This skateboarder poet is Mike Vallely. He is speaking to a group of young aggressive in-line skaters. Skateboarders often attacked skaters and made fun of them. But not Mike Valley.

The time was 1996 and I was making a feature-length documentary on the aggressive rollerblader revolution that was taking place at that time. It was a rainy night in Los Angeles and some of the team Senate LA skaters were going to a store to hear a skateboarder share his challenging relationship with his father.

I was blown away by the clarity and brilliance of Mike Vallely. What he said related to my experience with my father. Difficult for us to speak to one another and honestly say how we felt. Back in the 1990s skateboarders were known to be less than friendly to rollerbladers often belittling them.

Mike clearly didn't feel that way and understood that he was talking to a group of boys and young men and a few women who were like-minded as inline skaters. They loved to skate and they loved the culture. To a large extent (although not totally) the era of aggressive rollerblading is over but the skateboarder culture continues and Mike Vallely has become a legend.
Thank you Mike Vallely.