Huck’s Most Popular Reads, Feb 22-28, 2015
- Text by Alex Taylor
- Photography by Gareth Bentley

The cold, dark winter months are coming to an end and there is actually light in the day. It’s a time to say goodbye to winter and welcome in the spring with open arms. March is just and the corner and it feels like it, too.
It is once again okay to venture outside without gloves, scarves, hats and any number of woollen items you may have. This creates a dilemma: how are you going to keep up with everything you should know when you’ve left your computer at home?! No sweat, we got your back. The weekly bite-size guide to everything Huck over the last week is back so you can catch up before you head out.
Oh, and thanks for reading.
1. Is Zambia Africa’s new skate hotspot?
You didn’t know that Zambia had a skate scene? Follow the story of Elijah Zgambo, a Zambian skater, from moving to Russia with his mother to bringing skating culture to a country where it was non-existent.
2. Are mushroom boards the future of surfing?
With surfing taking its toll on the environment, one workshop is taking matters into their own hands. Steering away from synthetic materials, they prefer to use a more ‘organic’ approach to boardmaking that you won’t be familiar with.
San Francisco is home to the super talented Aleksandra Zee who creates amazing wooden installations. She breathes new life into her materials taking discarded wood and turning it into something beautiful.
4. What makes an epic landscape photograph?
We asked loads of questions this week but that’s what we should be doing, am I right?! The 100 Mile Radius competition asks the question: how good can nature look? Stuart Pilkington reveals how your lense can capture the incredible.
5. Cameron’s ‘bro’ chat reveals how out of touch he is
Big Dave never gave the impression that he was cool. Fortunately, he’s been kind enough to eradicate any lingering doubt anyone may have had. Michael Fordham is sick of this shit so he wrote something about it.
6. Is this the trippiest skateboarding music video ever?
Yes.
Gender bias is a bad thing. It’s a bad thing in life and it’s a bad thing in sport. C’mon guys, let the girls shred.
8. That awkward moment when everyone finds out a 13-year-old girl wrote your best quote
While there’s nothing wrong with a 13 year-old-girl exploring her creativity and inadvertently creating one of the tumblr generations biggest catch phrases, there’s a lot wrong with plagiarism. John Green, who was attributed with the quote, took it in good humour, others can be a bit darker with it.
9. Can a skatepark transform a community?
See: ‘Is this the trippiest skateboarding music video ever’.
10. The Bots
Punks from California make a real racket but they can’t get served at the bar. Who cares? These kids have got it all.
Latest on Huck

Meet the trans-led hairdressers providing London with gender-affirming trims
Open Out — Since being founded in 2011, the Hoxton salon has become a crucial space the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Hannah Bentley caught up with co-founder Greygory Vass to hear about its growth, breaking down barbering binaries, and the recent Supreme Court ruling.
Written by: Hannah Bentley

Gazan amputees secure Para-Cycling World Championships qualification
Gaza Sunbirds — Alaa al-Dali and Mohamed Asfour earned Palestine’s first-ever top-20 finish at the Para-Cycling World Cup in Belgium over the weekend.
Written by: Isaac Muk

New documentary revisits the radical history of UK free rave culture
Free Party: A Folk History — Directed by Aaron Trinder, it features first-hand stories from key crews including DiY, Spiral Tribe, Bedlam and Circus Warp, with public streaming available from May 30.
Written by: Isaac Muk

Rahim Fortune’s dreamlike vision of the Black American South
Reflections — In the Texas native’s debut solo show, he weaves familial history and documentary photography to challenge the region’s visual tropes.
Written by: Miss Rosen

Why Katy Perry’s space flight was one giant flop for mankind
Galactic girlbossing — In a widely-panned, 11-minute trip to the edge of the earth’s atmosphere, the ‘Women’s World’ singer joined an all-female space crew in an expensive vanity advert for Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. Newsletter columnist Emma Garland explains its apocalypse indicating signs.
Written by: Emma Garland

Katie Goh: “I want people to engage with the politics of oranges”
Foreign Fruit — In her new book, the Edinburgh-based writer traces her personal history through the citrus fruit’s global spread, from a village in China to Californian groves. Angela Hui caught up with her to find out more.
Written by: Katie Goh