From Sk8r Boi to Teacher Chic

When I was in highschool, wa-a-a-a-ay back in the late 80's, my gang and I dabbled in the sport of freestyle skateboarding. (In fact, I still have my old Powell-Peralta Steve Caballero freestyle board, like the one to the left, with Rat Bones wheels somewhere in the basement.) Of course, a small part of the skating scene was being able wearing the latest skate fashions which appeared in the pages of Transworld Skateboarding magazine. We would what money we could come up with and go to a small skate shop in the city to buy the latest skate tees and decals for our boards. One of the necessary articles of clothing were the shoes, especially Vans footwear.

While as a high school (and even college undergraduate) student, I always enjoyed the cozy comfort of my Vans. But, as a 37 year-old (semi-)adult teacher, I need to be a little more conscious about wearing approriately professional footwear during the workday. Like most teachers, I begin the year very formally attired and eventually relax my own standards as the year progresses. You can probably track what point in the school year it is by watching what teachers are wearing... "What, no tie? Must be March!"

In most years prior to this one, I would begin the year in dress shoes (if feeling really wild, they might have tassles!) and by June breakout the crosstrainers. Around last April, I decided to make it my mission during the summer to find some comfortable sorta-dressy looking "sneaks." In my mind I pictured a pair of monochromatic leather laced Vans, maybe brown, which could appear to be "shoes" to any passing adminstrative glance...After checking local stores I had little luck.

Fortunately, during our trip to Wyoming, one of our stops inlcuded a visit to the Sierra Trading Post, and there I came across some shoes that fit the bill. Unbelievably, they actually have a "Men's Skate Shoe" section of their on-line store, product of which is also available at the wharehouse in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The shoes I settled on for the new school year were the Gravis Royale (pictured above, to the right), which were describes as being for "your favorite skater all grown up."

SWEET (and comfortable, too)!

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!