DAILY INSPIRATION by Corey Shapiro of Vintage Frames

While kids rode a school bus, I rode a Cadillac. We took the same route to get there, but had a very different ride. When I was younger I was in to breakdancing. A popular activity around the school yard, the sheltered learned at “dance school”, the alternative learned on the street.

There are two forms of schooling; formal and street. Both may be effective, it just depends on the student. To discredit the street is to turn a blind eye on what could be your greatest competition. Real world training is often more effective then a text book, trial and error cannot be forgotten. While those kids were in a cushy dance studio with some wannabe instructor, I was knees down on the cardboard. The scrapes and scars were what taught me, not some hired instructor. On the street you could either hang, or you couldn’t. No amount of money was going to buy you respect. Textbooks became irrelevant, and practice made perfect.

The sheltered kids saw it as an activity, the street kids made it part of their life. Don’t ever let somebody tell you that just because you didn’t ride the “school bus” that they are better then you. If you knew how many people I made eat their words, I guarantee you would hit that cardboard immediately. It’s Monday ride a yellow bus or a Cadillac to school, it’s your fucking choice. What is “formal education” anyways? To me, it is a bunch of people sitting in the same room, learning the same thing. When people leave that room they hit the street. Watch how many of them really know what to do on the pavement. Knowledge is what you make of it, and it’s irrelevant how you learn it. We are all given the option to take the school bus, only the brave choose to ride alongside in the Cadillac.

Signed, Corey Shapiro