Wal-ride.

My boyfriend and I usually enjoy checking out your mag. Unfortunately, we just found ourselves removing a great pic of Peter Hewitt (Issue 297). You may be asking yourself, "Why would they remove such a sick shot?" The answer is sad, yet simple: the Wal-Mart/Dickies ad on the backside. You know, the one with the almost-believable "hang five" front-side grind? Right now you're probably thinking we are a couple of sweatshop protesting, anti-Wal-Mart, tree hugging assholes who spend all of our free time at poetry readings and protesting Nike. Especially when you notice the Oregon return address. This is only partially true. You are misled; we are not morally opposed to the fact that Thrasher has a Wal-Mart advertisement. We understand the necessity of ad dollars; we realize all mags have a lot of pages devoted to advertisements. But we're outraged by the fact that this Dickies/Wal-Mart ad is clearly a fake shot. Wal-Mart is money as an advertiser. Hell, I bought a Bissell bagless upright there for $901 Just because Dickies sold out doesn't mean Thrasher has to. As a mag for actual skaters, you have to set a standard: real footage. I mean, come on. Out of all the talented, no so talented, and in-between, they couldn't get one guy to wear some Dickies gear and do a real trick on some real tranny? At least that way we could enjoy the mag cover to cover. Not to mention that allowing Wal-Mart to have such a cheap-looking shot really does Wal-Mart Inc a disservice by wasting their money on an ineffective ad that got a laugh and a quick removal (along with Anti-Hero's Peter Hewitt in a giant full pipe). I'm off to Wal-Mart to purchase a sheet set. While there, I'll pass up on Dickies and generic skate decks. Don't cheapen the sport with roll back standards.

Alanna Kovar/Joshua Colwell

Portland, OR

We scared 'era off right quick when the caption on the opposite page said "fuck. "Riggins asked me, "How long we been doin' this?"--T-ed