I usually shy away from posting older material on the blog or at least save it for Throwback Thursdays but that’s the great thing about being your own boss, you can decide the rules, and today I figured I’d do just that and throw up one of my favorite episodes of Epicly Later’d, 2012’s Ellisa Steamer profile.
I’ve probably watched most of the Epicly Later’d’s multiple times over the years and Elisa’s episode is no different in that it’s a great watch. So why highlight after the fact? I guess this is my way of aiming the spotlight on an issue that’s probably more relevant today than it has been in years, feminism.
Something in the air has changed, maybe for the first time in a long time woman are starting to celebrate each other without the approval of men and I want to believe that most people think that’s great. Woman most certainly don't need my help championing their various achievements and contributions to society but what I can help shine a light on are the woman of counterculture, those who are a minority in a scene made up of minorities.
Hopefully readers get the sense that I do this anyways without the need to highlight it these last three plus years but as always there will be unsung heroes.
For every prime- time news report on the Kacy Catanzaro’s out there there are woman doing equal or greater things with no fanfare what so ever. No division 1 athletic advantages, no sponsorships, and most certainly no support from the mainstream media. Even the powerhouse feminist forums like Jezebel tend to focus on the most vanilla of vanilla in their pop culture reporting, offering a much needed woman’s point of view on topics that unfortunately are as tired as the stereotypes they fight to break. Do we really need another blurb on Beyonce? Speaking for myself I don’t and while some fight to get a female led superhero movie made I’d prefer to see interesting things come out of the movement rather than female driven versions of tiered “men’s staples.”
So with that here is Vice’s Epicly Later’d profile on skater Elissa Stemaer, watch it, get inspired and go do something interesting and different from your norm.
Part 1 looks at the first female pro skater ever, speaking to her from her home about her Toy Machine years from Jamie Thomas, Mike Maldonado, Brian Anderson, and Chad Muska.In Part 2, we hear more about what it was like for the best girl skater in the world to hang out in an all-dudes world.
In Part 3 we find our heroine fully confident in her role as a pro skateboarder. When she was not breaking boards, she was breaking hearts, as illustrated by the love ballad a young skater penned in her honor. Elissa also decides to leave Toy Machine and joins the controversial, but talented, Bootleg team.
In the last part of the Elissa Steamer Epicly Later'd series Elissa explains what "life after skate" is like and how surfing may actually be the key to her future.
