around light up swords, representing light sabers. They believe that they can use the “Force”, the Force is the energy that holds the Universe together and flows through every material thing. These Jedis can control the force. So yeah, the religions are just as weird in real life.

In The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy there is also a character that has a fear of bodybuilders. Odd, right? Well, this book is just as weird as our world. There are tons of phobias that are just as wacky as that. Here are some of the weird phobias that actually exist. Anatidaephobia  is is the fear of being watched by a duck. Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter clinging to the top your mouth. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words. There’s fear of wet wood, fear of chins, and fear of bald people. There’s just tons. What can I say?

Just because The Hitchhikers’ Guide and our world are so similar doesn’t mean that everything is alike. Some stuff is just too weird in that book we couldn’t even think of it existing. For example, there is a planet inhabited by mattresses that flop around in a swamp and the only word in their vocabulary is “flurp”.  I’m pretty sure there’s nothing like that on our planet.

So, in conclusion there is so much similar things between a fictional book and our world but there is some things that are just too weird in The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. From weird phobias to very odd religions, I guess our world isn’t that different than an odd book.