#jean mcclung
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Little Book Review: Mischief and Mercy
Author: Jean McClung.
Publication Date: 1993.
Genre: Folklore/religion.
Premise: In twelve short stories, Jean McClung relates tales of Catholic saints from Mary Magdalene to Jean Vianney. Plus, a bonus story for Jesus!
Thoughts: To this day, I’m not sure if this book was a gift from my moderately devout Methodist mother, who wanted to be supportive of my brief but intense sixth-grade-girl fascination with Joan of Arc, or my more seriously devout Catholic paternal grandmother, who generally left the subject of religion alone with me but was jazzed about said Joan of Arc phase.* Either way, I don’t think the woman who gave me this book knew about all the sex, violence, and frank discussion of upsetting topics within its pages. Luckily, sixth-grade Emily was a hardy creature, ready to read about incest and torture and serial killers without batting an eye.
This is a unique book, obviously very personal to its author, who is (was?) primarily a Texas physician, not an author, and religious but not in the most traditional sense. It’s rare to find a book that’s such a labor of love and, while it’s not always artful, it’s nearly always interesting. McClung introduces each story with a personal anecdote, some of which have stuck with me for years. (Notably, she has a funny-sad riff about the resemblance of the Holy Family to her clients when she was a social worker: “What do you mean, you’re not homeless? Lady, you just had a baby in a barn.”) I skipped some of the stories that seemed less exciting as a kid, but this time I read them all, and some of the new-to-me ones were terrific.
The stories fall into the following tiers:
Great Tier: “Amadour and Veronica: His Own Account of the True Image” (a beautiful story about an evolving marriage), “Valentine: Valentine’s House” (an equally beautiful story about St. Valentine converting to Christianity out of politeness and performing forbidden marriages), and “Saint Nicholas of Myra: Voyages into the Snow Country” (an unexpectedly terrific story about Santa Claus dissociating during the First Council of Nicaea--possibly my favorite).
Very Good Tier: “Paul the Simple: the Haunted Inn” (a spooky and creative story about a desert hermit who escapes a cosmic horror of an inn), “Dymphna and Gerebernus: The Legend of Saint Dymphna” (a straightforward but moving story of an Irish princess who ran away from her predatory father and the origins of the unusual mental-health practices in the Belgian village of Geel), and “Gilles de Rais and Joan of Arc: Little Key, Set Me Free” (a shocker about a kid who escapes the serial killer Gilles de Rais with the help of the departed Joan of Arc). These stories were all really effective, but not as deep or moving as the “great” ones.
Pretty Good Tier: “Mary Magdalene: And Did Those Feet in Ancient Times” (a young man in first-century Gaul recalls how Mary Magdalene and her siblings visited him as a child), “Robert Southwell: An Undiscovered Letter from Robert Southwell, S.J.” (some formless but sharply written musings from a sixteenth-century Catholic martyr), and “Judas: the Mystery of the Missing Matzoh” (Jesus goes all Ashton Kutcher at the Last Supper). These were all fun, but lacked a little complexity or structure.
Okay Tier: “Wenceslas: Good King Wenceslas Went Out” (Wenceslas has some bad sibling rivalry experiences), “Francis and Clare: the First Christmas Pageant” (Francis of Assisi is a Manic Pixie Dream Saint), and “Jean Vianney: Parish Priest and Sometime Deserter from Napoleon’s Grand Army” (a psychic priest gets stressed out). These stories suffer the most from McClung’s occasional artlessness; they all have potential, but have organizational problems.
Bad Tier: “Junípero Serra: In Payment for the Chickens.” I think this story is about colonialism? It’s very muddled and faintly unpleasant, and I’m not sure at all what message it’s trying to convey.
Overall, it’s not the most consistent collection, but it’s always fascinating, with some real gems.
Hot Goodreads Take: Not from Goodreads, but one Amazon reviewer was absolutely appalled that children might read the stories, due to their “dark and twisted” nature. I suppose not all sixth-graders are as hardboiled as I was, but my strongest reaction to these stories was “yeah, that’s pretty messed up. I wonder if we have any Doritos?”
*The Joan of Arc phase was a little about religion; I was pretty devout back then, albeit in a way that didn’t “count” in the eyes of my evangelical Christian classmates, and I felt some loyalty to my dad’s religion in the face of a bunch of “Catholics aren’t real Christians” nonsense. But mostly it was about a teen girl wearing armor, riding a horse, and telling everyone what to do.
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2 7 8 and 13 is thats ok for shifty! :)
times they are a-meme-ing ( accepting! )
2. how is their social media presence?
Pfft, not much. Definitely not Shifty’s thing. He knows about various apps, and has no problem featuring in his friends’ posts, but doesn’t really... feel the need to make accounts himself? Social media’s just not his thing. He definitely has a YouTube account, but that’s mostly just to watch videos, not post them; he’s active in the groupchat, but that’s about it. (Trying to stalk Shifty online is like trying to stalk him in the woods. It just won’t happen.)
7. one example of a significant change in their backstory now that the world’s changed.
Again, I’m gonna say that whole “no world-altering war” thing! Compared to some of the other guys, Shifty adjusted really well after the war, but... still. Still. All that trauma doesn’t go away, and it’s clear just from some of the things he said to Winters in his last scene that Shifty’s carrying a lot inside. The shadow of grief for lives taken and lost is definitely something he carried with him for the rest of his life. In a modern au, Shifty... wouldn’t have that, and would just be genuinely better off for it. He’s never killed anybody! That’s always something to be proud of!
8. describe their closet.
Lots of woodsman-chic going on here. Like... Shifty’s a very plain dresser, a lot of lowkey colors ---- for a formal occasion, he’ll break out the button-ups and his Nice Pants, but otherwise it’s a lot of blue jeans which have genuinely worn through in places just from wear and tear, hiking boots, a bit of plaid. He’s definitely ready to be outdoors at any given time. Shifty’s also a comfy sweater person, when he’s just spending a night in... and I could definitely see him liking cozy socks.
13. show us what their last ‘sent’ text message is from five different text convos.
sent >> popeye : https://www.facebook.com/somethingswankydesserts/posts/so-a-rubber-duck-went-down-our-toilet-today-and-in-all-my-infinite-wisdom-ive-ju/548937218493589/ hope this helps!!
sent >> tab : is it alright if i stay at yours overnight? popeye's been up to mischief in our bathroom again
sent >> mcclung : the last time you tried that i recall you got stuck halfway through the window, several stories up... but i’m sure the fire department would be glad to catch up with you again
sent >> doc roe : are we still planning a surprise party for babe?
sent >> CURRAHEE!! groupchat : now, being afraid of clowns is nothing to be ashamed of
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Noticias de series de la semana: Mr. Glover & Mrs. Waller-Bridge
Renovaciones
BBC One ha renovado The Split por una tercera y última temporada
HBO Max ha renovado Search Party por una quinta temporada
HBO Max ha renovado Close Enough por una tercera temporada
Cancelaciones
La octava temporada de Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC) será la última
The CW ha descartado la serie Wonder Girl
Noticias cortas
Lucasfilm ha despedido a Gina Carano (Cara Dune) de The Mandalorian por sus declaraciones en las redes.
Curtiss Cook (Douda) será regular en la cuarta temporada de The Chi.
Fichajes
Claire Danes (Homeland, My So-Called Life) sustituye a Keira Knightley como protagonista de The Essex Serpent.
Guy Pearce (Mildred Pierce, Memento) protagonizará Mare of Easttown junto a Kate Winslet. Sustituye a Ben Miles en el papel de Richard Bryan, profesor visitante de escritura creativa que escribió una novela deslumbrante hace veinticinco años.
Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Narcos) y Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones, His Dark Materials) protagonizarán The Last of Us. Serán Joel y Ellie.
Carrie Preston (The Good Wife, Claws) será Robbie McClung, abogada defensora de Duntsch (Joshua Jackson), en Dr. Death.
Harry Hamlin (Mad Men, Shameless) y Dylan Baker (The Americans, The Good Wife) serán el presentador Tom Brokaw y el agente del FBI Ed Copak en The Hot Zone. Anthrax.
Jamie Chung (The Gifted, Once Upon a Time) y Oscar Wahlberg (NOS4A2, Manchester by the Sea) serán recurrentes en el revival de Dexter como Molly, una famosa podcaster de Los Ángeles; y Zach, capitán del equipo de lucha del instituto de Iron Lake.
Jasika Nicole (Fringe, The Good Doctor) será recurrente en Punky Brewster como Lauren, la novia de Cherie (Cherie Johnson).
Christina Milian (Soundtrack, The Oath) sustituye a la fallecida Naya Rivera en el papel de Collette en Step Up: High Water.
Hannah Ware (The First, Boss) protagonizará The One. Será Rebecca, CEO fundadora de MatchDNA, una compañía tecnológica que permite a la gente identificar a su pareja ideal con un test de ADN.
Mary McDonnell (Major Crimes, Battlestar Galactica), Adam Arkin (Sons of Anarchy, Chicago Hope), Matthew Glave (Better Things, Angie Tribeca) y Jalen Thomas Brooks (Animal Kingdom) se unen como recurrentes a Rebel.
Melissa De Sousa (On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Valley of the Dolls) se une a la cuarta temporada de Black Lightning. Será Ana López, jefa de policía.
Adeline Rudolph (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) será Minerva Marble en la quinta temporada de Riverdale.
Yanic Truesdale (Gilmore Girls), Steve Mallory (The Boss, The Happytime Murders), Usman Ally (Nobodies, On Becoming a God in Central Florida), Ana Scotney (Shortland Street, Educators) y Chris Sandiford (What We Do in the Shadows) completan el reparto de God's Favorite Idiot. Serán Chamuel, arcángel nuevo en el pueblo; Frisbee, gerente de nivel medio; Mohsin Raza, que ha elegido una vida íntegra antes que el éxito financiero o una posición de liderazgo; Wendy, generosa y llena de empatía; y Tom, leal e irritante.
Rob Delaney (Catastrophe), Alice Eve (Iron Fist, Black Mirror) y Edwina Findley (Treme, If Loving You Is Wrong) se unen como recurrentes a The Power.
Angus Macfadyen (Turn, Strange Angel) será Jor-El en Superman & Lois.
Matt Lauria (Friday Night Lights, Kingdom), Paula Newsome (Chicago Med, Barry) y Mel Rodriguez (The Last Man on Earth) se unen al revival de CSI. Serán Josh, Maxine y Hugo.
Rhys Ifans (Berlin Station, Notting Hill), Steve Toussaint (Doctors, Berlin Station), Eve Best (Nurse Jackie, Fate: The Winx Saga) y Sonoya Mizuno (Devs, Maniac) serán Otto Hightower, la mano del rey Viserys (Paddy Considine) y padre de Alicent (Olivia Cook); Lord Corlys Velaryon, conocido como The Sea Snake; la princesa Rhaenys Velaryon, la esposa de Lord Corlys y prima de Viserys; y Mysaria, aliada del príncipe Daemon; en House of the Dragon.
Matthew Willig (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) será recurrente como el luchador Andr the Giant en Young Rock.
Howard Charles (The Musketeers, The Widow) se une como regular a la segunda temporada de Top Boy. Será Curtis, involucrado en una trama de mafias en Liverpool.
Tabitha Brown y Jason Weaver (Smart Guy) se unen como recurrentes a la cuarta temporada de The Chi.
Luke Cook (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Katy Keene) será recurrente en la cuarta temporada de Dynasty como Oliver, exnovio de Kirby (Maddison Brown).
Hannah Einbinder será Ava, la joven guionista que Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) es obligada a contratar, en la comedia de HBO Max protagonizada por Smart. Carl Clemons-Hopkins (Chicago Med, The Chi) será Marcus, el jefe de operaciones de Deborah. Kaitlin Olson (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Mick), Christopher McDonald (Thelma & Louise), Paul W. Downs (Broad City, Rough Night), Mark Indelicato (Ugly Betty), Poppy Liu (Better Call Saul), Johnny Sibilly (Pose), Meg Stalter y Rose Abdoo (Gilmore Girls, Parenthood) participarán como invitados recurrentes.
Pósters
Nuevas series
Donald Glover (Atlanta, Community) y Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Broadchurch) protagonizarán Mr. & Mrs. Smith, basada en la película de 2005, para Amazon. Cocreada por Glover, Waller-Bridge y Francesca Sloane (Fargo, Seven Seconds), que será la showrunner.
Netflix prepara The Overstory, adaptación de la novela de Richard Powers (2018). Trata sobre un mundo junto al nuestro que es extenso, interconectado, lleno de recursos, inventivo y casi invisible para nosotros. Un puñado de gente aprende a verlo y se ven arrastrados a la catástrofe que se prepara. Escrita por Richard Robbins (Good Girls Revolt, 12 Monkeys). Producida por David Benioff y D.B. Weiss, los creadores de Game of Thrones; y Hugh Jackman (X-Men Origins: Wolverine).
Amazon ha encargado ocho episodios de The Summer I Turned Pretty, adaptación de la trilogía de novelas de Jenny Han (To All the Boys I've Loved Before). Es un drama multigeneracional centrado en un triángulo amoroso entre una chica y dos hermanos. Escrita y producida por Han y Gabrielle Stanton (Haven, The Flash).
Kate del Castillo (La Reina del Sur, Ingobernable), Roselyn Sanchez (Devious Maids, Without a Trace), Sylvia Sáenz (Betty en NY, 100 días para enamorarnos) y Jeimy Osorio (Betty en NY, Celia) protagonizarán Armas de mujer, en la que detienen a los maridos de las cuatro protagonistas por pertenencia a la misma organización criminal, en Peacock. Creada por José Luis Acosta (Sin tetas no hay paraíso, Ana y los 7), escrita y producida por Marcos Santana (La Reina del Sur, Dime quién soy) y dirigida por Enrique Begné (Compadres, Busco novio para mi mujer) y Claudia Pedraza (La Reina del Sur, Decisiones).
Carla Gugino (The Haunting of Hill House, Jett) protagonizará Leopard Skin, en la que una banda de ladrones, tras fracasar en un robo de joyas, se esconde en una casa en la playa donde viven dos mujeres. Completan el reparto Amelia Eve (The Haunting of Bly Manor), Gentry White (UnREAL, Jett), Philip Winchester (Strike Back, Law & Order: SVU), Margot Bingham (She's Gotta Have It, The Walking Dead), Gaite Jansen (Jett, Peaky Blinders), Nora Arnezeder (Riviera, Zoo) y Ana de la Reguera (Goliath, Narcos). Escrita por Sebastian Gutierrez (Jett, Snakes on a Plane). No hay cadena asociada.
BBC One encarga Bloodlands, thriller en el que una nota de suicidio en una coche la recuerda al inspector Tom Brannick (James Nesbitt, The Missing, Lucky Man) un famoso caso antiguo sin cerrar y relacionado con él. Completan el reparto Lisa Dwan (Top Boy), Lorcan Cranitch (Roma, Atlantis), Charlene McKenna (Ripper Street, Death and Nightingales), Ian McElhinney (Game of Thrones, Derry Girls), Lola Petticrew (Dating Amber, Come Home), Chris Walley (The Young Offenders), Michael Smiley (Luther, Death and Nightingales), Kathy Kiera Clarke (Derry Girls), Susan Lynch (Happy Valley, Unforgotten), Peter Ballance (Game of Thrones), Asan N'Jie (Emmerdale Farm, Mount Pleasant), Cara Kelly (Trust Me) y Flora Montgomery (A Very English Scandal). Escrita por Chris Brandon, dirigida por Pete Travis (Project Blue Book, The Jury) y producida por Jed Mercurio (Line of Duty, Bodyguard).
The CW ha encargado un reboot de The 4400. Escrita por Ariana Jackson (Riverdale).
Peacock ha encargado diez episodios de The Best Man, limited series continuación de la película de 1999 y su secuela de 2013. Volverán Morris Chestnut, Melissa De Sousa, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long y Harold Perrineau. Escrita y producida por Malcolm D. Lee, guionista y director de las dos películas.
FOX prepara una serie de animación adaptación del juego Clue (Cluedo).
FOX encarga una comedia de animación ambientada en la Antigua Grecia que seguirá a una familia de humanos, dioses y monstruos que intentan gobernar una de las primeras ciudades del mundo sin matarse entre ellos. De Dan Harmon (Community, Rick & Morty).
HBO Max ha encargado dos temporadas del revival de la serie de animación Clone High. Escrita por Erica Rivinoja (South Park, Borat 2).
HBO Max encarga Velma, serie de animación precuela de Scooby-Doo. Mindy Kaling producirá la serie y pondrá voz a la protagonista.
HBO Max encarga Fired on Mars, comedia ambientada en el campus de una empresa de tecnología en Marte. Basada en el cortometraje animado de Nate Sherman y Nick Vokey. Producida por Pete Davidson (Saturday Night Live).
Spectrum ha encargado doce episodios de Long Slow Exhale, drama en el que la entrenadora de un equipo de baloncesto femenino universitario (Rose Rollins; The L Word, The Catch) se encuentra en medio de un escándalo de abuso sexual. Creada y escrita por Pam Veasey (L.A.'s Finest, CSI: NY).
Amazon desarrolla Oona Out of Order, adaptación de la novela de Margarita Montimore (2020) en la que el día de su decimonoveno cumpleaños una chica se ve dentro de su propio cuerpo pero con cincuenta y cinco años. Escrita y producida por Alice Bell (Offspring, The Beautiful Lie).
Tiffany Haddish (The Carmichael Show, Girls Trip) ha adquirido los derechos del libro Shakespeare's Secret Messiah: The Dark Lady, de Joseph Atwill (2014), para adaptarlo a la televisión. Protagonizará y producirá la limited series, titulada The Bardess, que tratará sobre Amelia Bassano, poetisa veneciana negra y judía que algunos creen que está detrás del trabajo literario de Shakespeare. Escrita y dirigida por Amma Asante (The Handmaid's Tale, Mrs. America) y producida por Akiva Goldsman (Underground, Fringe). Aún no hay cadena asociada.
Fechas
La cuarta temporada de Unforgotten se estrena en ITV el 22 de febrero
Genera+ion se estrena en HBO Max el 11 de marzo
La tercera temporada de Paradise P.D. llega a Netflix el 12 de marzo
Country Comfort llega a Netflix el 19 de marzo
Genius: Aretha se estrena en NatGeo el 21 de marzo
Mare of Easttown se estrena en HBO el 18 de abril
La tercera y última temporada de Shrill llega a Hulu el 7 de mayo
La séptima temporada de Good Witch se estrena en Hallmark el 16 de mayo
Tráilers y promos
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
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Genera+ion
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Paradise P.D. - Temporada 3
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Just a nice walk tonight. Knees needed the break. Two pit bulls even tried to mug me! #DayFour #KeepGoing #fitness #running #CanineSelfDefense #ItsJustAFleshWound (at Jean Mcclung Middle)
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Southern Devotion Series Box Set
Books 1-4
by Amy K. McClung
Genre: Contemporary Romance
noun: devotion
1. love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause.
A complete series of stories about love, friendship, and making some of life’s most difficult choices.
For The love of Gracie •• Book 1
What lengths will the man of her dreams go to… for the Love of Gracie?
Curves In The Road •• Book 2
With a decision to make, is it possible for two lost loves to find their way back to each other or are there too many curves in the road?
Complicated Relationships •• Book 3
Love… it’s complicated.
Twisted Fate •• Book 4
Two love stories. Two lost souls. Two fates, twisted together.
**Only 99 cents until April 29th!!**
**On Sale for $2.99 4/30 – 5/9 **
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43973243-the-southern-devotion-series
For the Love of Gracie
Southern Devotion Book 1
Always falling for the wrong guy, Gracie Walker hasn't had much luck finding Prince Charming. She's reached a point where it's easier to forget about romance and focus on what's important: college, clubbing, and her friends.
But the best-laid plans don't always pan out as hoped.
Caught up in a web of relationships that threaten nothing but pain, Gracie has to decide who she can trust and who can help keep her safe.
What lengths will the man of her dreams go to… for the Love of Gracie?
Calling Hudson back seemed pointless; instead, I crawled in bed for the night. The next morning, I was awakened by my bed sinking in and a body stealing the blankets, then curling up against me.
"Good morning, Cam."
He snickered. "Morning, hot stuff. So, Ashton got you home safely last night."
I rolled over and sat up with him. "He's a nice guy. He told me that you and Gavin have a thing?"
Cameron grabbed his chest in shock. "What? Okay, tell me everything he said! Oh, my gosh, so Gavin likes me?"
Oops, now I remember. Ashton said Gavin had a thing for Cameron, not that they had a thing together.
"Um, shoot. I'm not sure I was supposed to tell you that. Stupid martinis." I slapped my head then winced. "Ouch."
He put his hands together in a praying fashion and begged, "Baby girl, if you love me, you'll tell me. Gavin is the hottest guy I know and if he has a thing for me, it would make my lifetime!" He was giddy, to put it mildly.
He bounced on the bed next to me, as anxious as a kid on Christmas morning.
"Dude, hangover! Please stop bouncing."
He calmed himself and batted his eyelashes at me, not giving up on his quest for information.
I sighed, exasperated. "All I know is that Gavin has a thing for you and Ashton thinks you two would make a cute couple." Cameron fell back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
He was so still, I thought the news had sent him into shock. That was until he sat straight up and shouted, "Woohoo!"
I smacked my hand over his mouth to cover the sound, not sure if everyone was awake in the house.
Angel answered by knocking on the wall and yelling, "Zip it, Cam!"
We both snickered before Cameron wrapped his arms around my waist and tackled me back down on the bed in a hug. "Girl, I love you. You made my day!" he whispered loudly. He pressed his lips against mine fiercely, stood up and helped me out of bed.
"Let's go shopping today," he said. "I want to find a new outfit for the next time I see Gavin." Cam invaded my closet and assaulted me with one piece of clothing after the next.
"Let me get a shower first, 'k?"
He shrugged. "'K. I'll go make you my patented hangover cure—scrambled eggs."
When I stepped out of the shower, the smell of eggs made my stomach churn. Tucking the towel around me, I stepped into the bedroom, immediately focusing on Cam scrolling through my phone.
"Damn, does anyone understand privacy?" I snatched the phone from him.
He didn't laugh, his face suddenly pensive. "Check your texts. I picked your phone up to check my Facebook account and saw you had fifteen missed messages. I don't like that guy, Gracie."
I dropped my towel and slipped on black lace panties and a matching bra.
Cam whistled. "What's with the sexy unders?"
I shimmied into my blue jeans and buttoned them before answering. "I'm going to see Hudson later today. You don't know him, Cam. That's not the Hudson I know, so can you just lay off a little until I figure things out with him?"
Cameron wrapped his arms around my waist from behind. "You shouldn't be wasting your time with that asshat, Gracie. That's all I'm saying. You're smoking hot and you deserve someone better. Is this really a guy you can see yourself with forever?"
I scoffed. "Who's talking about forever? He's sweet and kind. And Jesus, the sex is good. I'm only twenty-one. I have plenty of time to find forever."
He shook his head. "Spoken like a true guy. I should be so hot for you."
I smacked him playfully.
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Book Trailer:
https://youtu.be/TfW73RKSycs
Curves in the Road
Southern Devotion Book 2
Living in Nashville with his daughter, Katelyn, single dad Derrick Collins’s main goal is to provide a good life for his daughter. With no social life to speak of, he knows it’s time for a change. He just needs to find the perfect woman who will complete his happy family. The problem is he’s already met her and let her go.
Mary Jane Evans’s life took a path she could only dream of. Though leaving her home in Nashville meant saying goodbye to childhood friends, family, and the first man she ever loved. Now she has to choose if she will return or continue her new journey.
With a decision to make, is it possible for two lost loves to find their way back to each other or are there too many curves in the road?
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Most people fall in love several times over a lifetime, but one always sticks out more than others, whether you end up with them or they are the one who got away.
When I was five, I thought I was in love with my best friend, Jimmy, who lived next door. That changed when he fed my favorite Barbie doll to the dog, breaking my heart. When I was ten, I fell for my schoolmate Robbie when he helped me up after someone pushed me into the mud. My heart later shattered when my dad told me we were moving to the big city of Nashville from our small backwoods town in Kentucky, and I had to say goodbye to him. At fifteen, I fell for Marcus Jacobs, the smartest guy in school. He was our valedictorian, and I never told him how I felt. He “came out of the closet” after high school. And then I turned twenty-one and met Derrick Collins.
Derrick was the guy who made me realize that I’d never known love before I met him. Reading about toes-tingling, heart-stopping kisses, and romantic gestures, I always questioned whether such things existed. My lifelong question was answered the first time we kissed, and I felt it course through my body from my lips straight to my toes with electric pulses racing everywhere in between.
Growing up, I always had an issue with weight and never felt comfortable with the opposite sex. Puberty hit and my waistline expanded more than my breasts. Luckily, I had a growth spurt around sixteen. I was taller than average, five eight to be exact, with blonde hair and light green eyes, with that I was happy. My pants size was a different story. My hips were curvy, and my breasts caught up to them, although they didn’t point forward as much as my hips pointed outward.
With friends like mine who built my confidence every day, I thought I knew what it meant to feel beautiful. It wasn’t until the day I felt Derrick’s undeniable passion for me that I truly felt like the goddess Cameron always tried to convince me I was. I’d tried every diet known to man to be skinny; it just was not in the cards for me, and I’d come to terms with that fact. My body may not have been perfect, but I ate right, and I wasn’t lazy. It was just my luck I had a crappy metabolism that allowed me to maintain a softer, slightly rounder stomach. Did it frustrate me? Yes. I would’ve loved to be one of those women who ate anything they wanted and never gained a pound. However, life didn’t deal me that hand, and I’d become content with myself.
It’s true that having a boyfriend wasn’t the most important thing in life, but it sure was nice. I loved my time with Derrick. I didn’t need him to make me happy; I wanted it. Derrick made the sky bluer, chocolate taste sweeter, and the sun shine brighter, at least it seemed that way with him in my life. Prince Charming had nothing on this man. At times I became discouraged, but Derrick was there to make me laugh. Other than Cameron, no other man had told me I was beautiful in a way that made me believe it. He was practically perfect in every way, like a male version of Mary Poppins. Wow, that wasn’t sexy I guess, but if Derrick was one thing for sure, it was sexy.
Book Trailer:
https://youtu.be/y6ZjCSF2W14
Complicated Relationships
Southern Devotion Book 3
Tristan Jacob’s life is full of complicated relationships. Having been hurt by love and loss, and with his focus on taking care of his younger sister, Macy, for the past five years, it was safer to put his romantic life on hold.
But he's finally ready to find the girl of his dreams.
When an auburn-haired beauty captures his attention, Tristan doesn't realize she has a connection to the woman who broke his heart. Will he get his happily ever after? Or will the complications prove to be too difficult to overcome?
My eyes focused on her. The way her hips swayed back and forth hypnotized me. Her dance partner moved his hand down her sides and began to lift her dress up her thighs. Anger boiled inside me; I was ready to pounce. For anyone else, I’d be flagging down our bouncer to get rid of the guy, but I wanted to rescue her myself. I strapped on my metaphorical superhero cape, and as I approached—to save the day—I noticed she had not only pushed his hands away but punched him in the nose as well. She turned red when she spotted me, and I raised my hand up. “High-five.” She smacked my hand. “It’s hard to believe you complain about jerks. Looks like you can take care of yourself pretty well.”
“I have three older brothers who taught me how.” She pushed passed me, reclaiming her seat at the bar. “Can I get another of those beers?”
“Sure. And if you tell me about the other two guys, it’s on me.”
“Deal,” she agreed. After I had popped the top on the beer, she took a long pull and then began her story. “Guy number three thought he was all that and a bag of chips. He was nothing but crumbs if you ask me. He took me to a strip club. I’m open-minded and all, but a first date… at a strip club?”
“Ouch. I agree. There should be a warning and intimacy already present. What kind of perverted weirdo was he?”
“See, told you I know how to pick them. Last, but not least, the date from the night I met you. We had a great time. He’s charming, sophisticated, well-mannered, all around great guy.”
“I’m not getting a problem with him,” I said, thoroughly confused.
“There was no problem. Until he reached out to touch my hand on the table, and a wedding ring circled his finger.”
“Whoa.”
“That was my reaction!” she exclaimed with annoyance. “He told me his wife cared more about the kids than him these days, and it was practically a dead marriage.”
“What was your response?”
“I told him to call me when he found a woman to believe that line.” She took another swig from her beer bottle. “I’m done dating for a while. I’ll find something else to occupy my time.” And my bubble burst with those words. Maybe I could change her mind about dating?
“How’d you end up here the other night? Is this where you met?”
“No. A friend of mine told me about this club, and I’d wanted to check it out. Ending the date abruptly offered the perfect opportunity.” Peering up at me, she added, “The night definitely ended better than it began.”
“Tristan!” Marcus yelled from behind me. When I turned, he waved his hands to show the fullness of the crowd in front of the bar.
“Shit! I’ll be back.” I sprinted across the bar to take orders. Normally someone can shout something at me, and I can get it easily. With Melanie clouding my thoughts, I wrote everything down with descriptions of who ordered it. Gorbachev: Bud Light beer. Barney: a shot of whiskey. Ginger: Jägerbomb. Fake boobs: cosmo. Mullet: MGD. With five orders written down, I stopped to get them ready before taking five more and repeated this until the bar was clear. Turning to Marcus, I said, “Sorry, man. I was distracted.”
“I noticed. She’s hot, by the way. I’d be distracted too. Sorry you missed out on talking to her.”
“Oh no, she’s….” I started to say as I turned toward her. Her seat held a large, hairy, redneck-looking man. I cursed at missing a chance to ask her out. My relief bartender for the night, Xander, walked toward me from where I’d left her.
“The hottie at the bar paid her tab, then gave me this for you.” He handed me a twenty-dollar tip wrapped around a business card. “She suggested you give her a call and she’d finish telling you a story.”
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Book Trailer:
https://youtu.be/aYGNAFD2WvY
Twisted Fate
Southern Devotion Book 4
Two love stories. Two lost souls. Two fates, twisted together.
Old habits are hard to break when lust factors in. Angel is celebrating her sobriety and making changes in her life. Surrounded by happily married couples, she realizes how much she wants to fall in love. Angel meets her match in more ways than one.
Cameron has been working behind the scenes, manipulating fate to help his friends find their happiness. But as he works to make everyone else happy, he’s hiding his own pain. So focused on concealing the truth, his relationship with Gavin suffers because of it.
Join Angel and Cameron in the spectacular conclusion of Amy K. McClung’s The Southern Devotion series, as this group of friends battle to find their happily ever afters
“My name is Angel, and today is my one-year anniversary of sobriety,” I said into the microphone at my weekly AA meeting. Dozens of faces stared up at me, ranging from newly sober to people celebrating decades of sobriety. Twirling my year chip in my hand, I smiled at how far I’d come.
“Last year I spent Thanksgiving in rehab talking with my friends through Skype for a few short minutes. This year on Thanksgiving, I had so much to be thankful for. My friends accepted me back into their lives and forgave me for my actions when I was under the influence of alcohol. Rehab gave me more than sobriety. It gave me my life back and it gave me two friendships, which I will cherish for eternity. Only one of them is here with me today. Gus-Gus.” Gus walked down the aisle to me and gave me a hug at the podium. His strong embrace was the best high I could achieve without falling off the wagon. He stood by me as I continued my story. “The biggest struggle in maintaining sobriety for me is grief. I don’t deal well with it on my own. Gus and I were in rehab with a man named Mike. He was a sweet southern gentleman who never hurt anyone other than himself. Two months ago, he committed suicide.” Gus grabbed my hand, squeezing for support. “Gus called to tell me, and the first thing I did was pick up a bottle of Jack Daniel’s at the liquor store. I cried until I couldn’t cry anymore, and then I opened the bottle and poured a glass. As I took in the scent of whiskey, my old friend, I picked up my phone and dialed Gus. He came over immediately, and instead of drinking, we sat and traded stories of Mike and laughed about his thick southern accent and his goofy behavior.”
I held Gus’s hand up in the air. “This man is the reason I am sober today.” Everyone in the room gave Gus and me a standing ovation. We embraced and cried for a few moments over our lost friend and our mutual sobriety. Mike’s death had been hard on both of us. We felt we should’ve known he was ready to break, but deep down we knew there was nothing we could have done. After reading his suicide note, which mentioned only Gus and me, other than his wife and the child he never met, it gave us a little peace knowing we meant so much to him.
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Amy K. McClung was born in Nashville, TN. She is the second oldest of four girls and occasionally suffers from middle child syndrome. She met the love of her life online in August of 2004, on his birthday of all days, and married him in September 2005. Currently they have no human children only the room full of colourful robots that transform into vehicles and the large headed Pop Funko's who represent their favourite characters. Collecting movies, shotglasses, Pop Funkos, and dust bunnies are some of her favourite pastimes. She began writing in September of 2011 and independently published her first YA novel called Cascades of Moonlight, Book one of the Parker Harris Series the following May. Her first book was a means of therapy for her as it enabled her to escape reality for a while during a difficult transition in her life.
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Giveaway
$10 Amazon – 2 winners!
Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts and a giveaway!
https://www.silverdaggertours.com/sdsxx-tours/southern-devotion-series-book-tour-and-giveaway
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JB Gillet Welcome to Primitive
Primitive Skateboards proudly welcomes 41 year old french, powerhouse Jean Baptise Gillet to its team. Check the welcome edit below featuring team mates Tiago Lemos, Robert Neal, Wade Desarmo and Trent McClung all set to Mack 10, VX100 gold and footage from LA riots.
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JB Gillet Welcome to Primitive published first on https://medium.com/@LaderaSkateboar
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Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?
Encinitas Skate Plaza looks like a parody of Southern California. It's the kind of place where a boombox is always playing early 2000s Offspring singles, where shirtless dads are forever weaving through crowds of shirtless teens, and where, at any given moment, a helmeted eight-year-old stands on the brink and prepares, for the first time, to drop herself down the cement walls of a never-functional pool that's twice as deep as she is tall.
Poods, as locals refer to the park, is a 13,000-square-foot slab of grey and orange concrete planes and waves and ledges, pierced by flatbars and stairways to nowhere, and surrounded by a parking lot, a soccer field, and a few palm trees that don't provide any shade. Show up most days around noon and there's a decent chance you'll notice one skateboarder, Jagger Eaton, standing out slightly from the rest. It's not that he's doing bigger tricks, necessarily, nor anything especially complicated. And it's not that he literally stands out—he just hit 5'7''.
There's just something almost effortless about the way he cruises around the park. There's an ease in the way he pops his board out of a ramp, the smile as he bails, the pat on the back he gives to check on the well-being of whoever he just slammed into at the bottom of an eight-stair rail. When Jagger does a run of tricks through the park, other skaters stop whatever they're doing, watch, and ask their friends if they saw that.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Though he still has to, as he puts it, "finesse" his way into R-rated movies, Jagger has already taken the top spot at many of the major contests open to amateur skateboarders; this year alone he's won the Phx Am and two gold medals at the X Games, in Amateur Street and Amateur Park. But as the website Quartersnacks often notes, we're in the "everyone is good" era of skateboarding: "Anyone (well, anyone who's good) can nollie flip a fourteen-stair nowadays or switch crook a gnarly rail, but it will be the behind the scenes videos that help us decide where our allegiances with various athletes stand." Jagger might have more contest wins, but there are dozens of other kids who are just as eager to make a name for themselves, who can do (most of) the same tricks and who would like to go pro in his place. For now what really separates Jagger from other 16-year-old skate phenoms—and, presumably, the reason VICE Sports sent me to San Diego to talk to him—is that he is also a TV star.
Jagger Eaton's Mega Life was a Rob Dyrdek-produced reality show that premiered on Nickelodeon late last year. During the show's 20 episodes, Jagger, family, and friends travel around the country partaking in "mega" adventures—outdoor activities like shark diving, jousting, heli-boarding, and playing beach volleyball with the U.S. women's beach volleyball team. The show gets its name from the mega ramp (also the subject of episode 17), an approximately 60-foot skate jump that Jagger has been riding since he was a child. It was on this ramp, when he was 11, that he captured his first major headlines by becoming the youngest-ever X Games competitor. While even Jagger will admit that there are times when he cringes to hear his younger voice—"I'm like, how do people even watch these videos?"—the show is more entertaining than you'd expect a Nickelodeon reality show to be. He possesses a boundless enthusiasm—evident in the way he uses G-rated swears like "gosh" and "heck" to intensify the "unreal"-ness of an activity—that makes me wish I could recapture that pre-cynical YA worldview wherein it's possible to be passionate about things like ziplining.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Since Mega Life ended, Jagger and his brother Jett, 18, have moved from their hometown of Mesa, Arizona, to Encinitas, a suburb in the North County section of San Diego that's been an epicenter of the skateboarding world since the '80s. When I met him at Poods, he was setting up a new board (he goes through one every three or four days, about the same rate as shoes) and eating a plastic cup of Fruity Pebbles. With his sunspots and striped Stussy shirt, he looked like a quintessential California teen—Zonie or not.
"I wouldn't say my life is the typical 16-year-old life," Jagger admits. "I mean I'm living out in Cali by myself. I took my GED so I basically dropped out and graduated. I'm stoked where I'm at." There was a time when having a TV show meant someone was definitely a celebrity, but, thanks to the internet's destruction of what was left of the monoculture, it's easier than ever to be huge in some circles and totally unknown in others. When I ask Jagger if he feels like he's famous, he seems to have a pretty accurate gauge on things. "I get recognized at skateparks and sometimes at, like, grocery stores, but mostly I just focus on what I need to do. I never think of myself like I'm some sort of celebrity. [Having the show] was super cool and I'm stoked to have a following off it, but I don't think I'm famous at all. I hang out with my family and my friends."
When I follow up with a similar, slightly more pointed question—"You're a 16-year-old living a state away from your parents, with 163,000 Instagram followers, many of whom are girls posting emojis about how cute they think you are. You never get into trouble?"—Jagger tells me that, "Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang." And, partially because skateboarding has been his entire life since he was five and partially because he tells me he says he spends time listening to self-help audiobooks like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I believe him. Though, when pressed, he admits to sending the occasional DM. "It's always important to make new friends," he laughs, but adds, "I don't ever let it get to my head. I'm just stoked to have some fans and some people who like me."
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Jagger has more contest wins and TV appearances than the average 16-year-old skater, and he's sponsored by core brands like Plan B, Independent, and Bones. But, even among skaters, he's not a household name. To change this, he's spent the last few months filming a video part—basically a highlight reel of a skater's most impressive tricks, set to music (Jagger is hoping that the licensing fee for Parliament's "Flashlight" isn't too expensive)—which he believes will show people that his skating stands on its own. "I have about two minutes of footage right now, I just need to film another minute and a half." He says he plans to submit it to Thrasher, the magazine-turned-website so influential it's known as the "skate bible." He feels confident they'll accept it. (Thrasher owner Tony Vitello told me that they've expressed interest in distributing a video part but nothing is set in stone. "He's obviously a good skater," he says, but their involvement "would most likely start towards the end of the project.")
"Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang."
Most days, he and his friends skate at Poods for a few hours, break for lunch, then head out to spots around town filming tricks. This goes on until it gets dark, unless they're filming with lights, in which case they can stay out all night. (High-level skateboarders spend an inordinate amount of time on schoolyards and grocery store loading docks.), His crew can fluctuate, from his brother Jett and other locals to fellow Plan B riders like Chris Joslin and Trevor McCLung, and SK8 Mafia's Wes Kremer. San Diego is something of a skate mecca, so he's managed to make a big impression on legends like Danny Way, who says, "Jagger has one of the most diverse skill sets and is one of the future legends of this next generation of young rippers."
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
There's a foundational paradox in skate culture: It's an industry that runs on advertising—the major websites and magazines are basically trade publications, and anything critical about brands is extremely rare—while priding itself on being anti-establishment. Jagger has the commercial side down, but, with his Nickelodeon show, he's anything but counter-culture. Jagger has heard his share of criticism, but says he doesn't care. "[Jagger Eaton's Mega Life] was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I don't really give a shit what anybody says about it. I would never want to take it back. I had so much fun doing it. I got to meet so many cool people. It was just completely worth it." Despite its underdog mentality, skateboarding has long been a dominant force in pop culture. It shapes everything from entertainment (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Rob Dyrdek's empire, the stylings of Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine) to fashion (skateboarders, once responsible for the tight jeans resurgence, are to blame for the half-decade-long high-waters with Vans Old Skools trend). It would almost be weirder if a super-talented 16-year-old skater didn't have his own Nickelodeon show.
One might think Jagger's contest wins would silence the commenters, but skateboarders are probably even more suspicious of the X Games than of Nickelodeon. Traditional sports (and some purists even bristle at the thought of skating as a "sport") revolve around winning, but success in skateboarding has largely been about getting enough children to buy shoes with your name on them. Being cool is more important than being the best—among skaters, the word style is as common as it is vague—which is part of why so many look down on contests. Jagger knows he has to prove he's more than just a good contest skater, because skating in a contest is fundamentally different from skating in the street, and street skating is what dominates coverage on the skateboarding internet. Contests require an automaton-like ability to manage a series of tricks in a row without falling, so skaters default to things they know they can do. On the street, a skater has infinite chances, not ninety-second runs; it's about pushing yourself rather than beating others. This is why Jagger feels like he has to show his worth with a video.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Watching him tell our photographer which lens and angle will work best for a given shot, it's clear Jagger possesses a level of professionalism unknown to most teens, let alone teen skaters. He has a pretty solid idea of how to bring his plans to fruition, which is good, because he has a lot of plans. Right now, these include filming a street part with skateboarding's foremost cinematographer Ty Evans, turning pro before he's 18, and, most pressingly, getting his driver's license. Three years from now, skateboarding will make its Olympic debut. When I asked Jagger what he thinks of the possibility of skating in the Olympics, he tells me that "I would love to compete for my country." It's true that the name "Jagger Eaton" seems almost designed to appear on a chyron, but he'll be competing against dozens of the world's best skateboarders for just a handful of slots on Team USA. Plus, even the qualifying events for the games are years away. When you're 16, anything seems possible and everything can change in just a few months. Right now, he says, "I just have to prove I can hang in the streets."
Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv
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Text
Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?
Encinitas Skate Plaza looks like a parody of Southern California. It’s the kind of place where a boombox is always playing early 2000s Offspring singles, where shirtless dads are forever weaving through crowds of shirtless teens, and where, at any given moment, a helmeted eight-year-old stands on the brink and prepares, for the first time, to drop herself down the cement walls of a never-functional pool that’s twice as deep as she is tall.
Poods, as locals refer to the park, is a 13,000-square-foot slab of grey and orange concrete planes and waves and ledges, pierced by flatbars and stairways to nowhere, and surrounded by a parking lot, a soccer field, and a few palm trees that don’t provide any shade. Show up most days around noon and there’s a decent chance you’ll notice one skateboarder, Jagger Eaton, standing out slightly from the rest. It’s not that he’s doing bigger tricks, necessarily, nor anything especially complicated. And it’s not that he literally stands out—he just hit 5’7”.
There’s just something almost effortless about the way he cruises around the park. There’s an ease in the way he pops his board out of a ramp, the smile as he bails, the pat on the back he gives to check on the well-being of whoever he just slammed into at the bottom of an eight-stair rail. When Jagger does a run of tricks through the park, other skaters stop whatever they’re doing, watch, and ask their friends if they saw that.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Though he still has to, as he puts it, “finesse” his way into R-rated movies, Jagger has already taken the top spot at many of the major contests open to amateur skateboarders; this year alone he’s won the Phx Am and two gold medals at the X Games, in Amateur Street and Amateur Park. But as the website Quartersnacks often notes, we’re in the “everyone is good” era of skateboarding: “Anyone (well, anyone who’s good) can nollie flip a fourteen-stair nowadays or switch crook a gnarly rail, but it will be the behind the scenes videos that help us decide where our allegiances with various athletes stand.” Jagger might have more contest wins, but there are dozens of other kids who are just as eager to make a name for themselves, who can do (most of) the same tricks and who would like to go pro in his place. For now what really separates Jagger from other 16-year-old skate phenoms—and, presumably, the reason VICE Sports sent me to San Diego to talk to him—is that he is also a TV star.
Jagger Eaton’s Mega Life was a Rob Dyrdek-produced reality show that premiered on Nickelodeon late last year. During the show’s 20 episodes, Jagger, family, and friends travel around the country partaking in “mega” adventures—outdoor activities like shark diving, jousting, heli-boarding, and playing beach volleyball with the U.S. women’s beach volleyball team. The show gets its name from the mega ramp (also the subject of episode 17), an approximately 60-foot skate jump that Jagger has been riding since he was a child. It was on this ramp, when he was 11, that he captured his first major headlines by becoming the youngest-ever X Games competitor. While even Jagger will admit that there are times when he cringes to hear his younger voice—”I’m like, how do people even watch these videos?”—the show is more entertaining than you’d expect a Nickelodeon reality show to be. He possesses a boundless enthusiasm—evident in the way he uses G-rated swears like “gosh” and “heck” to intensify the “unreal”-ness of an activity—that makes me wish I could recapture that pre-cynical YA worldview wherein it’s possible to be passionate about things like ziplining.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Since Mega Life ended, Jagger and his brother Jett, 18, have moved from their hometown of Mesa, Arizona, to Encinitas, a suburb in the North County section of San Diego that’s been an epicenter of the skateboarding world since the ’80s. When I met him at Poods, he was setting up a new board (he goes through one every three or four days, about the same rate as shoes) and eating a plastic cup of Fruity Pebbles. With his sunspots and striped Stussy shirt, he looked like a quintessential California teen—Zonie or not.
“I wouldn’t say my life is the typical 16-year-old life,” Jagger admits. “I mean I’m living out in Cali by myself. I took my GED so I basically dropped out and graduated. I’m stoked where I’m at.” There was a time when having a TV show meant someone was definitely a celebrity, but, thanks to the internet’s destruction of what was left of the monoculture, it’s easier than ever to be huge in some circles and totally unknown in others. When I ask Jagger if he feels like he’s famous, he seems to have a pretty accurate gauge on things. “I get recognized at skateparks and sometimes at, like, grocery stores, but mostly I just focus on what I need to do. I never think of myself like I’m some sort of celebrity. [Having the show] was super cool and I’m stoked to have a following off it, but I don’t think I’m famous at all. I hang out with my family and my friends.”
When I follow up with a similar, slightly more pointed question—”You’re a 16-year-old living a state away from your parents, with 163,000 Instagram followers, many of whom are girls posting emojis about how cute they think you are. You never get into trouble?”—Jagger tells me that, “Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We’re not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang.” And, partially because skateboarding has been his entire life since he was five and partially because he tells me he says he spends time listening to self-help audiobooks like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I believe him. Though, when pressed, he admits to sending the occasional DM. “It’s always important to make new friends,” he laughs, but adds, “I don’t ever let it get to my head. I’m just stoked to have some fans and some people who like me.”
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Jagger has more contest wins and TV appearances than the average 16-year-old skater, and he’s sponsored by core brands like Plan B, Independent, and Bones. But, even among skaters, he’s not a household name. To change this, he’s spent the last few months filming a video part—basically a highlight reel of a skater’s most impressive tricks, set to music (Jagger is hoping that the licensing fee for Parliament’s “Flashlight” isn’t too expensive)—which he believes will show people that his skating stands on its own. “I have about two minutes of footage right now, I just need to film another minute and a half.” He says he plans to submit it to Thrasher, the magazine-turned-website so influential it’s known as the “skate bible.” He feels confident they’ll accept it. (Thrasher owner Tony Vitello told me that they’ve expressed interest in distributing a video part but nothing is set in stone. “He’s obviously a good skater,” he says, but their involvement “would most likely start towards the end of the project.”)
“Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We’re not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang.”
Most days, he and his friends skate at Poods for a few hours, break for lunch, then head out to spots around town filming tricks. This goes on until it gets dark, unless they’re filming with lights, in which case they can stay out all night. (High-level skateboarders spend an inordinate amount of time on schoolyards and grocery store loading docks.), His crew can fluctuate, from his brother Jett and other locals to fellow Plan B riders like Chris Joslin and Trevor McCLung, and SK8 Mafia’s Wes Kremer. San Diego is something of a skate mecca, so he’s managed to make a big impression on legends like Danny Way, who says, “Jagger has one of the most diverse skill sets and is one of the future legends of this next generation of young rippers.”
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
There’s a foundational paradox in skate culture: It’s an industry that runs on advertising—the major websites and magazines are basically trade publications, and anything critical about brands is extremely rare—while priding itself on being anti-establishment. Jagger has the commercial side down, but, with his Nickelodeon show, he’s anything but counter-culture. Jagger has heard his share of criticism, but says he doesn’t care. “[Jagger Eaton’s Mega Life] was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I don’t really give a shit what anybody says about it. I would never want to take it back. I had so much fun doing it. I got to meet so many cool people. It was just completely worth it.” Despite its underdog mentality, skateboarding has long been a dominant force in pop culture. It shapes everything from entertainment (Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Rob Dyrdek’s empire, the stylings of Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine) to fashion (skateboarders, once responsible for the tight jeans resurgence, are to blame for the half-decade-long high-waters with Vans Old Skools trend). It would almost be weirder if a super-talented 16-year-old skater didn’t have his own Nickelodeon show.
One might think Jagger’s contest wins would silence the commenters, but skateboarders are probably even more suspicious of the X Games than of Nickelodeon. Traditional sports (and some purists even bristle at the thought of skating as a “sport”) revolve around winning, but success in skateboarding has largely been about getting enough children to buy shoes with your name on them. Being cool is more important than being the best—among skaters, the word style is as common as it is vague—which is part of why so many look down on contests. Jagger knows he has to prove he’s more than just a good contest skater, because skating in a contest is fundamentally different from skating in the street, and street skating is what dominates coverage on the skateboarding internet. Contests require an automaton-like ability to manage a series of tricks in a row without falling, so skaters default to things they know they can do. On the street, a skater has infinite chances, not ninety-second runs; it’s about pushing yourself rather than beating others. This is why Jagger feels like he has to show his worth with a video.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Watching him tell our photographer which lens and angle will work best for a given shot, it’s clear Jagger possesses a level of professionalism unknown to most teens, let alone teen skaters. He has a pretty solid idea of how to bring his plans to fruition, which is good, because he has a lot of plans. Right now, these include filming a street part with skateboarding’s foremost cinematographer Ty Evans, turning pro before he’s 18, and, most pressingly, getting his driver’s license. Three years from now, skateboarding will make its Olympic debut. When I asked Jagger what he thinks of the possibility of skating in the Olympics, he tells me that “I would love to compete for my country.” It’s true that the name “Jagger Eaton” seems almost designed to appear on a chyron, but he’ll be competing against dozens of the world’s best skateboarders for just a handful of slots on Team USA. Plus, even the qualifying events for the games are years away. When you’re 16, anything seems possible and everything can change in just a few months. Right now, he says, “I just have to prove I can hang in the streets.”
Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6
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Studio visit - great way to spend a Sunday afternoon
Studio visit – great way to spend a Sunday afternoon
I had the pleasure of visiting the shared studio space of two dear friends. I met Jean McClung when she was president of Group A, one of the artist support guilds here in Pittsburgh. We’ve shown together several times over the years, and through that long…
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Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?
Encinitas Skate Plaza looks like a parody of Southern California. It's the kind of place where a boombox is always playing early 2000s Offspring singles, where shirtless dads are forever weaving through crowds of shirtless teens, and where, at any given moment, a helmeted eight-year-old stands on the brink and prepares, for the first time, to drop herself down the cement walls of a never-functional pool that's twice as deep as she is tall.
Poods, as locals refer to the park, is a 13,000-square-foot slab of grey and orange concrete planes and waves and ledges, pierced by flatbars and stairways to nowhere, and surrounded by a parking lot, a soccer field, and a few palm trees that don't provide any shade. Show up most days around noon and there's a decent chance you'll notice one skateboarder, Jagger Eaton, standing out slightly from the rest. It's not that he's doing bigger tricks, necessarily, nor anything especially complicated. And it's not that he literally stands out—he just hit 5'7''.
There's just something almost effortless about the way he cruises around the park. There's an ease in the way he pops his board out of a ramp, the smile as he bails, the pat on the back he gives to check on the well-being of whoever he just slammed into at the bottom of an eight-stair rail. When Jagger does a run of tricks through the park, other skaters stop whatever they're doing, watch, and ask their friends if they saw that.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Though he still has to, as he puts it, "finesse" his way into R-rated movies, Jagger has already taken the top spot at many of the major contests open to amateur skateboarders; this year alone he's won the Phx Am and two gold medals at the X Games, in Amateur Street and Amateur Park. But as the website Quartersnacks often notes, we're in the "everyone is good" era of skateboarding: "Anyone (well, anyone who's good) can nollie flip a fourteen-stair nowadays or switch crook a gnarly rail, but it will be the behind the scenes videos that help us decide where our allegiances with various athletes stand." Jagger might have more contest wins, but there are dozens of other kids who are just as eager to make a name for themselves, who can do (most of) the same tricks and who would like to go pro in his place. For now what really separates Jagger from other 16-year-old skate phenoms—and, presumably, the reason VICE Sports sent me to San Diego to talk to him—is that he is also a TV star.
Jagger Eaton's Mega Life was a Rob Dyrdek-produced reality show that premiered on Nickelodeon late last year. During the show's 20 episodes, Jagger, family, and friends travel around the country partaking in "mega" adventures—outdoor activities like shark diving, jousting, heli-boarding, and playing beach volleyball with the U.S. women's beach volleyball team. The show gets its name from the mega ramp (also the subject of episode 17), an approximately 60-foot skate jump that Jagger has been riding since he was a child. It was on this ramp, when he was 11, that he captured his first major headlines by becoming the youngest-ever X Games competitor. While even Jagger will admit that there are times when he cringes to hear his younger voice—"I'm like, how do people even watch these videos?"—the show is more entertaining than you'd expect a Nickelodeon reality show to be. He possesses a boundless enthusiasm—evident in the way he uses G-rated swears like "gosh" and "heck" to intensify the "unreal"-ness of an activity—that makes me wish I could recapture that pre-cynical YA worldview wherein it's possible to be passionate about things like ziplining.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Since Mega Life ended, Jagger and his brother Jett, 18, have moved from their hometown of Mesa, Arizona, to Encinitas, a suburb in the North County section of San Diego that's been an epicenter of the skateboarding world since the '80s. When I met him at Poods, he was setting up a new board (he goes through one every three or four days, about the same rate as shoes) and eating a plastic cup of Fruity Pebbles. With his sunspots and striped Stussy shirt, he looked like a quintessential California teen—Zonie or not.
"I wouldn't say my life is the typical 16-year-old life," Jagger admits. "I mean I'm living out in Cali by myself. I took my GED so I basically dropped out and graduated. I'm stoked where I'm at." There was a time when having a TV show meant someone was definitely a celebrity, but, thanks to the internet's destruction of what was left of the monoculture, it's easier than ever to be huge in some circles and totally unknown in others. When I ask Jagger if he feels like he's famous, he seems to have a pretty accurate gauge on things. "I get recognized at skateparks and sometimes at, like, grocery stores, but mostly I just focus on what I need to do. I never think of myself like I'm some sort of celebrity. [Having the show] was super cool and I'm stoked to have a following off it, but I don't think I'm famous at all. I hang out with my family and my friends."
When I follow up with a similar, slightly more pointed question—"You're a 16-year-old living a state away from your parents, with 163,000 Instagram followers, many of whom are girls posting emojis about how cute they think you are. You never get into trouble?"—Jagger tells me that, "Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang." And, partially because skateboarding has been his entire life since he was five and partially because he tells me he says he spends time listening to self-help audiobooks like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I believe him. Though, when pressed, he admits to sending the occasional DM. "It's always important to make new friends," he laughs, but adds, "I don't ever let it get to my head. I'm just stoked to have some fans and some people who like me."
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Jagger has more contest wins and TV appearances than the average 16-year-old skater, and he's sponsored by core brands like Plan B, Independent, and Bones. But, even among skaters, he's not a household name. To change this, he's spent the last few months filming a video part—basically a highlight reel of a skater's most impressive tricks, set to music (Jagger is hoping that the licensing fee for Parliament's "Flashlight" isn't too expensive)—which he believes will show people that his skating stands on its own. "I have about two minutes of footage right now, I just need to film another minute and a half." He says he plans to submit it to Thrasher, the magazine-turned-website so influential it's known as the "skate bible." He feels confident they'll accept it. (Thrasher owner Tony Vitello told me that they've expressed interest in distributing a video part but nothing is set in stone. "He's obviously a good skater," he says, but their involvement "would most likely start towards the end of the project.")
"Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang."
Most days, he and his friends skate at Poods for a few hours, break for lunch, then head out to spots around town filming tricks. This goes on until it gets dark, unless they're filming with lights, in which case they can stay out all night. (High-level skateboarders spend an inordinate amount of time on schoolyards and grocery store loading docks.), His crew can fluctuate, from his brother Jett and other locals to fellow Plan B riders like Chris Joslin and Trevor McCLung, and SK8 Mafia's Wes Kremer. San Diego is something of a skate mecca, so he's managed to make a big impression on legends like Danny Way, who says, "Jagger has one of the most diverse skill sets and is one of the future legends of this next generation of young rippers."
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
There's a foundational paradox in skate culture: It's an industry that runs on advertising—the major websites and magazines are basically trade publications, and anything critical about brands is extremely rare—while priding itself on being anti-establishment. Jagger has the commercial side down, but, with his Nickelodeon show, he's anything but counter-culture. Jagger has heard his share of criticism, but says he doesn't care. "[Jagger Eaton's Mega Life] was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I don't really give a shit what anybody says about it. I would never want to take it back. I had so much fun doing it. I got to meet so many cool people. It was just completely worth it." Despite its underdog mentality, skateboarding has long been a dominant force in pop culture. It shapes everything from entertainment (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Rob Dyrdek's empire, the stylings of Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine) to fashion (skateboarders, once responsible for the tight jeans resurgence, are to blame for the half-decade-long high-waters with Vans Old Skools trend). It would almost be weirder if a super-talented 16-year-old skater didn't have his own Nickelodeon show.
One might think Jagger's contest wins would silence the commenters, but skateboarders are probably even more suspicious of the X Games than of Nickelodeon. Traditional sports (and some purists even bristle at the thought of skating as a "sport") revolve around winning, but success in skateboarding has largely been about getting enough children to buy shoes with your name on them. Being cool is more important than being the best—among skaters, the word style is as common as it is vague—which is part of why so many look down on contests. Jagger knows he has to prove he's more than just a good contest skater, because skating in a contest is fundamentally different from skating in the street, and street skating is what dominates coverage on the skateboarding internet. Contests require an automaton-like ability to manage a series of tricks in a row without falling, so skaters default to things they know they can do. On the street, a skater has infinite chances, not ninety-second runs; it's about pushing yourself rather than beating others. This is why Jagger feels like he has to show his worth with a video.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Watching him tell our photographer which lens and angle will work best for a given shot, it's clear Jagger possesses a level of professionalism unknown to most teens, let alone teen skaters. He has a pretty solid idea of how to bring his plans to fruition, which is good, because he has a lot of plans. Right now, these include filming a street part with skateboarding's foremost cinematographer Ty Evans, turning pro before he's 18, and, most pressingly, getting his driver's license. Three years from now, skateboarding will make its Olympic debut. When I asked Jagger what he thinks of the possibility of skating in the Olympics, he tells me that "I would love to compete for my country." It's true that the name "Jagger Eaton" seems almost designed to appear on a chyron, but he'll be competing against dozens of the world's best skateboarders for just a handful of slots on Team USA. Plus, even the qualifying events for the games are years away. When you're 16, anything seems possible and everything can change in just a few months. Right now, he says, "I just have to prove I can hang in the streets."
Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv
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Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?
Encinitas Skate Plaza looks like a parody of Southern California. It's the kind of place where a boombox is always playing early 2000s Offspring singles, where shirtless dads are forever weaving through crowds of shirtless teens, and where, at any given moment, a helmeted eight-year-old stands on the brink and prepares, for the first time, to drop herself down the cement walls of a never-functional pool that's twice as deep as she is tall.
Poods, as locals refer to the park, is a 13,000-square-foot slab of grey and orange concrete planes and waves and ledges, pierced by flatbars and stairways to nowhere, and surrounded by a parking lot, a soccer field, and a few palm trees that don't provide any shade. Show up most days around noon and there's a decent chance you'll notice one skateboarder, Jagger Eaton, standing out slightly from the rest. It's not that he's doing bigger tricks, necessarily, nor anything especially complicated. And it's not that he literally stands out—he just hit 5'7''.
There's just something almost effortless about the way he cruises around the park. There's an ease in the way he pops his board out of a ramp, the smile as he bails, the pat on the back he gives to check on the well-being of whoever he just slammed into at the bottom of an eight-stair rail. When Jagger does a run of tricks through the park, other skaters stop whatever they're doing, watch, and ask their friends if they saw that.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Though he still has to, as he puts it, "finesse" his way into R-rated movies, Jagger has already taken the top spot at many of the major contests open to amateur skateboarders; this year alone he's won the Phx Am and two gold medals at the X Games, in Amateur Street and Amateur Park. But as the website Quartersnacks often notes, we're in the "everyone is good" era of skateboarding: "Anyone (well, anyone who's good) can nollie flip a fourteen-stair nowadays or switch crook a gnarly rail, but it will be the behind the scenes videos that help us decide where our allegiances with various athletes stand." Jagger might have more contest wins, but there are dozens of other kids who are just as eager to make a name for themselves, who can do (most of) the same tricks and who would like to go pro in his place. For now what really separates Jagger from other 16-year-old skate phenoms—and, presumably, the reason VICE Sports sent me to San Diego to talk to him—is that he is also a TV star.
Jagger Eaton's Mega Life was a Rob Dyrdek-produced reality show that premiered on Nickelodeon late last year. During the show's 20 episodes, Jagger, family, and friends travel around the country partaking in "mega" adventures—outdoor activities like shark diving, jousting, heli-boarding, and playing beach volleyball with the U.S. women's beach volleyball team. The show gets its name from the mega ramp (also the subject of episode 17), an approximately 60-foot skate jump that Jagger has been riding since he was a child. It was on this ramp, when he was 11, that he captured his first major headlines by becoming the youngest-ever X Games competitor. While even Jagger will admit that there are times when he cringes to hear his younger voice—"I'm like, how do people even watch these videos?"—the show is more entertaining than you'd expect a Nickelodeon reality show to be. He possesses a boundless enthusiasm—evident in the way he uses G-rated swears like "gosh" and "heck" to intensify the "unreal"-ness of an activity—that makes me wish I could recapture that pre-cynical YA worldview wherein it's possible to be passionate about things like ziplining.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Since Mega Life ended, Jagger and his brother Jett, 18, have moved from their hometown of Mesa, Arizona, to Encinitas, a suburb in the North County section of San Diego that's been an epicenter of the skateboarding world since the '80s. When I met him at Poods, he was setting up a new board (he goes through one every three or four days, about the same rate as shoes) and eating a plastic cup of Fruity Pebbles. With his sunspots and striped Stussy shirt, he looked like a quintessential California teen—Zonie or not.
"I wouldn't say my life is the typical 16-year-old life," Jagger admits. "I mean I'm living out in Cali by myself. I took my GED so I basically dropped out and graduated. I'm stoked where I'm at." There was a time when having a TV show meant someone was definitely a celebrity, but, thanks to the internet's destruction of what was left of the monoculture, it's easier than ever to be huge in some circles and totally unknown in others. When I ask Jagger if he feels like he's famous, he seems to have a pretty accurate gauge on things. "I get recognized at skateparks and sometimes at, like, grocery stores, but mostly I just focus on what I need to do. I never think of myself like I'm some sort of celebrity. [Having the show] was super cool and I'm stoked to have a following off it, but I don't think I'm famous at all. I hang out with my family and my friends."
When I follow up with a similar, slightly more pointed question—"You're a 16-year-old living a state away from your parents, with 163,000 Instagram followers, many of whom are girls posting emojis about how cute they think you are. You never get into trouble?"—Jagger tells me that, "Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang." And, partially because skateboarding has been his entire life since he was five and partially because he tells me he says he spends time listening to self-help audiobooks like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I believe him. Though, when pressed, he admits to sending the occasional DM. "It's always important to make new friends," he laughs, but adds, "I don't ever let it get to my head. I'm just stoked to have some fans and some people who like me."
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Jagger has more contest wins and TV appearances than the average 16-year-old skater, and he's sponsored by core brands like Plan B, Independent, and Bones. But, even among skaters, he's not a household name. To change this, he's spent the last few months filming a video part—basically a highlight reel of a skater's most impressive tricks, set to music (Jagger is hoping that the licensing fee for Parliament's "Flashlight" isn't too expensive)—which he believes will show people that his skating stands on its own. "I have about two minutes of footage right now, I just need to film another minute and a half." He says he plans to submit it to Thrasher, the magazine-turned-website so influential it's known as the "skate bible." He feels confident they'll accept it. (Thrasher owner Tony Vitello told me that they've expressed interest in distributing a video part but nothing is set in stone. "He's obviously a good skater," he says, but their involvement "would most likely start towards the end of the project.")
"Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang."
Most days, he and his friends skate at Poods for a few hours, break for lunch, then head out to spots around town filming tricks. This goes on until it gets dark, unless they're filming with lights, in which case they can stay out all night. (High-level skateboarders spend an inordinate amount of time on schoolyards and grocery store loading docks.), His crew can fluctuate, from his brother Jett and other locals to fellow Plan B riders like Chris Joslin and Trevor McCLung, and SK8 Mafia's Wes Kremer. San Diego is something of a skate mecca, so he's managed to make a big impression on legends like Danny Way, who says, "Jagger has one of the most diverse skill sets and is one of the future legends of this next generation of young rippers."
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
There's a foundational paradox in skate culture: It's an industry that runs on advertising—the major websites and magazines are basically trade publications, and anything critical about brands is extremely rare—while priding itself on being anti-establishment. Jagger has the commercial side down, but, with his Nickelodeon show, he's anything but counter-culture. Jagger has heard his share of criticism, but says he doesn't care. "[Jagger Eaton's Mega Life] was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I don't really give a shit what anybody says about it. I would never want to take it back. I had so much fun doing it. I got to meet so many cool people. It was just completely worth it." Despite its underdog mentality, skateboarding has long been a dominant force in pop culture. It shapes everything from entertainment (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Rob Dyrdek's empire, the stylings of Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine) to fashion (skateboarders, once responsible for the tight jeans resurgence, are to blame for the half-decade-long high-waters with Vans Old Skools trend). It would almost be weirder if a super-talented 16-year-old skater didn't have his own Nickelodeon show.
One might think Jagger's contest wins would silence the commenters, but skateboarders are probably even more suspicious of the X Games than of Nickelodeon. Traditional sports (and some purists even bristle at the thought of skating as a "sport") revolve around winning, but success in skateboarding has largely been about getting enough children to buy shoes with your name on them. Being cool is more important than being the best—among skaters, the word style is as common as it is vague—which is part of why so many look down on contests. Jagger knows he has to prove he's more than just a good contest skater, because skating in a contest is fundamentally different from skating in the street, and street skating is what dominates coverage on the skateboarding internet. Contests require an automaton-like ability to manage a series of tricks in a row without falling, so skaters default to things they know they can do. On the street, a skater has infinite chances, not ninety-second runs; it's about pushing yourself rather than beating others. This is why Jagger feels like he has to show his worth with a video.
Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain
Watching him tell our photographer which lens and angle will work best for a given shot, it's clear Jagger possesses a level of professionalism unknown to most teens, let alone teen skaters. He has a pretty solid idea of how to bring his plans to fruition, which is good, because he has a lot of plans. Right now, these include filming a street part with skateboarding's foremost cinematographer Ty Evans, turning pro before he's 18, and, most pressingly, getting his driver's license. Three years from now, skateboarding will make its Olympic debut. When I asked Jagger what he thinks of the possibility of skating in the Olympics, he tells me that "I would love to compete for my country." It's true that the name "Jagger Eaton" seems almost designed to appear on a chyron, but he'll be competing against dozens of the world's best skateboarders for just a handful of slots on Team USA. Plus, even the qualifying events for the games are years away. When you're 16, anything seems possible and everything can change in just a few months. Right now, he says, "I just have to prove I can hang in the streets."
Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv
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