As promised, here are the questions I wanted to ask of your class, but ran out of time. If you would like to answer these, great. But as I stated in class, the last thing I want to do shovel homework on you during finals week. I’ll leave it up to your teachers to decide if this should be mandatory or not. It was great meeting everyone, though, and hopefully I’ll we’ll see each other again sometime!

1.) How would your country respond socially to someone with a physical disability? Is there stigma associated?

2.) Is there a common assumption, or story, that is commonly associated with physical disability in your country? (i.e. “was it a shark attack?” “do you still wear your dog tags from Iraq?”) If so, what is it?

3.) Are adaptive sports and technology (i.e. monoskiing, wheelchair rugby, etc) well known in your country?

4.) How do you think “the Dirtbags” in chapter 6 helped to shape Kevin’s view of disability? Can you think of anyone similar in your life?

5.) Finally, since it’s sometimes easier to post questions in writing, is there anything that you wish you could have asked me in class?

Alright – so we’re officially back in school. I’ve already been getting feedback from MSU freshman about Double Take, and it sounds like it’s creating some good discussion! So to add fuel to the fire, here is the second set of reading questions from the One Book-One Bozeman website

Hit the jump for the full list of questions, as well as comments and discussion…

8 ) How do you think “the Dirtbags” in chapter 6 helped to shape Kevin’s view of disability?

9) On pages 104-105, Serge tells Kevin a darkly humorous joke about a three breasted prostitute. Despite the vulgarity of the joke, Kevin insists that similar humor is important to shoulder aside the weight of reality. Do you think that it is right to laugh at such jokes? Perhaps relate this joke to the “black humor” that doctors engage in.

10) In chapter 17, Kevin catches himself staring at a man missing an arm and a leg – effectively doing the same thing he has caught others in the act of. What does this say about human nature and the act of staring? Is it something that should be controlled, or considered morally reprehensible? Is there a right or proper way to stare at someone?

11) Is Kevin Connolly disabled? Explain your answer.

12) On page 159, Kevin scrawls in his journal the rules for his photo project: Shoot every person that passes. Keep moving – never stop to frame your subject. Never make eye contact – give them permission to stare by looking the other way. Don’t try to attract people’s attention. Discuss what the rules allow, don’t allow, and their purpose.

13) In chapter 12, Kevin relates his experience crashing into an avalanche fence post to the feedback of his friends and family after he receives an X-games silver medal, “you go for broke?” How does Kevin interpret “going for broke” and how would you describe it? How does “going for broke” impact Kevin’s life and how does it impact your own?

14) The man on the skateboard with the Pomeranian at Venice Beach asks Kevin “what’s your gimmick” (see page 162). What do you think of his assumption that Kevin and he are colleagues and of Kevin’s reaction? What is the problem with assuming someone’s story from a single impression?

15) On the bus after he leaves Beth (see pages 209-210) Kevin experiences compassion, not pity, although he shares that the two responses look very much the same. Why in this situation do the looks make him feel linked to the people around him, whereas in other situations similar looks make him feel singled out and different? Do you think that this difference and the effect of the situation on Kevin is a result of Kevin’s perception or are compassion and pity inherently very different?

Told you I’d be back!

With school starting next week, now is probably the time to post the official convocation reading guide for MSU and One Book, One Bozeman. Now, I don’t know how many freshman or Bozeman readers there are reading this blog, but I wanted to invite anyone interested to post their thoughts or answers to any of these questions in the comments section below. I’m going to be monitoring the conversation, and will be answering questions and contributing some of my own thoughts to the discussion if we manage to get some people involved.

So if you’re a Bozemanite looking to attend one of the upcoming events; a freshman trying to get a jump on discussion; or just an interested web-wanderer wanting to contribute – I’d love to hear your thoughts on some of these questions.

Finally, to keep the discussion manageable, I’ve only posted about have of the total list of questions. The rest I will post sometime next week as a sequel to this post. If you are anxious to see the full list, however, it’s available over at the One Book – One Bozeman website.

Hit the jump for the list of questions as well as the comment box.

1) In chapter 2, Kevin’s dad fashions a number of different inventions to help him get around. The inventions are based purely on function, which contrasts heavily with the legs Kevin receives in chapter 3.What do you think is the relationship between aesthetics and function and the importance of each to those with a disability?

2) In chapter 11, Kevin gets particularly angry when he catches a group of teenagers taking a photograph of him. This comes after experiencing many stares, which by comparison he barely notices. What do you think is the difference between a stare and a photograph? Do you think that Kevin’s decision to “return fire” with his camera is morally or artistically justifiable?

3) In chapter 1, Kevin states his doubts of being able to raise a legless child. What do you think such an experience would be like? How would you handle raising such a child?

4) On pages 170-171, Kevin tries to create a different definition for the word “disability”. He makes the argument that the concept is much more common and more fluid than most people believe. Do you agree with his statements? If not, why? If so, what is your disability?

5) In chapter 17, Kevin almost quits working on “The Rolling Exhibition” as a result of the pain that his appearance is bringing out in others walking the streets of Sarajevo. Kevin feels as if he is manipulating people and their pain for his own artistic gain. Do you agree? If so, is it right for him to continue photographing?

6) On page 163, Kevin talks about his skateboard and how it has come to be a part of his self-concept. The skateboard embodies who he is, despite it being less socially acceptable than a wheelchair would be. In your own life, how do you deal with the relationship between being “socially acceptable” and being true to yourself?

7) Discuss the symbolism of Kevin’s skateboard and what it represents. What people, items or events have served as your “skateboard”?

8 ) How do you think “the Dirtbags” in chapter 6 helped to shape Kevin’s view of disability?

So last week I was interviewed by the BBC for a ten minute program called “Outlook”. The show just popped up online, and I gotta say, it’s a fairly funny interview to listen to if you have the time.

If you’ve ever wanted to know about my dating life and how staring can be compared to sex, look no further. Sorry for the link, but I was told that the BBC has “lots of really tough rules about copyright of audio”.

You can also check an abbreviated audio slideshow here.

Finally, because I’m still holding a bit of a grudge for not being able to embed the interview directly on my blog, here is something that I can embed – a compilation of BBC bloopers from the past ten years. English accents always sound more entertaining when there is just a tinge of discomfort and embarrassment to them…

Sorry for not keeping things too frequently updated, but it’s been hard to stay indoors with all the sun finally pouring down on Montana. We’ve had steady rain and cold temps for the past month, so now that the sun is out, I’ve been trying to avoid the pale glow of my laptop as much as possible.

But while I’ve been avoiding online activities, I’ve been sweating bullets over a speech I need to give this fall to all of the incoming Freshman at Montana State University. See, Double Take was selected as required summer reading for all of the new students arriving at MSU this year, and to cap off the assignment, I need to deliver the big convocation address at the beginning of the semester. Normally, I’m not too afraid of getting up onstage to talk, but this time it’s different. Not only will I be standing in front of thousands of students reasonably close to my age, but I’ll be doing it with all of the pomp-and-circumstance that goes along with a college event of that size. So, in a tidy list – here are my worries*:

1.) The Wisdom – While I have had some pretty incredible experiences in the past few years, I’m not sure if I’ve reached the point of being totally sure of my ability to actually impart wisdom. I’ve only been out of college for two years, which has been just long enough to realize how little I actually know about Adultland.  So while I may be able to talk about traveling the world or skateboarding the Great Wall of China, I’m still reduced to confused child when it comes to doing my taxes, looking at property, or any other of the myriad Adult-ish things that seem to hit you in the face post-college.

2.) The Pomp – Having seen these events before, I’m fairly certain that I’m going to need to wear one of those fancy black robes. I’ve never been a fan of clothes longer than my own torso, but a 5-foot-long robe could really cause some logistical difficulties on stage. I’ve asked the director of the event about possibly tailoring my robe into a cape (which, let’s face it, would be much cooler), but thusfar have yet to receive an answer…

3.) The Circumstance – When the time finally comes to be standing onstage in front of all these people, there is going to be somewhat of a juggling act. Behind me will be the main powers of MSU – from the president to the provost and all sorts in between. In front of me will be a gym full of kids that have yet to even experience college. There is probably something less cliche’d than using “a rock and a hard place”, but it does feel fairly apt in terms of having to try and keep both groups on point.

So – to those reading – is there anything I need to be worried about? For those freshman who may be looking at this blog – is there anything you would like to hear? Also – if anyone out there has the power to make this happen – I totally want a cape.

*Carmen, Greg, or anyone else reading this blog who is also helping to set up the event – don’t let this post get you sweating too much. It’s more tongue-in-cheek than you think. Or is it….

So in the few weeks since my NPR interview aired with Scott Simon, I’ve received quite a few requests to post it online. So if you missed the interview, or just need to let my dulcet tones soothe your afternoon – you’re in luck!

Howdy everybody – hope that the summer has been going well!

So tomorrow, June 26th, I’m going to be featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon! I’m a huge NPR nerd, so the opportunity to be featured on one of my favorite programs was a real treat. I’m not certain how long the segment is going to be, exactly, but I know that I spoke with Scott for well over forty-minutes. Most of the interview surrounded my experiences working on Double Take as well as some of my more recent endeavors.

Most of local airing times are between 7AM and 9AM, but check your local listings to be sure. If you want to stream the show, or even check out some older programs, you can find it all right here.

So we’re a couple weeks out from the official release of the paperback version of Double Take, and my publishers have given me the go-ahead to throw a preview up on my blog. I received my first copy on Friday, and I gotta say – it looks pretty cool. Very, very surreal seeing myself on the cover, though. What do you think of the new design?

Hit the jump for the full spread.

A quick look at the base of X Games 14 – held last week in Aspen, CO. Hit the jump for a HUGE post about what it’s like to be in the Mono X.

Ahhhhh – it feels so nice to be sedentary right now.  I feel like I’ve been in a barfight for the past week. From walking up a flight of stairs to sneezing – every muscle in my back and midsection aches with the abuse I’ve given it over the past seven days.

For those that don’t know, I’ve been down in Aspen, Colorado for the past ten days competing at Winter X Games 14 in the “Mono X” – which is just a tough sounding name for a skier cross with an all-monoski field.

What does an all monoski field look like? Here ya go.

The four monoski competitors that made it to the finals.

As you can see, the type of disability someone has doesn’t make much of a difference in a competition like this. Paralysis level and limb count vary across the board – the only thing that matters is a willingness to go fast and commit to whatever abuse the skier cross course dishes out. We use the same course as the able-bodied men and women, with the only exception of a slightly smaller road gap and a longer run-in to the final jump, which requires that you travel at least 85 ft. just to clear the flat space under the ramp. And this year’s course was definitely the gnarliest course I’d yet seen at the X Games. Here’s a short video of some of the skier cross guys breaking down the course a bit more.

The first inspection started on Wednesday in which the entire monoski field inspected the course together. All told, there were about fifteen guys including last minute additions and replacements. It only took one inspection to knock two out just due to the sheer size and burliness of the course. I recount the course from memory as best I can:

Start off with three woopity-woos (think of washboards on a dirt road except each little ridge is the size of a Volkswagon) that lead into a 20 ft. step down (a jump that has a landing spot significantly lower in elevation than the takeoff ramp) into a banked “Zogg turn” (the banked turns that were described above as a “big, bowled out halfpipe” that you turn in). After that it’s a hip jump (15ft straight up) into 8 woopity woos, three Zogg turns, a 25 ft. step down, a 30 ft. road gap, 3 more woopity woos, some more zoggs, a step up, a step down, and a big, big final hit. I skipped quite a few things in the middle, but I kinda ran out of words to describe some of the more ridiculous features.

One of the things that is most difficult to get across to someone who has only seen the X Games on TV is just how big some of these features seem in person. Here’s the approach into the final jump as seen from my point of view.

Steve, a good friend and my local host in Aspen, was able to make it onto the course and inspect with me. After taking the photo, he had this to say: “I’m not even skiing this and I’m still getting butterflies. Ugh.”

We were given Thursday and Friday to practice before the first stage of the competition began. Even in that short time, we had seven guys drop out. Jim Martinson, one of the toughest guys on the course and unfortunately the first to go, broke his collarbone on the second-to-last feature the day before qualifiers. The other six quietly drifted away as we got closer to timed competition – presumably due to how intimidating the course was. I can’t speak for all of the competitors, obviously, but I definitely had a hard time keeping food down the morning before our first full run of the course. That final jump was arguably the largest any of us had ever hit, and that wasn’t even the most dangerous part of the course. Able bodies skier/boarder crossers were getting knocked out as well. A couple people went in for head trauma, one guy cracked some ribs, and one of the monoskiers in our field even bowed out due to an anxiety attack the night before the competition. One of the injuries I actually saw in person was Daron Rhalves getting ruined in a long woopity-woo section. Maybe this better explains the danger these cute-sounding features can pose…

Furthering the mind game that the course was playing on us, was the actual event of X Games itself. Straddling a weird line between a prestigious athletic event and a temporary transplant of Las Vegas, the X Games has a vibe unlike any other competition I’ve ever seen. All of the main features – from skier cross to half pipe to big air – are situated right next to each other, and at any given moment during the day, you’ll see some of the world’s best athletes using these jumps, pipes, and rails as their playground. Just riding up the lift is a spectacle unto itself.

Once you got away from the X Games Show and made it onto the course, the abuse began. One of the primary differences between monoskiing and regular, biped skiing is that we have suspension. That’s really nice for 90% of your time on the hill. Unlike a knee, suspension is replaceable and doesn’t require any rehab time if you destroy it. However, on the skier cross course, that means that your shock is going to have the occasional bottom-out – which is very, very painful. Here’s a short shot of me on the final third of the course. Make sure to listen for the sounds of impact and pain in the final few seconds.

And I know this is all show, but for a better idea of the suspension, check out this footage taken from the front of my ski…

When the comp day actually did arrive, we only had seven guys left out of the original field, which might’ve said something about the sanity amongst those who stuck around. After qualifiers, all we had left on the final day of competition was semi-finals and finals. After a hairy finish in semifinals that involved skiing the final third of the course with a broken outrigger, I swapped out the busted gear and headed back up to the top of the course for finals. The competitors who had made it to the finals were some of the best monoskiers in the world. Tyler Walker and Chris Devlin-Young were the expected favorites going in, but the second the gates dropped, it become fairly clear that everyone was putting it out on the line. Here are a couple screenshots from the first part of the race when we were all together.

Tyler Walker and I expressing our affection for each other in the air.

I could actually feel Tyler behind me in the air as we went off the jump together. As his ski went beside me, it actually changed my direction in the air and I landed with my ski at a forty-five degree angle. Losing some speed, I got thrown back into third place. After going around the banked turn and over a few woopity-woos, we hit the “hip jump” which was an air that landed you on the side of the hill so that you were already on edge upon touching down. Your visibility is pretty limited on the take off – so I didn’t see what was going on in front of me until I was already fifteen feet in the air. Chris Devlin-Young had ejected out of his ski in front of me.

Devlin in the green, Tyler in the yellow, and me in the black.

I was pretty certain that I was going to come down on top of him, and tried to throw my ski away from him as much as I could in the air. When I landed, I changed my trajectory so much at the ski loaded up and threw me over. I saw Chris at the bottom after our run and he showed me his helmet. Even after trying to dodge him, the tip of my ski had carved a long divot into the side of his helmet. An inch right or left and things could’ve been much worse. Lucky.

After I picked myself up at the bottom of the jump, I could see that Chris was still trying to get himself sorted out and so I took off. By the time I crossed the finish line, my back was screaming from the week’s worth of hits, but the knowledge that there was a bronze waiting for me past the finish line eased the pain a bit. Overall – I’m just happy that everybody survived, despite the injuries, anxiety, and air that followed us for the week.

I forget who told me this for the first time, but the quote has stuck with me ever since I started competing in the this event almost six years ago. “The two best days of every season is the day you arrive at X Games, and the day you leave.” After witnessing the novelty, speed, and scope of the event along with all of its stresses, aches, and pains – I couldn’t say that I agree more.

That said, I can’t wait for next year.

I'll be appearing December 23rd. Hit the jump to hear me gush...

So tomorrow morning I’m hopping on a plane for NYC for an appearance on the Today show on the morning of the 23rd. It’s going to be strange for once heading to place with MORE snow than Montana, but I’m still incredibly excited (also read: slightly nervous) for the opportunity to come out and talk about Double Take in front of millions! The segment will be five to six minutes long, and will mostly focus on my book, as well as my training for this season’s X-Games.

I know that some of you might not be the biggest of morning people, but I would really appreciate it if you passed this around to some of your friends and e-buddies.  And I promise – if I’m not at least somewhat charming, you have every right to track me down and give me a shot to the ribs for stealing some of your morning sleep-in.

See you on TV.