Skateboarding has been connected with the punk culture and rebellion. There has just been a need to show that skateboarding can be a positive thing.

You look tired," Rachel told Jason.
"I wish I could jog and sleep at the same time."
"Can't you?" Ferrin asked, joining them at the little cascade. "I always imagined that you could sleep rolling down a mountainside in a barrel."
"I probably could today," Jason conceded.

How do you kill something that's already dead?
Nobody knows enough about them. Ask Jason. He'll have an opinion.
Wait a moment. Rachel could see Corinne talking to Jason, but they were too far ahead to hear. He says you chop them up into little pieces.
But what if that infects you with the disease?
Jason leaned closer to answer Corinne quietly. She laughed. You let Nollin do it.

Yes, we have different viewpoints represented among us," she continued. "Yes, we have a displacer in our number, and a half giant, and a seedman who publicly disgraced us."
"She's talking about you," Drake muttered to Nollin, loud enough to draw a laugh.
"No, Drake, I'm talking about you," Farfalee corrected.

And you came back to Lyrian?" Galloran said in disbelief.
"Believe it or not, I came through the same hippopotamus that brought me here the first time. Jumped into the tank on purpose. I wanted to keep others from wasting their time pursuing the Word. And I couldn't ditch Rachel."
Galloran smiled. "Truly, you are possessed by that species of madness that begets heroism.

That artistic and political culture of coffeehouses in the '50s and '60s, is largely missing from the coffeehouse scene today.