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Video: Man Inspired To Skateboard From LA To NYC After Losing Hair
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 7, 2014
Modified Jun 7, 2014
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 7, 2014
Modified Jun 7, 2014
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If you very suddenly lost your hair one day, what would you do? If you responded, 'why of course I would skateboard across the country as part of an elaborate social experiment/documentary, what do you take me for?' then you'll relate to the story of Kevin Kreider, an actor/model who lost his hair and decided to fulfill a childhood dream of skateboarding across the country. He just rolled through Iowa this week, and if you're as much a fan of reporters awkwardly participating in stories as we are, then you'll love the segment below.
"Being a model and an actor, you’re very appearance-based. That’s all I knew,” Kreider told the World-Herald. "To lose it all in two weeks was very life-changing for me." Kreider, who was born in Seoul, South Korea but is currently based out of NYC, was a body builder in addition to modeling/acting. He started his journey on April 15th from Los Angeles, making stops along the way everywhere from Salt Lake City to Mount Rushmore to Norfolk.
"Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve wanted to go cross country, and I’ve always wanted to skateboard," he told the Herald, "but I was too fearful of both learning how to skateboard — and fall — and taking three or four months out of my life to travel. I hadn’t ever allowed myself to do those things." His career stalled out in NYC when he suddenly lost his hair due to alopecia areata —aka stress-induced hair loss—as he explains in the video below:
All of his travels are being filmed by his friend Rocky Chow for a cross-country documentary called Kevin And His Skateboard. Here's the description of the project, via their Indiegogo site:
On this social experiment, Kevin will be the "stranger" that Americans will meet, take a photo with, share a meal, or offer a place to sleep for the night, all in discovering the heartland of America.
As part of this journey Kevin hopes to find out what it means to be Asian American and have dates with women in rural America who perhaps have only experienced stereotypes of Asian men to find out what they think of interracial dating.
You can follow Kreider via his Twitter account. Check out a few move videos from the journey so far below.
Tagged
cross country trips
hairspiration
Kevin Krieder
skateboard
skateboarding
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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