KiCk push…..and coast.
One of the things i love about my drive to work comes when i hit Fairfax and 3rd. Everyday between 7:30 and 8:00am i get the chance to see the kids that go to Fairfax high all looking “Cooler than fresh produce” (I overheard one of em say yesterday). “Cool” nowadays is something that brings a smile to my face every time i see it. When I was in high school, the notion of what was “cool” was fairly homogeneous. White T’s, baggy denims, fitted hat, and some J’s. The occasional “throwback” jersey was on reserve for those days you needed to look really fresh (maybe a date with the neighborhood bust down or something).
But now, what’s “cool” is to define whats cool for you. If it’s the hipster look, then you rock hipster…skinny jeans, flannel shirt, couple of bracelets and a pair of wayfarers (and lets not forget the Nike dunks that usually cap off the look). But here’s the cool thing about what i see everyday….(other than the colors that the young men rock with ill regard to old stereotypes)…everyday i see kids (from every walk of life) that are as comfortable on a skateboard, fixie or bmx bike as I am walking down the street.
When i was that age, if it wasn’t a basketball, it was a football. If it wasn’t a football, it was probably a basketball – lol (not saying i didn’t love the before mentioned cause i do). But, what i can say is this, to pick up a skateboard while rocking skinny jeans would have been social suicide for most guys i knew who looked like me in an urban city.
So now, when i see these kids…completely at ease with who they are – individuality present in all aspects of their lives….i cant help but smile BIG.
A few years back Lupe Fiasco made a song called KICK, PUSH…
I remember watching the video with my younger cousin who at the time said “aint too many guys on the South Side can be caught dead riding a skateboard through the hood. That shit they do on a skateboard is raw as hell though.” Fast forward a few years….that same cousin is studying fashion and has started a skater clothing line…
I love seeing kids that are completely comfortable being themselves – no matter what it looks like, or what their hobbies are…
Lupe said it best…KICK PUSH and COAST
...a little bit of this and a lot more of that... 
what a “cool” and worthy commentary… it should be posted at the school on fairfax and so many more around the country.