Republique

 For the past week I have been going back to skate Republique as much as possible.  Since I have been there about three or four times now a lot of the locals see me as a regular.  They great me with high fives and smiles, its awesome.  This relationship that I have become a part of really gives the plaza a sense of community amongst young skaters.  Just by looking at these kids one can see that they all care and look out for one another.  For example, while I was riding around I saw a man begin to yell at a skateboarder in a furious tone.  The argument got more and more intense as if this man was going to punch the skater.  I then saw several other skaters get up and rush over to the aid of the original skater.  They told the man to leave and he was not very compliant.  After several minutes the number of skaters grew from about three to ten.  At this point the man saw that these kids were a community that was not to be messed with.  I found this encounter to be especially meaning full to me because many of the kids may have not even known the victimized skater they just knew that he was a fellow skater that needed their help and that was enough.  I felt that even though I may have been a "stupid American tourist" I was still a skateboarder and that they would have had my back if the man had approached me.  To me this was the coolest part of the Republique and is what skateboarding is all about.