Just something I threw together...

I wrote this for my English Comp class up at the University of Akron.  The essays are supposed to be about a word and the stereotypes/connotations surrounding that word.  My professor wanted them to be written first person and involve dialect, I guess the colloquialism is for reader relatability...  Any how i thought some of you might like this, this is just my first draft so any helpful comments wud b tight.  I chose the word skier.  I used endnotes so that I could use appropriate lingo and still have the class and professor understand what i was saying.

Mitch McConahay

I Am a Skier

    To some skiing is a bland sport.  Often the word skier denotes someone in a tight fitting snow suit racing down a hill or to a wealthy middle aged man sipping Champaign in the lodge at Vail.  These connotations aren’t what many of my peers would consider cool.  To simply say that I am a skier may cause some of the more narrow minded people to group me up with the “fairy athletes.”  Fairy athletes being people along the lines of soccer or tennis players (I was both in high school).  Well, I am a skier, but I find downhill racing somewhat boring, and preppy old Vail skiers are nothing more than gapers(1).
    I am a freestyle skier.  Freestyle skiing is all about innovation, style, getting big air, and grinding whatever rail or jib(2) is in the way.  Freestyle skiers are pretty much the opposite of the skiing stereotypes.  Where did these stereotypes come from then?  To be honest the stereotypes hold true for many skiers outside of the free skiing community.  It was the stereotyping that led to the invention of snowboarding, a cool new alternative “back in the day“.  Snowboarders started the concept of freestyle on the slopes, and also ridiculed fellow teens that were still on sticks(3).  It was no longer cool to be a skier, another invention was needed to bring skiing back to the youth.  Twin tip skis were created to meet the new freestyle demand.  Normal skis have tips in the front that curve up so that they don’t catch in the snow.  Twin tips have a symmetrical shape, meaning tips on both ends.  This allowed skiers to ride “switch” (backwards).  Now skiers could do the same things snowboarders could.  For example, they could spin a 540 off a jump and land backwards without any problems.  It was a huge turning point in ski history but it didn’t happen all that long ago.  Twin tips have only been around for 10 to 15 years, meaning the stereotypes are still around for all skiers to deal with. 
    I like to think that most people would find the things I do on skis exciting.  It’s a great feeling to stomp a trick off of a big kicker(4) and then hear people on the chairlifts cheering for you.  I can’t deny that I love to show off, and I take pride in the effort and time I’ve given the sport.  It’s my pride that leads me to be very defensive about skiing when I come across someone knocking on it.  I can remember one time specifically.  I was a sophomore in high school and was at the ski club meeting.  A freshman whom I knew came up to me after the meeting.
    “Hey Mitch, I didn’t know you snowboarded,” he announced, and then added “you do snowboard right?  I figure someone like you wouldn’t be into the whole skiing thing.  It‘s kinda lame.” 
    “Actually bud, I ski.  But trust me, I make it look good,” I replied.  I closed my case by jokingly saying “and if you ever tell me skiing is lame again I’ll probably have to kick your ass.”  He joked around about skiing with me up until the first day ski club went to the slopes.  I threw down a rodeo 5(5) and made sure he was paying attention, it successfully shut him up.
    It might take awhile for everyone to acknowledge that skiing has a rather dope, steezed out, newschool(6) aspect to it, which is part of the reason I ski the way I do.  I want people to notice the original style and creativity freestyle skiing has to offer as a sport.  I ski hard and push myself to be better every day I’m on the slopes so that when I say “I am a skier,” people get it.

1  People who go to the park but don’t actually use any of the features; jumps, rails etc.  Generally they are older skiers who just want to watch but end up getting in the way.
2 Anything from a rail to a tree stump.  Something that skiers can jump up onto and then ride off.
3 Another term for skis.
4 Type of jump.
5 An inverted trick where the skier flips backwards over a shoulder while spinning a 540 degree rotation. 
6 Dope, Steeze, and newschool are slang words commonly used by the free skiing community.  Dank and Steeze refer to something as being stylish or cool.  Newschool is a word coined by the website newschoolers.com, one of the largest online skiing sites.