Arlo grew up in a skateboarder culture, and he has always made a conscious effort to bring a skateboard aspect to the rollerblading lifestyle. At the same time however, he urges us to evolve to a level of maturity where we can create our own identity. Again, it seems to be a contradiction. But for the guy who brought you the first Senate ad which proudly declared, 'Buy a Skateboard', and who's favorite magazine is Big Brother, this is, in fact, only one stage of Arlo's long range goal. "Right now our identity as rollerbladers depends largely on how we separate our culture from theirs." Arlo believes that the conflict between the sports will help us to define ourselves. It'll take us to the point where we can safely and completely distinguish our group as a legitimate urban culture. "There's gonna be a time when all these kids won't just have a bike or rollerblades or a skateboard. If you stand us up next to a football player, we are all basically the same: same interests, same sense of humor, we buy our equipment in the same shops . . . But we're not there yet. And part of getting there is this healthy rivalry between us."

He embraced the skateboarding culture in the early stages of our sport, and spurns it today, but predicts a time in the near future when we will stand side by side in mutual respect. This is not inconsistency. It shows that he thinks of rollerblading's world domination as a long-range goal and not a series of emotional reactions. And never once has he wavered from the one quality which we can not doubt whatsoever: Arlo is first and foremost a rollerblader.

"There will always be those who are so insecure that they believe their success can only come at the expense of others so they spend a lot of time talking about what might happen. I know that I will be successful despite all the others, so I prefer to spend most of my time making it happen. Not having friends makes me depressed, the daily struggles at Senate are taxing . . . but as long as I can still see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I do, I will continue to trudge through this darkness."

--Arlo's Declaration


(write-up and images courtsey of ASA - Aggressive Skaters Association)