THE LONG WAIT

As a youngster my father would always quote the late president Calvin Coolidge, which has stuck with me many times throughout my life, and considering the events of last night I couldn’t think of a better way to sum up Chicago: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not—nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent… Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.”

So often, Chicago is overlooked by the two big coasts, but yesterday that persistence and hard work proved that if you want something bad enough and work hard enough, anything is possible. Growing up skating in Chicago I don’t think any of us ever thought of the big picture or imagined one day making a living off of skateboarding. None of us were the most talented or knew the coolest dudes; making a living in skateboarding never even crossed our minds. We all just fell in love with skating the dirty city streets. And even though we had no idea where any of this would take us, we kept at it: working day jobs and going to school. Eventually a few of us broke out; our persistence, luck, and help from others brought us to places we never thought possible.

Here’s an edit—circa 2008—that is just a collection of some of my favorite clips while filming for the full length Modest Skateshop video, “Visual Sensation.” Go Cubbies Go!

—Mike Leary