Screenshot: Frendly Presents
I’ve had a little boy-crush on the Frends crew ever since I saw the grounding story of Kevin Pearce in The Crash Reel at the 2013 X-Games. And what’s not to like? They’re a bunch of crunchy down-home fellas from distinctly off-the-grid-snowboarding hometowns traveling the world, riding pow, having fun and stomping incredible aerial feats that even a year or two ago would have been dismissed as “just not viable”. Somehow, in and amongst it all they’ve made time to create a designer brand of women’s headphones, become talented video producers and start a music festival, the Frendly Gathering.
Screenshot: Frendly Presents
So it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when Jack Mitrani and Danny Davis announced the creation of Frendly Presents a few weeks ago. In collaboration with Skype, the snowboard-crew-turnt-culture-makers launched a website and Youtube channel devoted to sharing their exploits around the world and getting “past the persona of your favorite action sports heroes, musicians, and artists that we are proud to call our frends.”
Yesterday, Episode 1 of their new web-series, Following Frendly, debuted on Youtube. The episode is about… well, just watch it. I, for one, am definitely going to keep a closer eye on these guys.
And for those who are still with me, a few comments on why these guys really get it. The Frendly Presents Mission: “We believe in cultivating lasting frendships that in turn foster collaborative success and stand to rid future generations of exclusivity. We want to help create a ‘we’ generation that is selfless enough to overcome the ‘me’ mentality. Together, life is better.”
Screenshot: Frendly Presents
This is some integral shit folks — this is the level I’m on. Human consciousness develops in an arc both individually and collectively. The first stage is “egocentric” (the “me” mentality), the next is “ethnocentric” (the “me and people like me” mentality), then “worldcentric” (the “we” mentality).
The way I see it, we are poised at the cusp of jumping (as the predominant global cultural worldview) from “ethnocentric” to “worldcentric.” This evolution really started with the Beats sparking the Hippie movement — their “pluralism” is a sort of stepping stone between the latter two phases (and gave huge momentum to some profoundly important cultural shifts of the past half century: civil rights, womens’ rights, gay rights, the environmental movement, and so on).
The more conversation I see about intentionally making this cultural step, about creating this generation, the more excited I get. So Jack, Danny, and any of your Frends: I’m on your team. Just let me know how I can help.
Screenshot: Frendly Presents
For more on the Frendly Gathering, be sure to visit their website.
