Direction – a dialogue
And so it was that we decided to post our mid-work Gmail chat. Over the years we’ve had great support from you, our readers, and for that we are grateful. As we’ve said in the past this project has been strictly influenced by our own passions as we do not make any commercial gain, nor do we intend to.
Rick: hows baby girl?
David: Decent. She had a 104 temp last night and Gina took her in for a Chest xray today, but she’s acting fine…
Rick: damn
poor kid
she cant get a break
David: Yeah, she had a good run there for 6 weeks, but I think she’s teething again. That always seems to set off these fevers. At least now with ear tubes she doesn’t have an ear infection along with it
Rick: so it looks like its finally flat out there huh
David: Yeah, yesterday was really pretty though. From Audreys window you couldn’t tell where the ocean ended and the sky began, it was so glassy
Rick: looks like we’re getting a decent sized swell next Monday and Tues
I may call in sick tuesday and surf
David: SE winds should blow in some warmer water here, looks maybe ridable this weekend. Be nice to get a full day call-in-sick session :D
Did you get that Skillet from Johnny?
Sent at 12:53 PM on Thursday
Rick: yup
last night
it’s pretty rad
David: Comment from Surfy Surfy on Phoresia:
“Don’t let Phoresia die. You guys had the first professional looking surf blog and helped set the standard. Stay bloggy …”
Rick: it feels a like the board is a little on the meaty side but I know it will be rad in the water
6 x 20.5 x 2 5/8
that’s a rad comment
from JP
David: Rad on the skillet! I’ve been multi-tasking like hell this morning at work. Just got done moving the Phoresia database to a new server so I can upgrade to 2.9.1, just put in a test comment and logged in to check it and saw that comment.
Rick: yo I gotta step away from the desk for a minute
take a sit down
brb
David: lol, TMI
Sent at 12:57 PM on Thursday
Rick: back
whats TMI
David: Too Much Information
Rick: oh
sorry
looks like the boards will be here early next week
David: That’s cool, Tim will be stoked once he gets it. I agree it’s a hassle though…
Another comment on Phoresia from Pete:
“Here here. I’m sure you two can still come up with some worth content though, even if its not reviewing a wetsuit made out of old Hummer tires, donated by the ELF.”
Rick: that’s funny too
maybe I will write a post putting out a call for submissions
also I want to write an editorial type piece about BS!
the movie
David: Or ideas or direction. I think our content has always been tight, so it’s hard to turn away submissions if we ask for them and they are crap
I’d like to do a piece on Kelly’s recent articles and his direction and influence on board design
Rick: that sounds good
we should maybe start using google docs again to keep a running tally of ideas
David: I like your idea of doing a road map though, roughing out ideas for posts and putting it on a timeline. Gives us goals to work toward and specific ideas to focus on.
We could use Gdocs for that for sure
But still keeping shit light and not putting any pressure on ourselves. It’s comments like those 2 though that make me realize we really do have something unique and valuable going
Rick: timeliness are key for me to commit to getting shit done
maybe I will write a piece asking our readers about direction
I’m over the sustainability bit though
for one its played out
for two I think that I would need to do a lot more research to be relevant
David: Me too. I wanted to do a piece on that too and have it outlined already with references to that report I found. Basically what our surfboards are made of isn’t nearly as important as how we live our lives.
“Me too” meaning being over the sustainability approach.
Sent at 1:08 PM on Thursday
David: At first we thought it would make a difference what our equipment was, but it’s more important to focus on your daily life and make improvements. That could be an approach. Talk about diet/exercise/etc. and how it ties into surfing and happiness, not as a whole direction to head but as a series of posts
Rick: that sounds good
I think too that I want to talk about board choice and understanding your style and own expectations
Sent at 1:11 PM on Thursday
David: It’s a logical direction. We pursued sustainability because it interested us and we had a passion for it. That has since waned and we’ve found that there isn’t much impact to be made in that area, but along the way we’ve both made lifestyle changes that have improved our lives and our surfing. It would be cool to explore those concepts and ideas that changed that. And as always we geek out on boards, so that should always have a place.
Sent at 1:15 PM on Thursday
Rick: gonna work on an essay right now since I’m just crusin
Sent at 1:18 PM on Thursday
David: You know what’s funny is as I’m reading back through this chat it would make a rad post for “Direction”. It’s a snapshot of our mindset and a raw look into where we are at with Phoresia. Similar to “The Letters of William S. Burroughs” or books that were purely just dialogues back and forth that were published in their entirety. This could be a good starting point…
As you can see we are both feeling motivated to get this wagon back on the road and we are searching for some direction. At first I wanted to maybe turn Phoresia into something more and David was always reluctant. He warned that making Phoresia a commercial endeavor would change our approach, limit our freedom, and ultimately feel like a chore. He was right. As we look back at all of the great people we’ve interviewed we feel satisfied and happy. In the end we’ve learned a lot about ourselves and our values, both personal and surfy. But there is yet much left to explore. At the moment for me what is interesting is culture, both past and present. I am also inspired by the DIY tradition in surfing and the surfer shaper tradition, one which I’d like to explore first hand here but more on that later.
There are some quiet revolutions happening in surf culture at the moment. There is also a lot of rubbish. One of our key guiding editorial principles has always been to be optimistic and to avoid talking shit about things that we don’t agree with. Not because we are afraid to be honest, but because for us progression means looking forward and flowing smoothly, picking the cleanest line. There’s lots of negative talk on the Interwebs as it is. It’s easy to criticize, so our approach has always been to find alternatives to the things we dislike and show those as examples for positive change. So ahead we go.
Feel free to comment or email us at phoresia.org@gmail.com with your ideas and/or suggestions. We are always happy to receive submissions as long as they fit within our vibes.
i’m glad you guys are going to keep this going. i stumbled upon the blog maybe a year and a half ago, don’t even remember how. i’ve enjoyed all your posts/interviews, but the piece that i still go back and read the most was the pete lewis essay on challenging your perspective. i think it is such a great model for a broader approach to sustainability in surfing. surfing biofoam boards alone isn’t going to save the sport or the planet, but seeing fun where others aren’t looking, right in your own garage/backyard etc. is what can keep your stoke alive and give you uncrowded waves/super fun sessions on cast aside equipment. swamis/pipe/teahupoo/wherever is, generally speaking, less crowded right now than it will ever be again. 99.99% of us don’t have the time/money/whatever to spend our lives on surfing boat trips. in order for surfing to be sustainable, we have to be able 1) have more fun on less “perfect” waves 2) get along better with people in the water. if neither of those things are possible, then surfing will die for most people long before our planet dies from the VOCs in polyester resin (though I’m all for riding longer lasting, less harmful equipment). i think any contributions you guys make to happier, more open minded surfing will help.
Happy to hear you’re still stoked to keep Phoresia going! I’ve always liked the content, though wished there were more every so often (especially when taking a break from work).
Is there any chance you could turn Phoresia into a DIY/crowd-sourced interview/op-ed space for surfing in general? I hear your fears about needing to edit crap, but I’ve seen that the best way to mitigate against crap and a lack of content is to have lots of contributors (and ideally, editors). When I wrote for Triplepundit.com, most of us were writing for free or peanuts, but by being inclusive the team was able to grow – and we got loads of content as a result.
In any case, keep it up, and if you ever need a helping hand I’d love to pitch in :)