skate-culture

I am a little bit obsessed with Claudia Conway. The daughter of two public figures—one a spokesperson for the Trump White House, the other a notorious Twitter #resister—Claudia rose to prominence over the summer in lockdown. She found TikTok like the rest of us did. She quickly disproved any assertions that her parents actually got along, speculation that had long been purported not just by gossip magazines, but also by reputable newspapers. And almost as soon as the Internet became sure she was who she claimed to be, Claudia went viral.

This past summer, I attempted to learn how to skate and immerse myself in the surprisingly exclusive New York City skating community. Since Alexis Sablone, a 2008 Barnard graduate and one of the best professional female skateboarders in the United States, developed her professional-level skating while at Columbia, I assumed that I could at least learn some basic skating skills and perhaps find a skate community to be a part of on campus.

With most classes and club meetings being held according to Columbia’s East Coast time zone, international students have been left to study or find community during the wee hours of the night. Most first-years and transfers haven’t even had the opportunity to explore campus or experience college life in daylight.

As more and more New Yorkers find themselves unemployed or desperately seeking funding to make ends meet amid the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City has struggled to support its rich arts and culture scene. As clubs, galleries, and music venues close across the city, artists and small businesses in Upper Manhattan lack access to resources, with self-employed artists and gig workers struggling the most.

“That girl … what did they do to that girl?” asks one of the boys, laughing as the camera pans to the quiet street. From offscreen, another boy drunkenly yells, “If that gets around, then you might go to jail.” The quaint street in Steubenville, Ohio, becomes eerily suspicious as anxious text messages between the boys appear on-screen. Months later, these texts would become incriminating evidence in the rape of a 16-year-old girl known as Jane Doe.

In my living room sits a pile of takeout menus—about 7,000 of them—representing every cuisine I can think of. The average household probably only has a handful of takeout menus sitting around the kitchen, or maybe a few slapped on refrigerators for convenience, yet I have developed a bizarre fascination with these pieces of paper.

One of my mother’s favorite stories, which she likes to tell at my expense, has to do with my first day of preschool. I suppose I was a bit of a brat when I was younger. It happened to be someone’s birthday, and I apparently exclaimed that it would be my birthday soon as well. Thankfully, my teacher was feeling diplomatic and told the class, “Let’s sing Happy Birthday to Philip!” to which I responded, “Who’s Philip?” Up until then, I hadn’t left the sheltered confines of home where my parents had only called me by my Korean name. I didn’t know who “Philip” was, but I would come to find out very soon.

It is undeniable that one of the most attractive features of Columbia is its location. New York City is a metropolis often referred to as the greatest of its kind. Songs, TV shows, movies, and most significantly in this context, Columbia’s admissions literature, suggest that New York City is a melting pot of people. So, that begs the question: Why does it seem that for a good portion of Columbia students, New York City begins and ends with Manhattan—and if we’re feeling particularly adventurous, downtown Brooklyn? It seems to be lost to the Columbia community that New York is comprised of five very distinct boroughs that should be individually recognized and respected.

Never once did I think that I would see a Korean movie win Best Picture at the Oscars in my lifetime. To see Bong Joon Ho rise and accept the American film industry’s highest accolade was joyfully dissonant, after feeling invisible in the media for so long. But now that the after-party is over, suddenly my vision cleared, and I’ve started to question this whole affair.