interview by Matthew Martyn and Zach Moeller
photos by Toby Angel

What’s up Nick, where are you originally from?
I’m from a town called Laurel. It’s about halfway between Baltimore and DC. I grew up skating around my neighborhood, but there were basically zero spots. There is a skatepark there, which at that time was probably the best park in that whole area, so a lot of people would come to Laurel just to skate the park.

From knowing you as a kid it always seemed like your parents were super supportive. What was it like having them support you from the beginning and take you to contests at seven or eight years old?
I got my first board when I was four or five because one of my neighbors skated, and I loved it. My parents were always really supportive, but they never really forced me to do anything. I am very grateful they were involved. I did a lot of contests. They were fun and not something I felt a lot of pressure to do. I haven’t skated a contest in about 10 years.

So they would take you all over the East Coast?
Yeah, pretty much. It was just fun to bond with my dad in that way. He would see parents with my brother’s sports take things so serious and get way too involved. He would even see other dads at these skate events kind of acting like their child was their 401k, just being way too involved and coaching them.

Sounds like sports dad energy. So they are really pushing their kid to behave like athletes at a young age?
Yeah, and some of those kids don’t even skate anymore, super burnt out. Just the way my life had worked out, it kind of allowed me to appreciate skating in so many other ways outside of being competitive.

When did you first start going to Pulaski? Did you ever have any encounters with cops down there?
My first time going to Pulaski I was probably only seven years old and it was before a Wizards game with my family. They had heard it was a really good place to skate. I remember trying to skate the bottom step and people were being super cool. When I was in my early teens we would skate there sometimes, but we were always on edge. One time Park Police pulled up, so we all ran up 13th Street with them following. My friends ducked into a parking garage and I ran down F Street. Not sure where they stopped following us, but that time getting chased sticks out. Other than that though it was mostly just looking out for the cops, which was kind of fun. That whole scene of cops rushing the spot made me really intrigued by Love Park. I started taking the train up to Philly when I was 13 to spend the day skating Love. It was cool that my parents would let me do that.

Were you watching any videos back then?
I remember my first video was called Shorty’s How To Go Pro. My dad took me to one of the skate shops down here to get it, I think it was called Asylum.

Let’s fast forward a bit. There was a time in your life where you got super into running, around high school, and you were able to run at two different colleges. What was it like being on the track team in college?
When I started high school, I would just come home everyday, sleep and go skate. My parents kind of wanted me to do something more structured. One of my friends told me I should try track and I happened to be good at it. That kind of sparked something in me. Being new to high school you want to feel cool and I was finally good at something these “cool” people care about. I feel like there was some internal pressure to keep going with it. I built up so much anxiety around racing. I had a lot of fun just running but racing made me feel insane, in a bad way. Skating just went on the back burner for six or seven years. A couple years into college, my one homie on the track team, Ethan, had a mini ramp in his garage. I was like “dude, I gotta come skate.” So I bought a board and pretty much quit the track team right after that. Being on the team in college was a cool feeling but that wore off. I was so locked in on it being my identity. After I quit running I was going through this crisis. I was like “oh no what if I never ran before? What if I just kept skating? Where would I be with skating?” Then I realized I wouldn’t be at this current place of pure joy in my life and I wouldn’t have the gratitude towards skating that I have. So it all worked out.

After college you came back East. What are your favorite parts about living in DC?
Really just going down to Pulaski and skating. I have a pretty good routine after work and on the weekends. When I quit running I had about a year and a half left of school. I knew I needed to get back to DC as soon as possible and skate Pulaski. I like having the homies at the plaza. It’s a one of a kind experience. It’s kind of the last plaza. I was also getting into some pretty unhealthy routines before coming back, smoking a lot, drinking a lot, and binge eating. I had so much depression, so much anxiety. I was just fried honestly. I had an opportunity to complete my student teaching semester outside of Colorado and I found a school in DC that would let me. It was a really good opportunity to come back, and I took it.

Regarding unhealthy habits, what were some of the other changes you made to become healthier and what inspired the change?
I quit drinking because of a time I was visiting a girlfriend in Memphis. I woke up in the hospital after a night out drinking with alcohol poisoning. I was by myself out in a city that I’m not really familiar with, alone. I knew I had to stop. Even when I was running a lot, I still always felt weak and tired. I explored new diets that I thought were interesting and started going to the gym around this time because I wanted to look and feel good. It gave me a good routine, when I don’t have a good routine I get thrown off. It helps me feel better both mentally and physically. It feels really good to work hard at something new. It’s cool being older and getting to be a rookie at something. It humbles you. I work out a lot with my friend John John. It’s really cool to work out with another skater and he brings other friends too sometimes. It’s fun and something different.

You just completed an ultramarathon, what even is that?
An ultramarathon is anything that is 50kms or longer. A marathon is 26.2 miles and a 50k is around 31. The one I just ran was a 50 mile race. After doing track in college I had a pretty bad relationship with running because of all the bad habits and mental health issues it caused. Before that I had always liked running long distances, farther and with a slower pace than racing. So I made it a point to do one of these races at some point. I did it with my best friend from high school. We promised that if one of us signed up for it the other one had to as well. One of us signed up, so we ended up doing it, and that shit hurt.

What do you do for work?
I’m a pre-school teacher at a public charter school in DC. It’s pretty fun. It’s also cool to get off at four and be able to go downtown after work.

What’s the sickest thing that the kids have taught you?
The kids have taught me that sometimes I need to take a step back and take a deep breath instead of getting frustrated. You’ll never win with a kid when there’s a power struggle. You need to approach situations with a clear mind to resolve them.

Are any of your students interested in skating at all? Do you show it to them?
There were these two brothers at my school that skated but they moved out of the country. I do have one student, he’s three years old, and very interested in skating. At back to school night he was like “Mr. Nick, I heard you like skating, so I wore this shirt with a skateboarder on it. Who is your favorite skater? My favorite skater is you!” Maybe he’ll pull up to the plaza someday.

Over the last year you put out a bunch of parts and a ton of footage. What’s keeping you motivated to film?
There were six or seven years where I wasn’t really skating, and I feel like maybe it’s almost making up for lost time? I don’t really plan out any specific filming missions though, we just meet downtown and see what comes of it.

You skate with a few crews. How did you start hanging out and filming with so many different people?
That all started when I was younger. I would skate with my friend Elijah Gordon, who introduced me to Nnamdi. Then I moved away for a while, and when I came back I kind of felt distant from people. I’m not the type of person to force a friendship and I don’t want to try to be someone’s friend just because they’re “cool” or whatever. I’m not saying that about anyone specific, but it was kind of an identity thing where I didn’t know who to skate with or who to tag along with. Sometimes people would leave the plaza to skate somewhere, and if they didn’t directly invite me I just wouldn’t go, when I probably could’ve gone and skated with them. So I’d skate with anyone who was at the plaza, and everyone there was cool for the most part. Growing up I’d watch Wayne Morrison’s videos, and he was super stoked on my skating. That was cool because I’d never even met him, but he said we should film some stuff. He introduced me to some more people and I started skating with them too.

Who are your favorite past or present DMV skaters?
My favorite past DMV skaters would have to be Sean Driscoll and Thomas Bloomer. Belly of the Beast might be the best DMV video ever. And for present, I’d say Dylan Hatfield.

Do you have a favorite conspiracy theory?
Well, since changing my handle to @consp1racytheory my Instagram algorithm has been getting really, really crazy. So I guess that is a conspiracy theory right there.

Lastly, any shoutouts?
Yeah I’d like to shout out the people that are still documenting the DC skate scene, Garrett Lopez, Wayne Morrison, Nnamdi Ihekwoaba, James Park, Owen Basher, Toby Angel, and others. Shout out Arbor Skateboards for sending me boards, I really appreciate them. Shout out to everyone who’s keeping the DC and plaza scene strong. Lastly, shoutout to everyone who cleans up their trash at the plaza.