“Playing in Traffic” Episode One: Alek Lockhart and Paul Carlson

Last May, I went out and bought an H2N zoom recorder with hopes of recapturing the spark I had as a journalist in my college years. My initial plan was to talk to skateboarders in the Midwest. However, the predominating podcasts such as The Nine Club and The Bunt caused some hesitation. How was I gonna do something truly different? For one, Milwaukee harbors an impressive history of skateboarding that has evolved into much more. The answer to my question unfolded as I started looking at what skateboarders were doing outside of skateboarding and decided to start there.


I sat with my friends Alek Lockhart and Paul Carlson about a thesis they wrote about policing at public skateparks and dives into topics such as race, violence, and community. Alek was able to present the thesis at Pushing Boarders last summer and continues to write about the role of skateboarding and our everyday life.


This is the first episode of Playing in Traffic.