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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 24 August 2006 |
Everyone is searching for something. It's easy for riders to associate this search with the sense of forward motion we feel every e we step on the board. Forward motion as a human being, or self-development, can be achieved by helping your community, advancing your education/career, improving relationships - any part of life that makes you a better person. When it comes to helping a community, the simple act of introducing cool people to other cool people can be extremely rewarding. When these cool people happen to be riders out for a session, the natural by-product is a stone cold groove. This story provides some insight into Benjamin Jordana's forwar motion and his major impact on the Toronto longboarding scene. As the creator of the annual Board Meetings and Halloween rides, Benjamin has mobilized a large, and growing, number of longboarders. If you missed "Toronto Longboard Meeting" in the Noteworthy section of Concrete Wave vol. 3, no.3, imagine eighty riders, dressed in business attire, bombing the streets of Toronto. We hope Benjamin's story inspires riders in other cities to get together for more sessions and events. Please note, Benjamin Jordan and Jacob Furlong ave sanctioned this story. So sit back and be inspired by a Toronto Outlaw.
 Longboard Meeting
betterment of everyone around him. He just gets things done, and that’s good news for the longboarders up in Toronto.
So, I ask him why he created the first Board Meeting. As it turns out, Benjamin was looking for a community project for a course he was taking called the Self Expression and Leadership Program (SELP) - forward motion. He’s sheepish at first as if he’s letting me in on some sort of Canadian voodoo. Little does he know, I love all this self-help shit (no disrespect).
For the project, Benjamin needed to identify a community he’s involved with and give something to that community. The only communities he was a part of, and cared about, were longboarders and photographers. After several weeks of brainstorming, he woke up from a blurry dream about business people commuting from uptown to downtown Toronto on longboards. That dream would eventually become the Board Meeting. The primary goal for the event: get together and have a fun ride. The secondary goal: create something that will affect people and they will remember. Benjamin also decided to shoot the event with a crew of photographers for posterity and documentation.
Initially, Benjamin squashed his own concept because he didn’t know that many longboarders. With some guidance from his coach at SELP, he enlisted other leaders in the longboard and photography communities to make the Board Meeting a reality. Benjamin worked with Tom Browne who had a growing list of email addresses for longboarders local to the Toronto area. Then, he pulled in another photographer to help organize the shooters.
When I ask him what he gets out of all this effort, Benjamin replies, "I’m an active part of the community, and I created something that is community driven…letting longboarders organize places to meet and ride."
Additionally, Benjamin was thrilled to have his first opportunity as an Art Director, and enjoyed collaborating with the crew of photographers. "I wanted to create a feeling of triumph for the riders, and you can’t express that in a painting, photo, or anything. People were affected by what they saw on the street that day, and that is art."
Finally, the question about the origin of "Jacob Furlong". Benjamin tells me, "Four days before the first Board Meeting, I got a call from a police officer from the precinct responsible for the meeting location."
Technically, riding a skateboard in Toronto is illegal, so a large group of longboarders dressed in business attire preparing to bomb the city streets is cause for concern with the local authorities. The cop read a few lines from one of the posters referencing, "a sea of longboarders in neck-ties to unite and bomb…", then asked Benjamin, "Are you organizing this Board Meeting?"
At this point, Benjamin decided to try to work something out with the police, and actually went to meet with them regarding the Board Meeting. They asked him if he had any permits, or protection against
riders suing him in case of injuries. Basically, the cops were trying to scare him enough to cancel the event. Fortunately, the police weren’t successful. He tells me, "I wasn’t even considering the possibility of
someone getting hurt and pointing a finger at me. The cops needed to cover themselves, and tried to control us with fear…to keep us small. I had to find some way not to piss them off."
Benjamin found a new location further downtown, and outside of their jurisdiction. He called the police and informed them, "I’ve given the project to someone else and I told them to do it outside your precinct."
Then, Benjamin sent out an email to the crew with the new location, hoping the cops weren’t smart enough to get on the mailing list. Regardless, he was determined to go ahead with the new plan. "I sent
these guys out there, and I had a responsibility to finish this thing. I didn’t want to be someone who flakes, or isn’t there for the community. I told everyone to be safe and not to talk about me."
Needless to say, the first Board Meeting was a great success. Building on that vibe, Benjamin organized a follow-up, full-costume Halloween ride. By the second year, the Board Meeting and Halloween rides had gained enough momentum to warrant more unwanted attention from the police. One day before the second Halloween event, Benjamin gets another call from the police, "Is this the same, Benjamin Jordan from these Board Meetings…are you organizing this Halloween ride?" Benjamin responds, "Absolutely not."
By now, Benjamin realized that he needed to remove himself from the events and the website he had built. He came up with a fictitious organizer, Jacob Furlong, and told everyone to play dumb, or use Furlong’s name if pressed by the police. Then, Benjamin gave the toronto longboarders website back to other members of the community, advising them to, "Do what you want, or don’t do anything."
By giving responsibility back to the community, and replacing himself with the Jacob Furlong identity, Benjamin fulfilled his goal. "Ultimately, I wanted to be a part of the community, not the leader of a community. When I made the request to use the name Jacob Furlong, everybody did
it, no questions asked. Here’s this group of people and Benjamin Jordan no longer exists. I had to give it up to let it grow bigger than myself. Jacob Furlong now represents torontolongboarders.com, and I’m glad. It was always supposed to be about the community, not me."
Hopefully, Jacob Furlong and the rest of the Toronto longboarders will continue pushing forward, one step ahead of the authorities. Benjamin Jordan is simply stoked that all those riders came together to hang out,
have fun, and shake up the status quo.
For more information and additional photos, please visit www.torontolongboarders.com. If you’d like to start organizing riders and sessions in your area, please visit www.freshpaved.com, and contact us to
set up a local email group. CW
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Last Updated ( Monday, 18 September 2006 )
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