Returning to the Source: A "Polarizing" Experiment in Existential Archeology

My friend Pete has been posting a ton of “Polarizer” clips recently on Instagram. For those who may not know, “Polarizer” is a term coined by Neil Blender and Steve Claar for what are essentially modern takes on 1960s skateboard designs. Apparently, Blender started making them, and when Claar saw it he said, “…call that a polarizer because people are either going to like it or hate it.” Hence, the name was born. Here is a really cool video of Blender and crew getting Polar.

 

Like anything with skateboards, there are lots of different variants. I won’t go into all the nuances, but here is a decent primer. I really like this intro quote from that link, "Initially, my pursuit of polarizer skateboarding felt like a leap of faith into a void. In hindsight, it was a leap into a wormhole that took me back to the early years of skateboarding."

 

Well, just this week I got my first “Polarizer.” Why? Well, fun, mostly. Pete’s clips (mentioned above) have been quite inspiring. Also, the two photos I mentioned in my previous post just really grabbed me on some deep existential level. When I see something that looks like fun, I instantly think, “I want in on that!” At this stage of life, I think I am more “ready” to understand, embrace, grapple, and appreciate the purity of what once was, before it became the skateboarding we know today. My first skateboard in the early to mid 1980s was not too different from a 1960s board, or a modern Polarizer.  To that end, I consider this a Polarizing project into experimental existential archeology. This is a photo of my very first skateboard (not my actual board, but same model).

 

 

 

My Polarizer set-up is a pretty straight-forward one from The HeatedWheel (Blender’s company). To what extent will I be “polarized” by this thing? Remains to be seen. Boston is a virtual Hoth landscape at the moment (with a “large” storm predicted later this week, too). So, it might be a bit before I really get to tap into this project. Here is my Polarizer. I will certainly update as this situation develops.