Editor’s Note: The majority of this article is removed temporarily, beginning July 1, as it’s in the process of being considered for a book publication. It is available in a hard copy at Point Loma Nazarene University and will be accessible online again in the coming months.
Skating at Washington Street Skatepark is a test of nerves. The walls are 20 feet tall, the concrete is slicker than oil and the falls will bust open your skull. “Isn’t this heaven?” says a man as he hops out of the bowl and catches his board in one hand.
Riding on his fish deck, Chris Oleata flows up and down the bowl as effortlessly as water through a pipe. “I’m 55 and I’m skating the best I ever have.” When Oleata drops in, everyone stops to watch. He’s the only person in pads and the only one able to get up 20 feet vertically in the air and back down while only breaking a sweat instead of an ankle.
Oleata is a musician and a painter with a penchant for metal. “I love [all kinds of music], but I really love metal and blues.” Oleata said. “But before the 80s when things got glammy; it’s more about songs. Take away the genre and you hear the magic of a good song.”
*The rest of this article has been temporarily removed. See Editor’s Note.
Abbey Wicks 
Nick Hancock