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  "description": "On Andy Anderson and Rodney Mullen, making art that advances the culture.",
  "path": "/to-contribute/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-25T21:11:54.000Z",
  "site": "https://mnchrm.co",
  "tags": [
    "(Full interview here.)",
    "membership",
    "Retro",
    "The Creative Independent",
    "Ben Lerner’s",
    "Devine",
    "George Saunders",
    "Buy me a coffee"
  ],
  "textContent": "Sorry to turn this blog into “social media clips I’ve liked,” but... there’s a clip that surfaced on my social media that really made an impact on me. It’s a clip from a podcast, where skateboarder Andy Anderson is talking with Rodney Mullen, one of the greatest skateboarders of all time.\n\nSkateboarding has always been fascinating to me. I grew up adjacent to the culture—a lot of my friends were skaters, but I never really dipped my toes in myself. But I have an appreciation for it: I watched enough videos of the Berrics growing up; love the way skateboarding remains such a unique culture in and for itself, through proliferation of media like the production of skate videos; sympathize with the connection between a person and their environment (often urban) that skateboarding provides (which has always given it a kinship to street photography for me).\n\nI’m not going to claim to be in the know about skateboarding, but from what I understand, Anderson is something of a rising star in the skateboarding world, known for his style that blends classic and modern techniques, and his helmet usage and advocacy. In the clip, Anderson is telling Mullen about the production of his latest video.\n\nWatching it makes me want to cry a little bit, and not just because of the piano cover of “Where is My Mind”; Anderson has always come across like a kind soul from what I’ve seen, but across the couch from Mullen, you can tell the both of them are just extremely warm, generous people. What’s more, they seem to have an intense appreciation of one another, not just in skateboarding, but in worldview, which can be felt by watching their interactions.\n\nHere’s the clip:\n\n_A: I wanted my video part to have trick innovation, obstacle innovation, filming innovation... I just wanted every aspect of it to be contributing somehow..._\n\n_M: What a great word—“to contribute.”_\n\n _A: Right, “to contribute.” Because when people can see that you can do that..._\n\n_M: It opens doors._\n\n_A: It opens doors! When you open doors, people can walk new places that I’m not going to walk, but they can._\n\n(Full interview here.)\n\n* * *\n\nIt’s okay, this is a safe space, you can admit you got a little choked up. It’s so clear these two have such respect for one another, and just as Mullen said, Anderson’s way of thinking is so earnest and obvious, just from watching him interact with the world around him. But beyond just the infectious energy of Mullen and Anderson, Anderson’s thought process is so beautiful to me.\n\nIf you listen to a lot of hip-hop like I do, you’ve probably heard rappers talk about doing things “for the culture.” I understood what this meant, but I didn’t really _get it_ until I saw this clip. Anderson makes it seems like it’s almost his _responsibility_ as an artist—and that’s what skateboarders are—to make something the best he can: not as a way to show off, or even just as a duty to himself, but as a way of trying to _give back_ to the culture he came from. He wants to make the most of his opportunity, and show people that not only what he’s doing is possible, but that someone else out there can take it a step further.\n\n* * *\n\n_If you enjoyed this issue, consider joining my_ membership_program, The Order of the Black Lotus. For the price of a cup of coffee in Tokyo ($3/month or $30/year), you not only support my writing and photography, but I’ll send you a**handwritten, one-of-one postcard from me in Tokyo** —a tangible piece of my journey, just for you. You’ll also get access to all **exclusive posts** , and an invitation to **my private photography feed on**_ Retro_._\n\nJOIN THE ORDER OF THE BLACK LOTUS\n\n _Joining is the most meaningful way to ensure this work continues, and I thank you for your support!_\n\n* * *\n\nBlake Butler has written a bit about this (sardonically; the same point but almost from the opposite view). He once tweeted something like “I didn’t see the best minds of my generation do anything”—which I took as a comment on how most authors aren't even really trying to do something. (He also spoke about this in this interview with The Creative Independent: “The whole purpose of language is that it can do anything at any time. If I’m failing to reach the possibility of that in making something, then I’m failing as a person.”)\n\nI think it’s so important to have models, both good and bad, for how to live. If you catch me feeling sappy, this is what I would say the purpose of novels, perhaps the purpose of all art, is. But equally if not more important is to have references that just crack your worldview wide open—that show you, take you somewhere you never realized it was possible to reach.\n\nI remember having this experience reading Ben Lerner’s _10:04_ , and realizing the novel could do this. I remember having this experience following Devine and Rekka move aboard a sailboat and decide to sail the world—before that, I never even knew that was an option.\n\nI’ve written a bunch about this idea from George Saunders, on “pushing the new bead to the knot,” as in making a bead bracelet—once you’ve got a good idea, don’t hoard it, use it: in doing so, you’ll force yourself to come up with something even better. So too with Anderson.\n\nMaybe it’s only because I’ve really felt this sense of community in the past year or so, but this way of thinking never occurred to me, but now seems so obvious. I've thought about writing a book that I'm proud of, that can stand alongside the books that inspired me; but it goes forwards, not just backwards. I should aim to write a book that inspires someone to take it even a step further than I can, adding to the endless conversation. It's just another reason to do our best work: it’s not just for us—it’s for everyone.\n\n* * *\n\n## Subscribe to Refrakt\n\nA bi-weekly newsletter on curiosity, creativity, and (hopefully!) insight, through the lens of photography, writing, study, art and beauty, and my life.\n\nSubscribe\n\nEmail sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup.\n\nJoin 200+ members on the path.\n\nBuy me a coffee",
  "title": "To Contribute",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-25T21:11:55.521Z"
}