The Red Bulletin Oct/Nov 2020 (US)

BEYOND THE ORDINARY THE RED BULLETIN 10-11/2020 

BEYOND THE ORDINARY 

LIFE IS 

SUBSCRIBE 

NOW 

DETAILS 

INSIDE 

SAWEETIE 

U.S. EDITION 

OCT./NOV. 2020, $5.99 

The breakout rapper 

opens up about fame, 

identity, love, her 

new album—and the 

work ethic that made 

it all happen

EDITOR’S NOTE 

STATE OF 

THE ART 

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE 

This issue is anchored by features 

on Black women who are leaning 

into their personal experiences to 

transform their spaces in music 

and dance. Our cover story, “The 

Saweet Life” (page 22), is a revealing 

interview with breakout rapper 

Saweetie, who talks freely about 

how her huge success has been 

shaped by formative challenges 

and her refusal to be confined by 

expectations. And in “Love and 

Liberation on the Dance Floor” 

(page 34), movement artists Sheopatra 

Jones and Yorelis Apolinario reveal 

how their art and activism as queer 

Black women are intertwined in a 

beautiful way. We hope you find 

these stories as inspiring as we do. 

G L 

ASKEW II 

“Saweetie was so cool as a 

person—humble and down for 

whatever,” says the Los 

Angeles-based photographer, 

who has shot the likes of Dr. 

Dre, Jamie Foxx, Migos and 

Usain Bolt for such titles as 

Entertainment Weekly and 

Fader and brands like Adidas 

and Nike. In particular, Askew 

was impressed when the 

rapper grabbed a football. 

“Her fans would be surprised 

to know she’s got an arm like 

Tom Brady.” Page 22 

ATIBA 

JEFFERSON 

“Shooting Sheopatra and 

Yoe—two talented and 

intelligent Black women—was 

amazing, and I have to say 

seeing their love for one 

another was reassuring of 

the positive things in the 

world,” says the L.A.-based 

photographer. “Black is 

beautiful.” Jefferson, a skate 

and basketball insider who 

also took the BLM protest 

image on page 14, has shot 

recent covers for Thrasher 

and Slam. Page 34 

At an outdoors production at Red Bull HQ in Santa 

Monica, G L Askew II shoots Saweetie, who’s 

holding a skateboard she had built a day earlier. 

BEANDREA 

JULY 

“Sheopatra and Yoe’s skills as 

movement artists, as well as 

the warmth of their personal 

connection, was beautiful to 

witness,” says the Los 

Angeles-based writer who 

profiled the two dancers. 

July’s recent work has 

appeared in Vanity Fair, The 

Hollywood Reporter and the 

New York Times. “What stuck 

to me from our interview was 

how they make room for and 

embrace all that they are in 

their work.” Page 34 

LAKIN 

STARLING 

“It was great to connect with 

Saweetie and talk about some 

of the things that Black 

women navigate in life and 

specifically within the music 

industry,” says the Brooklynbased 

writer who tackled our 

cover story. Starling’s work 

has been published by Teen 

Vogue, Esquire, Vulture and 

Pitchfork. “It was a pleasure 

to learn more about her early 

life and the many experiences 

that have shaped her into 

such a boss.” Page 22 

G L ASKEW II (COVER) 

04 THE RED BULLETIN

Copyright © 2020 MNA, Inc. All rights reserved. 

THE ENTIRE RIDE OUT, 

THERE WAS NEVER A SECOND THOUGHT. 

WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING FOR? 

150 years of engineering progress. Check it out at www.BFGoodrichTires.com/150years .

CONTENTS 

October/November 

FEATURES 

22 The Saweet Life 

After a summer of viral hits, the breakout rapper Saweetie 

opens up about fame, identity, love and her new album. 

34 Love and Liberation 

Movement artists and activists Sheopatra Jones and Yorelis 

Apolinario are the power couple the dance world needs. 

44 Renaissance Waterman 

Back home in Hawaii, watersports master Kai Lenny is 

rediscovering why he fell in love with the ocean in the first place. 

56 Win-Win Situation 

In just five years, more than 130 colleges have launched esports 

programs, attracting students seeking new opportunities. 

68 Let’s Make an Ordeal 

Cooped up at home in Wyoming, a crew of outdoor athletes 

concoct an intense mountain triathlon in their own backyard. 

22 

SHE’S ALL THAT 

The rapper Saweetie is 

many things—and 

she’s redefining what it 

means to be a BITCH: 

Boss, Independent, 

Tough, CEO and Hyphy. 

56 

FULL STEAM 

At Full Sail University, 

students like Megan 

Danaher are prepping 

for new careers in the 

booming gaming 

industry. 

06 THE RED BULLETIN

THE 

DEPARTURE 

Taking You to New Heights 

9 How one man shed 300 

pounds on a mountain bike 

12 A WWII shipwreck that’s a 

magnet for Cuban surfers 

14 Skateboarders fighting for 

BLM justice in Los Angeles 

16 An exclusive travel outfit 

lets you ski with the pros 

18 A personal protective suit 

for the responsible raver 

19 Changing the way we view 

climate change through art 

20 The 1975’s frontman shares 

his top activist anthems 

GUIDE 

Get it. Do it. See it. 

79 Travel: Remote getaways 

84 Training tips from pro 

snowboarder Zeb Powell 

86 Dates for your calendar 

88 The best new outdoor 

barware and snow gear 

96 The Red Bulletin worldwide 

98 Flipping out in Panama 

G L ASKEW II, ATIBA JEFFERSON, FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY 

34 

BEST FOOT 

FORWARD 

Dancers Yorelis 

Apolinario (left) and 

Sheopatra Jones 

make the revolution 

look irresistible. 

THE RED BULLETIN 07

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Valid Through 9.2.2020 – 11.3.2020 

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LIFE & STYLE BEYOND THE ORDINARY 

THE 

MICHAEL DARTER 

LOSS 

LEADER 

Thanks to a newfound 

love for mountain biking 

and a drive to inspire 

others, Anthony Lopez 

has already shed 300 

pounds. And he’s not 

done: “I have no interest 

in slowing down.” 

“I am in love with 

mountain biking,” 

says Lopez, who 

was photographed 

near Anaheim 

Hills, California, 

on July 31. 

THE RED BULLETIN 09

“Everything about my 

life is different,” says 

Lopez, who wants to 

help get kids from his 

community on bikes. 

Anthony Lopez is on 

his bike, grinding it 

out. The singletrack 

is steep and rutted and the air 

in this inland corner of 

California’s Orange County 

feels hot enough to bake 

enchiladas. He is in a small 

gear and mashing his pedals 

like cresting this wicked pitch 

means something. 

Lopez, 30, looks nothing 

like a typical mountain biker. 

He’s Black and Mexican 

American and he presently 

weighs a little north of 300 

pounds. Cranking that body 

up an unrelenting trail takes 

strength and willpower and 

something more than that— 

let’s call it guts. 

Lots of people turn to an 

active pursuit like mountain 

biking to change their body 

and outlook, to catalyze real 

change in their lives, but few 

attempt a transformation as 

dramatic or public as this one. 

Atop an open ridgeline, 

admiring a panorama of 

peaks in Cleveland National 

Forest to the east, Lopez 

pauses to recount how he got 

here. He had always struggled 

with his weight, but things got 

worse a few years ago when 

his grandfather got stomach 

cancer. Eventually, Lopez 

stepped in as a hospice 

caregiver, spending months in 

the trenches—up all night, 

administering morphine, 

watching a beloved 

grandparent fade and suffer. 

“I just gave up trying to 

control what I ate,” he recalls. 

A few days after his 

grandfather died in 2018, 

Lopez stepped on his scale 

and got an error message— 

meaning he topped 600 

pounds. “That was the low 

point,” he says. “I stared at the 

display and thought ‘Fuck 

this—I want to fix this.’ ” 

After some time to gather 

his bearings and formulate a 

plan, Lopez, who already had 

successful channels on 

YouTube and Instagram 

focusing on automotive 

content, started documenting 

his efforts to eat smarter and 

exercise regularly and 

otherwise regain his health. 

He initially focused on 

boxing and weight lifting to 

get fit, but this past spring the 

COVID-19 pandemic shut 

down those options. Lopez 

had happy memories of riding 

as a kid so he got a mountain 

bike and took a stab at a hilly, 

locally well-known 11-mile 

circuit called the Fullerton 

Loop. “I was only able to ride 

a couple of miles that first 

time,” he recalls. “It was hard 

as hell for me.” 

But he stuck with it, 

capturing considerable stoke 

and disarming honesty in his 

social posts, and forged 

himself into a real mountain 

biker. Less than 60 days after 

MICHAEL DARTER 

10 THE RED BULLETIN

T H E D E P A R T U R E 

Lopez carves turns in 

California’s Santiago 

Oaks Regional Park. 

At a low point just 

two years ago, Lopez 

weighed more than 

600 pounds. 

his maiden voyage, Lopez 

completed the Fullerton Loop. 

And now, three months after 

that, he’s crushing that circuit 

a few times a week. “I am in 

love with mountain biking,” 

he says with a toothy smile. 

“And people seem to be 

responding to it.” 

That is an understatement. 

In the early months of his 

transformation he saw steady 

interest in his videos, but one 

day this spring it blew up. “I 

went to sleep with a fully 

charged phone and when I 

woke up it was dead,” he says. 

“It literally buzzed all night.” 

“I THINK RIGHT NOW 

PEOPLE ARE NEEDING 

SOME INSPIRATION.” 

In a flash, he picked up 

100,000 followers on TikTok 

and things took off from there. 

Now he’s closing in on 

800,000 followers and has 

shifted his focus from 

automotive content to a digital 

celebration of mountain 

biking and weight loss. 

“I think especially right now 

people need some inspiration, 

something positive.” 

His authentic joy while 

riding is hard to miss on the 

trail. Lopez flows through 

tight switchbacks with grace, 

and when he sees little ramps 

on one downhill stretch, he 

starts launching jumps. “If you 

have releases, give them to me 

now,” he tells a photographer 

along for the ride. “We are 

definitely doing this.” 

His car-nerd obsessiveness 

to detail is on display as he 

proudly deconstructs his 

recently upgraded steed—a 

Specialized hardtail that he 

had powder-coated and 

outfitted with a new fork and 

a gold chain. “I think I’m 

ready for a road bike soon,” 

Lopez says. He says his goals 

for the fall are to try his first 

mountain bike race and 

complete a 50-mile ride. 

To sustain such goals, 

Lopez has changed how he 

eats—eschewing junk food 

and eating small, nutrientrich 

meals every four hours. 

“I eat chicken and fish, fruits 

and vegetables. I eat a little 

rice,” he says. When asked if 

he feels pressure to stay on 

track with hundreds of 

thousands of new fans 

following his transformation, 

he laughs. “No, I don’t feel any 

pressure,” he says. “I’m 

hearing from so many people 

who need inspiration and now 

I’m feeling this strength 

through for them.” 

Lopez hardly feels like he’s 

at the end of his journey. He 

wants to get down to 210 

pounds, but his goals are not 

focused on digits on his scale. 

This summer was full of 

firsts—he shared a jet ski with 

his brother and rode shotgun 

in his friends’ sportscars and 

most recently nailed a 

tabletop jump at a ski-area 

bike park for the first time. 

(“I’m not going to lie,” he says, 

“I had tears in my eyes.”) And 

when the snow comes to the 

mountains of SoCal this 

winter, he’s eager to return to 

the mountains and strap on a 

snowboard for the first time. 

“Everything about my life is 

different,” he admits, 

recalling how he used to take 

off his shoes if they needed to 

be retied. “I have no interest 

in slowing down.” 

The afternoon ride is 

almost over—all that’s left is 

the steep downhill back to the 

parking lot. “I’m getting better 

at going uphill, but going 

downhill—that’s my happy 

place,” he says. And with that, 

he clips in and bombs down 

the trail. —Peter Flax 

THE RED BULLETIN 11

T H E D E P A R T U R E

Baracoa, 

Cuba 

WRECK 

CENTER 

WILL SAUNDERS/RED BULL ILLUME 

Utah-based photographer 

Will Saunders had been documenting 

a crew of surfers and skaters in Cuba 

for a fortnight when they took him 

to one of their favorite spots. 

“I couldn’t believe it,” Saunders 

says of the rusted wreck. “This place 

felt like a spot out of Tony Hawk’s 

Pro Skater. We spent the entire 

morning making images of this 

unique wave and surfing until the 

swell was gone. The game of this 

wave is to try to surf under the bow 

of the boat while dragging your hand 

along its hull—without getting 

tetanus. Yojany [Pérez, the surfer 

pictured] made it look too easy.” 

willsaundersphoto.com 

13

Los Angeles, 

California 

SKATE FOR 

JUSTICE 

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter 

protests that surged in the wake of the 

murder of George Floyd, skaters across 

the country took over the streets to 

show solidarity and join in the fight 

against systemic racism. “People and 

companies have been so blind in 

supporting and hiding racism,” says 

the L.A.-based photographer Atiba 

Jefferson, who captured this image in 

Hollywood on June 20. “Since George 

Floyd, our country finally is facing this 

ugly lie of what was the ‘American 

Dream.’ I used my camera at the protest 

to show people coming together to 

show change in our community.” 

atibaphoto.com 

ATIBA JEFFERSON


15


Backcountry Adventure 

MASTER CLASS 

Got what it takes to ski with the pros? Now you 

can jet off to Chile with Ian McIntosh or hone your 

backcountry skills in France with Johnny Collinson, 

thanks to an exclusive travel outfit. 

When it comes to 

jobs, Rachel 

Findler has one 

that is undeniably enviable: 

The 38-year-old leads 

excursions around the world 

for small groups of advanced 

skiers who get to beef up their 

backcountry skills with the 

help of world champions. 

But what prompted Findler 

to come up with the idea for 

her boutique business, called 

Uthrive, isn’t nearly as 

desirable. After a lifetime of 

skiing and several years spent 

as a sponsored, medal-winning 

freeride competitor, she woke 

up from a 2015 knee surgery 

knowing something was 

seriously wrong. Suddenly 

riddled with chronic pain and 

fatigue, she was frustrated by 

dismissive doctors unable to 

provide a diagnosis. 

“Obviously, being an athlete, 

you are in tune with your 

body,” says Findler, who also 

ran her own wellness practice. 

“You train so hard you know 

what pain is, so if you say 

you’re in pain, you’re in pain.” 

When her symptoms 

became so debilitating that she 

ended up bedridden, Findler 

left her home in ski mecca 

Whistler, B.C., to move in with 

family in her native U.K. “I was 

really depressed and also 

scared. I didn’t really know 

where income was going to 

come from,” she recounts. 

“I was lying in bed and 

thought, I need something to 

look forward to. I need a 

passion project.” 

Considering she’d always 

relished opportunities to take 

others out on the mountain 

and the fact she just happened 

to know many of the world’s 

top skiers, Findler came up 

with an idea. “I reached out to 

all my friends who are pros 

No more than 10 participants are allowed on Uthrive’s ski excursions, so 

each person’s special access to pros like Ian McIntosh is unparalleled. 

and said, ‘Hey I’m thinking 

about running these ski trips. 

Are you interested?’ And they 

all said yes.” 

She quickly filled her first 

trip—a 2019 excursion to the 

French Alps with pal Ian 

McIntosh, an accomplished 

big-mountain skier and TGR 

film star—simply by posting 

to Instagram. “I spent no 

money on advertising and 

marketing. I didn’t have any 

money,” she laughs. 

Since then, Findler (who 

was eventually diagnosed with 

an autoimmune condition 

called systemic lupus 

erythematosus, which she’s 

now managing) has held ski 

retreats in Chile with 

McIntosh; the Swiss Alps with 

Freeride World Tour champs 

Jackie Paaso and Reine 

Barkered; and returned to the 

French Alps with pro freeskier 

and Red Bull athlete Johnny 

Collinson in early March, 

Uthrive’s last trip before the 

COVID shutdown. A variety of 

new excursions are planned 

for 2021. 

“It’s really rewarding to go 

out with these somewhat 

strangers, have a good time, 

make new friends and at the 

end of it they’re like, man, that 

was super fun or inspiring or 

rewarding,” Collinson says. 

“They’re getting this cool 

experience out of it. As am I.” 

Trips are capped at 10 

participants, who spend 

several full days shredding 

pristine powder on some of the 

Uthrive pros’ favorite—and 

often little-known—off-piste 

terrain, accompanied by 

Findler, the trip’s pro and two 

From France and 

Switzerland to 

Chile and Japan, 

Uthrive travels to 

the world’s best 

backcountry spots. 

IAN MCINTOSH 

16 THE RED BULLETIN

2021 

UTHRIVE 

EXCURSIONS 

FIEBERBRUNN, AUSTRIA, 

WITH IAN MCINTOSH 

FEBRUARY 6-13 

Findler says: “The Freeride 

World Tour is there and Ian used 

to compete on that tour. That’s 

how his career started. Austria 

is so overlooked. Everyone goes 

to the Alps, but Austria is quiet 

and that’s what we want. All the 

powder for us.” 

NISEKO, JAPAN, 

WITH KYLE SMAINE 

FEBRUARY 20-27 

Findler says: “[World halfpipe 

champion] Kyle has been 

going here for six years. It’s 

his favorite spot in the world. 

Japan is on so many people’s 

bucket lists. The culture is just 

so beautiful and that’s a big 

part of it.” 

VERBIER, SWITZERLAND, 

WITH REINE BARKERED 

APRIL, DATES TBD 

Findler says: “The final stop 

of the Freeride World Tour is 

in Verbier. It’s just a great 

experience to go with Reine and 

see the mountain he competes 

on and get him to talk about 

his experiences of skiing that 

mountain and hearing the 

stories, the tales from the tour.” 

local guides. Then there are 

luxe perks like private chalet 

accommodations and multicourse 

gourmet meals 

created by a personal chef, 

along with wellness activities 

such as morning meditation 

and athlete mindset sessions. 

Uthrive’s ultra-niche 

market is heavy on strong 

backcountry skiers facing a 

unique two-pronged problem: 

They’ve become so advanced 

that they no longer have ski 

buddies who can keep up, 

and they’ve personally hit a 

plateau as to how to improve. 

“When you’re a very good 

skier, the lessons and the 

skills you need to learn are 

mountain knowledge— 

weather systems, snowpacks, 

avalanche dangers, how to 

use an ice axe and how to 

read a mountain and study 

the terrain,” Findler says. 

“And that’s where the pros 

come in.” 

Those pros are perhaps 

the trips’ biggest draw, 

providing not just guidance 

on the slopes but also oncein-a-lifetime 

interactions 

throughout the entire trip. 

“You’re all staying together, 

you have dinners together, 

you’re chilling out in the hot 

tub, you’re shooting the shit 

on the mountain all day. 

People really enjoy hearing 

their behind-the-scenes 

backstories of filming or an 

expedition or the ski scene,” 

according to Findler. “People 

always say, ‘I didn’t know 

this was a thing,’ and I say, 

‘It wasn’t. We created it.’ ” 

—Lizbeth Scordo 

THE RED BULLETIN 17


Micrashell 

SAFETY DANCE 

As nightclubs and festivals look forward to reopening, this 

personal protective suit could be the future of rave fashion. 

more complex and desirable 

manner.” To satisfy this desire, 

Risueño’s studio, Production 

Club, has developed a personal 

protective suit for ravers. 

The Micrashell may make 

its wearer look like an extra 

from The Martian, but there’s 

some serious technology built 

in. “We’ve prioritized the safety 

element, which relies on a 

filtration system similar to that 

found in PAPR [powered airprocessing 

respirator] suits,” 

says Risueño. “Then we added 

functional and design features 

that make the suit compelling.” 

These include an internal 

drinks and vape supply, a 

personal sound system and the 

requisite glowing LEDs: “The 

drinking-canister system is a 

solution to long waiting lines 

and eliminates the possibility 

of getting roofied. The 

individualized speaker system 

helps avoid ear fatigue.” 

The Micrashell is currently 

in the prototype phase, being 

tested by Risueño himself. “I’m 

writing this from the inside of 

a very loud, safe and ugly 

helmet,” he says. The company 

has even considered the suit’s 

possibilities off the dance floor. 

“Drinking, going to the 

restroom and potentially 

having sex are all things we 

could not neglect,” he adds. 

“That’s why the suit only covers 

your torso upwards.” 

Nights spent dancing 

in crowded rooms, 

sharing drinks and 

throwing arms around other 

people are all pleasures that 

are fast becoming distant 

memories for party lovers. 

But one collective of club 

music fans have made it their 

goal to bring back those 

moments as soon as possible. 

“Human-to-human 

interaction gives you a sense 

of purpose that cannot be 

substituted virtually just yet,” 

says L.A.-based creative 

director Miguel Risueño. 

“It conveys emotions in a 

PRODUCTION CLUB LOU BOYD 

18 THE RED BULLETIN

Greenland’s ice 

sheet (shown in 

black) melted at 

record levels in 

2019, shedding 

an estimated 

370 billion tons. 

OLAFUR ELIASSON, GETTY IMAGES LOU BOYD 

Olafur Eliasson 

ART FOR EARTH’S SAKE 

To make the world a better place, first you 

must change your perspective. 

With his latest 

creation, 

Olafur Eliasson 

(left) wants us to be the 

artist. The prolific Danish- 

Icelandic artist’s work Earth 

Perspectives comprises nine 

fluorescent images of our 

planet; to unlock their 

meaning, the viewer must 

take a deeper look. For 

example, stare at the dot at 

the center of the globe on 

this page for 10 seconds 

before shifting your gaze to 

a neutral surface. The image 

produced by your eyes is, in 

effect, your own work of art 

and a new, unique view of 

the world. 

Earth Perspectives may 

be easy to engage with, 

but the artist’s meaning is 

complex. Though best 

known for his vast and 

conceptual installations, 

Eliasson has created this 

smaller-scale participatory 

piece to help alter our view 

of the planet during this 

time of ecological crisis. 

By presenting areas under 

threat from climate 

change—including the 

Great Barrier Reef and 

Greenland’s ice sheet, as 

well as the site of the 1986 

Chernobyl nuclear power 

plant disaster in Ukraine— 

the images prompt us to 

recalibrate the way we see 

our world. 

“Earth Perspectives 

envisions the Earth we want 

to live on together by 

welcoming multiple 

perspectives,” Eliasson says. 

“Not only the perspectives 

of humans but also those 

of plants, animals and 

nature. A glacier’s 

perspective deviates from 

that of a human. The same 

goes for a river.” 

Eliasson’s work is part 

of the Serpentine Galleries’ 

Back to Earth program, a 

multi-year project that will 

bring together more than 60 

artists, poets, architects, 

filmmakers, scientists, 

thinkers and designers in a 

call to action on the climate 

crisis. Already urgent, this 

message now seems even 

more prescient due to the 

global pandemic. 

“The current health crisis 

has brought our societies 

close to a halt, affecting our 

economies, our freedoms 

and even our social ties,” 

says Eliasson. “We must 

take the time to empathize 

with all those struck by the 

crisis, and to seize this 

opportunity to imagine 

together the Earth we want 

to inhabit in the future, in 

all its wonders and beauty, 

in the face of all the 

challenges ahead of us.” 

To see Earth Perspectives 

in its entirety—and pieces 

by other participants, 

including Judy Chicago and 

Jane Fonda—visit the 

Serpentine Galleries online. 

serpentinegalleries.org 

THE RED BULLETIN 19


Playlist 

GETTING THE 

MESSAGE 

Matty Healy, frontman of 

the 1975, one of the U.K.’s 

most socially conscious 

bands, on four songs that 

stoke his activist side. 

Why limit yourself to 

just one musical genre 

when you can play 

them all? With each of their three 

U.K. No. 1 albums, the 1975 have 

broadened their sound, creating a 

unique blend of R&B, punk, ambient 

and synth-pop that has won them a 

diverse fanbase. Alongside the 

music, the Manchester-based quartet 

have made headlines with their 

political activism—advocating 

sustainable shows, speaking out on 

LGBTQ+ rights, demanding a 50/50 

gender split at festivals; and the 

opening track on their latest album, 

Notes on a Conditional Form, features 

a speech by Greta Thunberg. Here, 

lead singer Matty Healy shares his 

playlist of music with something 

important to say. Notes on a 

Conditional Form is out now. 

PETER TOSH 

“EQUAL RIGHTS” 

(1977) 

“I love this track. It’s a 

manifesto, and the lyrics [in 

which Tosh demands justice 

and equal rights rather than 

peace] are just so true and 

so real. The spirit of this 

literally generates all of our 

songs, all of the emotional 

ideas. Everything starts with 

a song like this.” 

JAMES BROWN 

“IT’S A MAN’S MAN’S MAN’S 

WORLD” (1966) 

“This is an amazing song— 

and it’s a very current subject, 

obviously. He’s talking about 

civil rights and misogyny. He 

sings that the world “wouldn’t 

be nothing, nothing without 

a woman or a girl”—that is so 

true. I heard it again the other 

day and it made the hairs stand 

up on the back of my neck.” 

REFUSED 

“RATHER BE DEAD” 

(1996) 

“This band has had a big 

influence on us—like on our 

single ‘People’—not only 

with their political activism 

but also with their energy 

and urgency. This song is the 

most punk rock thing I’ve ever 

heard. Honestly, Refused 

were the last heavy band that 

I really gave a fuck about.” 

RADIOHEAD 

“THE DAILY MAIL” 

(2011) 

“At times, Thom Yorke writes 

songs that are so odd. This 

one reminds me of England 

and the disappointment that 

fuels our society. We’re so 

disappointed in ourselves, 

and we celebrate our dreary 

shitness right across the 

board. It feels like a very true 

English statement.” 

BRETT LLOYD MARCEL ANDERS 

20 THE RED BULLETIN

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Saweetie, 26, was 

photographed for The 

Red Bulletin outside 

of Red Bull North 

America’s HQ in Santa 

Monica on July 7.

THE 

SAWEET 

LIFE 

After a summer of viral hits, the breakout rapper 

Saweetie opens up about fame, identity, love, 

her new album, Pretty Bitch Music—and the work 

ethic that turned her desire for success into reality. 

Words LAKIN STARLING 

Photography G L ASKEW II 

23

As a Bay Area native, 

Saweetie embraces 

the region’s culture, 

style and “hyphy,” 

or upbeat spirit.

Believe it or not, Saweetie 

has always been the underdog. It’s not 

immediately evident by her beauty, 

raving fan pages, pristine jewels and her 

ability to smash the internet with rap 

hits. But proving others wrong with her 

quiet charm, laser focus and work ethic 

has always fueled her ability to beat 

the odds. 

For many artists like Saweetie, whose 

virality creates a pipeline to stardom, one 

may assume that their track to success 

was swift and without hard work. It 

wasn’t so easy in Saweetie’s case. Before 

the glitz of her “icy” career, she was an 

undergraduate student at USC with big 

rap dreams. When she wasn’t in class— 

or working one of her three jobs—the 

go-getter was uploading Instagram 

videos of herself rapping in her Jeep. 

Gradually, she built a buzz on social 

media, and in 2017 she dropped the 

video for “Icy Girl.” Sporting long 

platinum tresses, a fur coat and expensivelooking 

satins, she embodied the attitude 

and luxury that she would ultimately 

manifest into her current reality. The 

viral video catapulted her into the 

spotlight, and she hasn’t looked back 

since. 

Born Diamonté Quiava Valentin 

Harper, the 26-year-old Northern 

California native grew up across enclaves 

of the Bay Area. As the daughter of 

young parents who were often busy with 

work, Saweetie moved around a lot and 

was mostly raised by her maternal and 

paternal grandmothers. The frequent 

relocations often made her the new kid 

at school, which forced her to gain 

confidence and learn to adjust quickly. 

Although her classmates picked on 

her as an outsider and underestimated 

her abilities because of her looks, 

Saweetie tuned them out by excelling at 

sports like volleyball, skateboarding and 

track and field. 

Now, as a rapper, Saweetie is 

breaking records with nonstop bops 

like “My Type” and “Tap In.” Her songs 

capture the Bay Area’s hyphy, upbeat 

spirit and encourage listeners to have 

the maximum amount of fun and selfconfidence. 

Her message is not about 

having a specific look, but more about 

expressing a bossed-up energy that grants 

fans permission to shower themselves 

with love, good times and, of course, 

beautiful things. Saweetie admits that 

she’s learned a lot about her artistry 

since her earlier EPs and guarantees that 

her evolution is apparent in her debut fulllength 

album, Pretty Bitch Music, which 

releases this fall. It’s a more textured 

project, with a ranging production that 

lets her audience discover more of her 

layers as a woman. 

25

With 7 million 

followers on 

Instagram, Saweetie 

has mastered the art 

of giving fans a taste 

of her extraordinary 

life—like when she’s 

trying out her brandnew 

skateboard.

the red bulletin: You’ve brought 

a lot of fun to Instagram and social 

media while we’ve all been stuck 

inside. What’s that experience in 

quarantine been like for you? 

saweetie: I always tell people if I 

wasn’t an artist, I probably would post 

like once a year. Why? I don’t know. 

Social media used to give me a lot of 

anxiety, especially when I first popped 

off, because it was so many people with 

things to say, and it just gave so many 

people access to me so quickly. It made 

me kind of become a recluse from social 

media, but then I realized that social 

media is an imaginary world. Good and 

bad things happen there. Once I was able 

to develop my mental toughness and 

learn how to steer through social media, 

it became fun for me, and that’s when 

I started selectively showing my 

personality. 

You also show a lot of family and loved 

ones on social. How does their energy 

impact who you are? 

They bring out the best of me. If I’m 

working, it’s not that I’m not comfortable, 

but no one else can bring out my 

personality like my family. I can just be 

myself. 

Which family members have been the 

most influential in your life? 

My grandmother, because I lived on and 

off with her throughout my childhood. 

A lot of people don’t know that, but my 

grandmothers really raised me, and I feel 

like they did a really great job. I had 

really young parents who were always 

out working, so definitely my 

grandmothers, on my Filipino/Chinese 

side and then on my Black side. 

They come from different cultures, 

but they had the same in the work ethic. 

They were always working. They were 

always getting their hair done. They 

always smelled good. They always kept 

their house clean. As a little girl, that was 

normal for me. When people say things 

like, “What inspires you to be a boss? 

Like, what makes you wanna empower 

women?”—these are things that were just 

regular for me growing up, like women 

in my family, all different types, shapes, 

sizes, even attitudes, right? You know 

how that goes. [Laughs.] But no matter 

what, no matter what the circumstances, 

it was always love and support. So for 

me, that just comes naturally. 

Where exactly did you grow up in 

the Bay? 

I grew up all around the Bay, primarily in 

Hayward. One of my grandmothers lived 

in the city and the other one lived in 

Sunnyvale. I lived in San Jose as well, 

but I used to move around as a little kid 

because my parents were so young, so 

everybody used to babysit me. 

But it just made me develop a tough 

skin, bouncing around from schools. It 

made me an adapter, because if you’re 

constantly changing new environments 

as a little kid, you never really become 

comfortable. You learn how to make the 

best of your situation. I really resented 

my childhood because I don’t feel like 

I grew up as a regular kid, but I felt like 

it prepared me to be in this business. 

I’m persevering no matter what the 

circumstances and dealing with different 

types of people, problems. It made me 

a really strong young woman. 

What about the Bay Area culture and 

style has influenced you as a person 

and an artist? 

A lot of people are surprised that I’m able 

to do my own glam. I can do my own hair 

and makeup, but in the Bay Area, 

everybody wants to look good but be 

unique, too. I’ve always been colorful; 

I’ve always been dying my hair. I’ve 

always been trying to make myself look 

good. It inspired me to want to be fly. 

I love the Bay Area because it’s like 

home of the pretty girls with bomb-ass 

attitudes. We’re so down to earth, we 

know how to party, but we still like to 

“I love the Bay Area because it’s like 

home of the pretty girls with bomb-ass 

attitudes. We’re so down to earth.” 

27

look good and handle our business. 

That’s what made me who I am on the 

day-to-day and who I am as an artist. 

A lot of creativity and uniqueness comes 

from that. 

Some people have tried to discredit 

your credibility to wear classic Bay 

Area styles like long nails, bamboo 

earrings and baby hairs. In your 

defense, some fans pulled up your 

childhood photos. Talk to me about 

how it’s always been a part of you. 

Because I went to college and I can speak 

properly, people feel like they can 

question my “authenticity.” But who says 

a girl like me can’t go to college? Who 

says a girl like me can’t wear long nails 

because I got an education? There are all 

these false theories and stories about me 

because my success makes people feel a 

way. But when I think about it, I’m like, 

“Damn, I’ve always been this girl.” 

But what really stripped me, as a 

woman of color, was college. When I 

went to San Diego State—and especially 

USC—it’s predominantly Caucasian, and 

I felt like I couldn’t be myself. College 

made me feel like I couldn’t be who I 

truly was because I had to conform. It 

took me about a year or two to feel 

comfortable with raising my hand and 

participating in class because I came into 

college talking so much slang. 

I go to these classes and they’re using 

all these big words, and I’m like, “What’s 

going on?” I didn’t have the confidence 

to be vocal because these other kids just 

had a different type of education 

preparation. It made me feel like I had 

to change. So that’s why I love spending 

time with my family and getting back to 

my roots. [College] made me robotic 

because I felt like I had to be what society 

expected a student at a prestigious 

university to be like. 

You also played sports, right? When 

did you start? 

Girl, I came out of the womb playing 

sports. [Laughs.] On my grandmother’s 

side, it’s like all boys, so all the girls are 

pretty much tomboys because we’re 

always kickin’ it with the boys. I used to 

race in the streets with no shoes on. 

[Laughs.] We used to race all day and 

play football. I would try to mimic the 

older kids. Tetherball, kickball and 

baseball—whatever was around for 

us to play, we did, or we made up our 

own game. 

My dad used to tell me I smell like 

“the great outdoors.” [Laughs.] I would 

come in with mud all over my jeans. Tree 

branches stuck in my hair because I was 

climbing trees—just super dirty, so I was 

always in the streets as a little kid. 

I played a lot of basketball. All the 

girls in my family played—my cousins, 

my aunties—but it just wasn’t my cup of 

tea. I couldn’t hang, going up and down 

that court, so my mom forced me to try 

out for the volleyball team, and I hated 

her for it. But I immediately fell in 

love and started playing volleyball 

around sixth grade. Whenever school 

had Powder Puff, I would always play 

quarterback. I have an arm. And in high 

school I ran track. 

In terms of success or hard work, how 

did sports impact the way you read or 

operate in the world? Any long-lasting 

impact? 

I honestly feel—not to get super 

sentimental—like, this is purpose. This 

is God’s plan for me because I went 

through so much shit growing up. I also 

had to deal with fighting in the athletic 

world because I was a transfer student all 

the time. I was always the new girl and 

people weren’t so welcoming. 

I remember when I tried out [for 

volleyball], it was very uncomfortable. 

None of the girls liked me, and they said 

all I wanted to do was play sports so I 

could show off my ass, and other weird 

rumors. It was almost bullying, but like, 

mentally. People were trying to count 

me out. I had to fight to prove that I’m 

“People like to question my ‘authenticity.’ 

But who says a girl like me can’t go to 

college? Damn, I’ve always been this girl.” 

28

“I came out of the 

womb playing 

sports,” Saweetie 

says. Although she 

played basketball, 

she fell in love with 

—and excelled at— 

volleyball as a teen.

“You have to be headstrong, believe 

in yourself and be comfortable with 

making your own mistakes.” 

athletic. I told one of the girls on varsity, 

“I’m gonna take your spot,” and I did. I 

always had that competitive edge to me. 

It made my determination, my ambition 

and my ability to persevere. It made me 

mentally tough, and in this industry, you 

have to be mentally tough. 

At what age did you know that you 

wanted to be a rapper? 

Definitely when I was a sophomore in 

high school, because these boys are 

rapping in class. I was like, “OK, y’all 

cool, but I’m gonna go home and write 

my own rap.” So I came back and when 

I spit my shit in Algebra 2 the whole class 

went crazy, so I thought, “Wow, maybe 

I could do something like this.” 

In college you started rapping from 

your car on Instagram. Were you like, 

“Let me try this out and see what 

happens,” or were you actively trying 

to make it big? 

It was like, “I can’t afford the studio.” As 

a new artist, it’s sometimes very difficult 

when you’re not blessed with a great 

engineer. When you are inexperienced 

and a new artist, you sometimes don’t 

know when you’re dealing with a weak 

engineer because you’ve never done it 

before. I had a rough start because 

[my first] engineer just outright sucked. 

I was like, “I’m tired of wasting my 

money, and I’m gonna just record online 

because everybody knows I wanna rap 

so I’m just gonna start posting it.” That’s 

why I was using all of these classic beats, 

because I didn’t have any connections to 

any beatmakers. 

A lot of new artists struggle to get 

their songs on the radio and the 

charts, but “Icy” went viral, “My 

Type” was a hit, and “Tap In” keeps 

getting bigger and bigger. What’s your 

formula? 

You know what, girl? I have no secret 

formula. When I meet upcoming girls, 

whether it’s Tay Money or Mulatto, 

because I did hop on their songs, I try 

to share as much as I can, because I feel 

like I made a lot of mistakes early in my 

career because I had no guidance. 

I loved sharing what it took me to get 

to this point. You have to be headstrong, 

you have to believe in yourself, and you 

have to be comfortable with making your 

own mistakes. I can’t sleep at night when 

I do something that someone told me to 

do. I didn’t even believe in it, but I didn’t 

have the courage to make my own 

decision. And then I have to take it to 

the chin because I took so many other 

people’s advice. 

Work hard, develop a great team and 

make sure that they’re the right team. 

Just because you have a team doesn’t 

mean that they know what they’re doing. 

Get the right mentors. You should always 

have someone to go to who can be 

insightful, who can play devil’s advocate. 

I do my own treatments. I pick my 

beats. I co-produce a lot of stuff. There’s 

a common denominator between great 

workers and artists, and nothing that 

I’m doing is new. Anytime someone asks 

me something, I’m always excited to 

share, because if I could save someone 

the time that wasn’t saved for me, I’d like 

to do that. 

Women in rap have been making 

the most interesting music lately, but 

there’s a sentiment that there isn’t 

enough space for them to exist equally 

and be successful. What do you say 

to that? 

The numbers prove that that’s a lie. [An 

identifier] that I would love to just be 

removed from the conversation is “for a 

girl” or “for a female rapper.” Like, we’re 

just rappers, and our fanbases, our charts 

and our numbers all prove that we’re 

equals. I used to hate the comment— 

especially at USC—“Oh, you’re pretty for 

a Black girl.” No, just say I’m pretty. I feel 

like it’s a backhanded compliment and 

although “for a female rapper” isn’t as in 

your face, you’re still telling me that 

female rappers aren’t doing their part. 

But we are. And we have to do that, plus 

more, because we have to get our weaves 

done, we have to do our lashes, our nails. 

You know that shit takes five to six hours 

a day. That’s a lot. And lots of money. 

My overhead is somebody’s tuition per 

month, so quit playing with us because 

we really go hard. 

Some people have an unfair tendency 

to underestimate or simplify a woman 

who looks really good, but you’ve 

embraced your beauty. Has that ever 

made you feel like you’ve had to prove 

more or go harder? 

Pretty privilege has been associated 

with my brand, but if anything, it’s 

been a hindrance. When people see a 

“pretty girl,” they associate her with 

being mean, with getting her way all the 

time—but my lifestyle was the exact 

opposite of that. So I didn’t want to shy 

away from it. I’m a bad bitch, so I’m 

going to be proud of it and give that 

power to my fans. 

And a lot of people—especially 

men—are upset by women rapping 

about their bodies. You have lyrics, 

like in “Pretty Bitch Freestyle,” where 

you definitely are celebrating your 

sexuality. 

I can attest to a moment like that. I 

remember when I did the song with Kid 

Ink and Lil Wayne, “Yuso,” and I was so 

proud of this moment. I was like, I’m 

gonna hop on that nasty song because 

I got some shit to talk. And I always 

tell myself if I’m gonna be nasty, I’m 

going to be like Missy. I love Missy and 

Missy’s nasty, but she’s gonna make you 

laugh with it. I worked really hard so 

that my bars were creative, fun and in 

my opinion, tasteful. When “Yuso” 

dropped, I got negative responses like, 

“Oh, she’s the college girl,” or “She’s 

classy, she can’t be talking like that. 

Wow, she just ruined her brand and 

her career.” 

30 THE RED BULLETIN

“I have an arm,” 

Saweetie says. And 

indeed, she does. 

Here she’s captured 

right before she lobs 

a bomb across an 

empty parking lot.

Saweetie admits she 

likes the “finer 

things,” but she’s also 

a tomboy. “I’m not 

just some robotic 

pretty girl. I’m a 

human,” she says.

Yes, I went to school, but when I see 

my man, I’m gonna get freaky. I just call 

them “confused fans,” because your 

mama nasty, your grandma nasty, 

your great grandma’s nasty, too. When 

you make people uncomfortable, the 

easiest thing they can do—without really 

being a critical thinker—is go to their 

first thought. So that’s where the tweets 

and the hate came from. Celebrate 

whoever you are as a woman because 

people say, “Oh, she’s too conservative. 

Oh, she’s too nasty. Oh, she’s too this. Oh, 

she’s too that.” You’ve gotta block those 

people out and just do you the best way 

you can. 

You’ve recently opened up about 

your relationship with your boyfriend, 

Quavo. What’s it like to navigate being 

two very real humans and young 

people in love who are also both 

public figures? 

It’s difficult, but I feel like it’s very 

grown-up. I feel like this is my first 

relationship where we’re very mature 

about a lot of things. I think it’s 

important, especially in Black love. I feel 

like communication is really important 

because—I don’t wanna generalize what 

it is—but for a while, I struggled with 

expression, because as a kid I was taught 

to just suck it up and move on. But you 

can’t do that in love. It’s not healthy; it 

builds resentment. 

Healthy Black love was important 

to us and we know that we wanna be 

together and stick together. We both just 

learned from past mistakes of our own 

and we’re working together to be 

healthy. It’s not about being perfect; 

it’s about being healthy. It requires 

both people to participate; otherwise 

it’ll fail. 

Talk to me about the album Pretty 

Bitch Music. That title is an acronym, 

right? 

It took me so long to start saying “bitch” 

in my rap. If I’m going to use this word so 

my listeners can have that much more 

relatability to me, I’m gonna let them 

know what “bitch” stands for. So that’s 

why I broke it down: BITCH means Boss, 

Independent, Tough, CEO, and I’m from 

the Bay, so the H means Hyphy. When I 

sift through my fans’ comments, they say 

that I make them feel pretty, I make them 

feel confident, I make them feel like they 

should go out and get their bag, so it’s 

like I make “pretty bitch music.” I have 

all these layers and all these moods that 

can be shown in my project. 

How would you describe the layers 

that you peel back in this album? 

As a woman, I do like the finer things in 

life, but I’m also a tomboy. I’m also a 

family woman. I also can get my feelings 

hurt. I do have emotions. I’m not just 

some robotic pretty girl. I’m a human and 

through these songs—whether they’re 

sentimental, personal, uplifting or fun— 

you’ll be able to get that because the 

project is over 15 songs. I’m really excited. 

I’m finally figuring out what my artistry is. 

And the sound? You’ve said this is not 

what people may expect from you. 

I didn’t have the right guidance at first. 

The people around me kept trying to go 

to the big hitmakers, and no one could 

really understand me as a person 

because I’m complex. But with this new 

project and working with people who 

truly know me as a person, I’m finally 

able to have everything interconnect. I’ve 

been hearing, “When people listen to 

this, they’re gonna be able to meet you 

before meeting you.” 

Are you opening up more and showing 

other sides of yourself? 

I’d say I’m learning how to. At first, I 

didn’t know how to have my personality 

come over a beat, which was super hard 

when it wasn’t a beat of my own. I’m 

learning how to take a song into my own 

hands and execute it the way Saweetie 

would do it. 

“Healthy Black love is not about being 

perfect; it’s about being healthy. It 

requires both people to participate.” 

33

LOVE AND 

LIBERATION 

ON THE 

DANCE FLOOR 

As movement artists and 

activists, Sheopatra Jones 

and Yorelis Apolinario are the 

power couple the dance world 

needs. Here’s how they make 

the revolution look irresistible. 

Words BEANDREA JULY 

Photography ATIBA JEFFERSON

Yorelis Apolinario 

(left) and Sheopatra 

Jones were 

photographed in 

Santa Monica for 

The Red Bulletin 

on July 29. 

35

As partners in 

life and profession, 

Sheopatra and 

Yoe exude affection 

for each other. 

F 

rom their townhome in L.A.’s San 

Fernando Valley, professional dancers 

Sheopatra “SheStreet” Jones and Yorelis 

“Yoe” Apolinario nestle closely on the 

couch for our virtual interview. It’s late 

July, and these partners in movement— 

and life—exude affection, even over 

Zoom. It’s like entering into a warm hug. 

Yoe’s face brightens when asked to 

describe her fiancée’s dance style: “I feel 

like the ancestors come down through 

her body and they are guiding her 

movements,” she says. “It feels like 

a sermon.” 

Sheopatra is just as big a fan of Yoe: 

“There’s nothing she cannot do. The 

execution of everything she does is at the 

highest level. When I watch her dance, 

I’m always overwhelmed by how 

excellent she is.” 

36 THE RED BULLETIN

They don’t finish each other’s 

sentences as much as they “yes and” 

them, helping each other flesh out 

details while constantly serving as 

mutual hype women. Their unspoken 

dynamic feels like the most natural thing 

in the world—totally uncontrived and 

adorable as hell. 

In their world, there’s no separation 

between their art and their activism. The 

very fact of their existence—as queer 

Black women and “movement artists” 

who approach their visibility with 

intention—is a daily form of resistance. 

Indeed, by the end of my interview 

with Sheopatra and Yoe, it would be 

clear that in order to understand their 

art-activism, I would also need to 

understand their love—for themselves, 

each other and their community. 

“I feel like the 

ancestors come 

down through her 

body and guide 

her movements.” 

THE RED BULLETIN 37

Videos of Sheopatra 

and Yoe dancing 

have received props 

from legends like 

Chaka Khan and 

Diana Ross. 

Both Sheopatra and Yoe have 

worked with some of the biggest 

names in music today. In Chris 

Brown’s 2019 music video for 

“Undecided,” Sheopatra plays a smooth 

carnival barker; she has also danced for 

Missy Elliot and Pharrell. Yoe did a sixmonth 

stint as a dancer for Taylor 

Swift’s 2018 Reputation World Tour. 

She has danced behind Backstreet Boys, 

Jordan Fisher, Alyson Stoner and 

Tinashe. Her moves have caught the 

attention of Justin Bieber and Kehlani. 

And with almost 145,000 combined 

Instagram followers, they’ve received 

props from songstresses like Chaka 

Khan, Grammy-winning singersongwriter 

H.E.R. and Diana Ross. 

A video of Sheopatra and Yoe dancing 

to Ross’s hit “Muscles” went viral in 

January 2018, with Ross reposting the 

video on her own Instagram. Wearing 

tailored menswear suits, the duo 

freestyles at a pace that pays homage 

to Ross’s soulful 1982 groove—written 

and produced by Michael Jackson— 

while interpreting it for the present 

day. The video has almost 300,000 

views to date. 

When Sheopatra dances, she looks 

energized, powered by something 

ineffable and deep. Her movement is 

playful and serious, smooth and staccato. 

And she seems to be just as delighted as 

the viewer by the inherent surprise of the 

free-form movement coming through her 

moment by moment. 

Yoe’s high-energy movement is at 

once graceful, reflective and wild. She 

freestyles with fluidity and an 

athleticism ingrained by studying dance 

since she was 8 years old. 

Whether they’re dancing together or 

separately, Sheopatra and Yoe transform 

entertainment into live-action demos of 

what liberation looks like for women of 

color within the cyphers of the vibrant 

Los Angeles dance scene. In the words of 

the late author and civil rights activist 

Toni Cade Bambara, as artists they 

“make the revolution look irresistible.” 

As active Instagrammers, they also 

make the revolution accessible. Their 

2018 video activation, titled “Say It,” 

features Sheopatra, Yoe and four male 

dancers, all dressed in vintage Black 

Panther Party garb. From the patio of 

a house in the Los Angeles hills 

overlooking the city below, they each 

take turns freestyling to the protest song 

“Hell You Talmbout” by Janelle Monáe 

and her artist collective, Wondaland. The 

expansive landscape, paired with their 

bold movements and the song’s lyrics— 

which call out names like Eric Garner, 

Sandra Bland and Trayvon Martin—has 

an unmistakable galvanizing power that 

taps into the outrage over unarmed Black 

people who’ve been killed by police. 

The dancers transform entertainment into live-action demos of liberation for women of color. 

38 THE RED BULLETIN

“I’m always 

overwhelmed by 

how excellent 

she is.” 

Whether playful or 

serious, their freeform 

movements 

enchant viewers.

On their Instagram 

feeds, evocative 

freestyles and 

choreography 

appear alongside 

impromptu salsa 

dances. 

For Sheopatra and Yorelis, 

documenting their choreography or 

freestyles in parking lots, tennis courts 

and the sidewalks of L.A. for social 

media isn’t just about racking up views 

and likes; it’s about using their platform 

to amplify the voices of marginalized 

groups and the causes they have long 

championed, like the Black Lives Matter 

movement. They have supported BLM 

since it emerged in 2013 as a response 

to the killing of Trayvon Martin. 

For this duo, movement equals 

activism. “I have never met another 

woman that moves the way [Yoe] 

moves,” Sheopatra says. “Even that is 

activism, just being who you choose to 

be and not allowing society or anything 

around you to force you away from 

what’s your call to do, what your gifts 

are, and to be the greatest.” 

Yoe adds: “Even in our videos, where 

we have just a simple setup of a camera, 

and we have friends around us in the 

dance—that’s a form of activism. That’s 

seeing Black and Brown people having 

fun, being boisterous instead of a lot of 

the things that are presented to us.” 

Growing up in Memphis, Sheopatra 

was largely self-taught as a 

dancer. Her first love was the 

Memphis strut style called jookin 

(rhymes with lookin’), which artists like 

Janelle Monáe and Jon Boogz have 

helped usher into the mainstream. 

During high school she started taking 

studio classes, and when she was 19 she 

moved to Los Angeles at the urging of 

her brother, a professional drummer who 

was pursuing a career in L.A. 

But after three months she had “an 

L.A. freakout” and returned home. Back 

in Memphis, she dove even deeper into 

jook and took classes in other street 

dance styles. About a year later, her 

cousin called and booked her a one-way 

ticket to Los Angeles before they hung 

up. Three months later she was back in 

Los Angeles and has been living there for 

more than a decade. 

40 THE RED BULLETIN

“It’s a raw 

experience when 

you watch her— 

you’re really gonna 

feel who she is.” 

Now 30, Sheopatra is a full-time 

performer, and her dream of dancing 

professionally has come true after many 

years of grinding in the L.A. dance scene. 

Today she dances many styles— 

popping, breaking, funk, contemporary 

and the fast footwork of house. With 

jook as her foundation, Sheopatra 

eventually gravitated toward popping 

and has garnered national attention for 

her smooth fusion of the two. This is a 

rare combination, according to Ryan 

Webb, a veteran dancer (also known as 

“Future”) and the director of education 

at the Washington, D.C.–area dance 

company Urban Artistry. 

“Mixing popping and Memphis 

jookin, that was kind of unheard of in 

the hip-hop community,” Webb says. 

An archivist who has spent years 

documenting urban dance styles to 

preserve for future generations, Webb 

recommended Sheopatra to Red Bull 

Dance for entry into its 2019 Dance 

Your Style competition in Honolulu, 

where she advanced to the semifinals. 

(She ultimately lost to the dancer 

Hazmat.) 

Memphis native Sheopatra and Yoe, who grew up in Tampa, Florida, met in 2015 through an 

audition for Fox’s reality competition show So You Think You Can Dance. 

“She’s not trying to be trendy,” Webb 

continues. “She’s truly being herself as 

an artist. There’s something that’s really 

genuine about her. You really get 

something that’s not cookie cutter. It’s a 

raw experience when you watch her— 

you’re really gonna feel who she is.” 

Although Yoe, 25, comes from a 

background of formal training in ballet 

and modern that spanned her childhood 

growing up in Tampa, Florida, she took a 

liking to hip-hop dance classes early. After 

high school she was part of a breaker 

crew called the Flooridians and did a stint 

as a go-go dancer in a nightclub. As one of 

the only girls in a crew of B-boys, she 

eventually realized that she didn’t like 

breaking. But she loved freestyling, 

something she hadn’t encountered before 

as a classically trained dancer. 

“Coming from a world in ballet where 

I’m told where to put my body 24/7 and 

‘you don’t have the body for this but 

keep trying’ into a world where [you’re 

encouraged to] find your own style, 

I really couldn’t see myself reverting 

back,” Yoe says. 

When Yoe dances, Sheopatra says, 

“she has no fear in her movement. Even 

if she’s afraid, you won’t know until six 

months later. She’s literally like, ‘Oh I’ve 

never river-danced before. Cool, I gotta 

learn river dancing.’ Then you go see 

the performance and she’s the only 

person you can see on the stage because 

she’s standing out that crazy among the 

crowd of dancers.” 

Yoe says Sheopatra has been 

instrumental in exposing her to new 

styles: “When I started learning jookin 

BRIAN SMITH 

Alongside 

collaborator and 

videographer Brian 

Smith, Sheopatra 

and Yoe direct and 

choreograph 

cinematic activism 

that calls for justice 

for Black lives and 

female solidarity. 

THE RED BULLETIN 41

“It is cool to see 

artists represent 

something bigger 

than themselves.” 

from her, it made sense, because I loved 

Southern trap—I loved Three 6 Mafia 

when I was little—and Memphis jookin 

and Southern trap music are married.” 

Then she giggles, “I feel 9 years old every 

time I try to jook, and I’m still 

discovering new styles.” 

In 2015, Yoe got her big break on 

Season 12 of Fox’s prime-time competition 

show So You Think You Can Dance and 

made it to the top 14. She has been 

dancing full-time ever since. 

Sheopatra and Yoe actually met at the 

audition for So You Think You Can Dance. 

They felt a connection right away and 

exchanged numbers, but they opted to get 

to know each other as dance collaborators 

first. Eventually, their professional 

relationship evolved into a romance that 

blossomed almost four years ago. 

Then in October 2019, under the 

guise of shooting a new dance video, 

Yoe orchestrated a surprise marriage 

proposal surrounded by a group of their 

close friends. Sheopatra was genuinely 

surprised but quickly accepted. 

“They just have the best 

communication I’ve seen within a 

relationship, observes Alexa Nof, their 

close friend and dance collaborator. 

“They’re so great on their own that 

together they’re even more powerful.” 

Nof adds: “They’re very loving toward 

each other but they’re also not so much 

[into] physical touch in front of people. 

They show it through their actions.” 

Nof is a member of the Council 

Women, the dance company Sheopatra 

founded in 2015 not long after she met 

Yoe, who became a member of the 

group. The Council is also something of 

a chosen family, where six women are 

committed to actively supporting one 

another in pursuing their professional 

and personal goals. 

The Council Women’s first big gig 

was at the 2019 Dance Your Style U.S. 

Finals in Las Vegas. In a video clip from 

the performance, Sheopatra, Nof and 

company member Crystal Jackson, 

dressed all in denim, dance barefoot on 

a sidewalk that has been transformed 

into a battle stage. The enthusiastic 

nighttime crowd circles around them 

42 THE RED BULLETIN

In 2015, Sheopatra 

founded the 

Council Women, an 

all-women dance 

company. Yoe 

became an early 

member. 

as they confidently perform their streetstyle 

choreo. 

When Sheopatra asked Nof to be an 

inaugural member of the Council 

Women, Nof was a professional dancer 

getting hired more to choreograph than 

dance. Reflecting on her regular 

freestyling—as well as being exposed to 

a variety of new dance styles through the 

Council—she now finds herself, five 

years later, getting more gigs as a 

freestyler. 

“They keep motivating me to this 

day,” Nof says. “There’s not a day that I’m 

not watching them as if it’s my first time. 

They always surprise me [and] just 

continue to inspire me.” 

Webb of Urban Artistry is equally 

inspired by the pair and their vision. “I 

want to keep shining light on artists that 

are standing for justice and equality, 

and also bringing these art forms into 

different platforms to be appreciated 

by different types of people,” he 

underscores. “It is cool to see artists that 

represent something bigger than 

themselves.” 

As they cozy up on the couch 

during our interview, I ask what 

Sheopatra and Yoe are working 

toward in the future. What the couple 

offers is more a mission statement than 

a bucket list, and that mission is nothing 

short of the harmony of their art and 

activism. 

For Yoe, she wants to see the 

professional dance industry “create the 

standard of respect” for its artists. “I 

want to make changes so that when 

people come in after me, they don’t have 

to go through the same things I went 

through,” she says. “They don’t have to 

feel uncomfortable about going up to a 

choreographer and saying, ‘I don’t know 

if I can wear this leotard in this music 

video’ and not feel like the villain.” 

Sheopatra’s response is more 

philosophical but shares the same 

conviction. For her the heart of her work 

is “the betterment of myself, my people 

in the world, by any means necessary, 

using the art form to create change 

beyond our time on this Earth.” 

THE RED BULLETIN 43

At Jaws in Hawaii in 

2016, the powerful 

swell of El Niño met 

its match with pro 

surfer Kai Lenny. 

FRED POMPERMAYER 

44

R E N A I S S A N C E 

W A T E R M A N 

On the eve of his new series, Life of Kai, watersports master 

Kai Lenny has reignited his creative spark back home in Hawaii, 

rediscovering why he fell in love with the ocean in the first place. 

Words CHRISTINE YU

Lenny poses with the 

waves in front of his 

house in Paia, Maui, 

in October 2019.

JAKE MAROTE 

Kai Lenny says he’s searching for pure 

entertainment. Isn’t he always? But since 

he’s been locked down at home on Maui 

since early spring, when COVID-19 

scratched his plans for 2020, he’s had to 

settle for adventure closer at hand. Yes— 

it took a global pandemic to finally slow 

Kai Lenny down. 

You can imagine that it took all of 

two minutes before the 27-year-old pro 

surfer started to get antsy. Even just 

talking on the phone, his infectious 

energy pours across the line and you 

know that he doesn’t like to sit still. After 

all, this is the same guy whose parents 

used to take him to the beach every day 

as a toddler to tire him out so he would 

sleep through the night. He’s used to 

jetting off on a plane every week or two. 

“It’s the longest stretch I’ve been home 

probably since I was 12 or something,” 

he says. 

That’s how he ended up sailing 

across the Kauai Channel on a foiling 

catamaran with two-time World Surf 

League champion John John Florence in 

July. “We were just on the phone talking, 

like, ‘Hey, we should do something fun. 

What if we sailed your foiling boat from 

Oahu to Kauai? Let’s do it!’ ” Lenny says. 

A week later they pushed off from 

Oahu on Florence’s Flying Phantom. It 

looks like a spaceship; the foil extends 

down from the bright-red hulls, lifting 

up the boat and allowing it to rocket 

across the surface of the water. Lenny 

and Florence dangled off the side 

somewhat precariously. Nine hours 

later they arrived in Hanalei, Kauai. 

When asked about the crossing, Lenny 

says in his trademark stoked tone, “It 

was so much fun.” 

But it was more than just the 

challenge of crossing the channel that 

excited Lenny. It was the spontaneity 

of it all. Normally it would take a year 

or more to pull off something like this. 

Lenny and Florence (and their people) 

would have to coordinate their 

schedules. Between contests, 

sponsorship obligations and other 

projects, the chances of finding an 

overlapping day or two when they’d 

both be home in Hawaii would be nearly 

impossible, not to mention a lot of 

hassle. But with both of their lives on 

hold, Lenny and Florence are free to do 

whatever they want in the interim. 

This spontaneity is a major 

contrast to how Lenny typically leads 

his meticulously focused life chasing big 

projects and big goals. “He has this 

incredible can-do attitude—I can do 

that, I’m going to do that—when 

everyone is like, ‘You’re crazy, man. 

You’re out of your mind,’ ” says Johnny 

Decesare, founder of Poor Boyz 

Productions, who has been filming the 

watersports prodigy since he was 11 

years old. “He looks at things differently. 

What he really sees is opportunity and 

possibility.” 

And Lenny had ambitious plans for 

2020: travel with his friends to chase 

gigantic waves on every big swell around 

the world, while also giving it his all on 

the competitive circuit. “Literally, as soon 

as I really committed to it, it was like the 

whole world came to a standstill,” he says. 

While his goals are on hold (for now), 

his latest project, Life of Kai, which 

launches in October, offers a glimpse at 

some of the innovative and mindboggling 

things the pro athlete has been 

up to and is capable of. His other web 

series, Positively Kai and 20@20, which 

Growing up in Maui, a young Kai Lenny found mentors among surf 

greats like Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama and Robby Naish. 

47

debuted this summer, highlight Lenny’s 

fun adventures and insane, physicsdefying 

antics at home and abroad. Life 

of Kai, on the other hand, delves into 

what it really takes to be Kai Lenny. 

“I think people see a general vision 

of most pro athletes, myself included, 

that you just go out and do this,” Lenny 

says. “I really wanted to capture what I 

have to go through—the good, the bad, 

the tough moments, everything that 

leads me to my best times, whether on 

top of the podium or riding the biggest 

wave of my life.” He wants to inspire 

people, too. “How much dedication are 

you willing to put toward something 

and how much passion is fueling that 

fire? That unrelenting determination 

has been the magic behind me. Hopefully, 

I inspire kids to follow their passion 

and think, If he can do it, I can do it,” 

he says. 

The series was shot in the fall and 

winter of 2019/2020 and follows Lenny 

through an abbreviated big-wave season. 

Sure, you get to see how Lenny preps his 

body and mind to surf massive conditions 

(and survive mighty wipeouts) at surf 

survival training camp, and how he puts 

those tools into action as he competes in 

the Jaws Big Wave Championships in 

December and the Nazaré Tow Surfing 

Challenge in February. But the series 

also gives you a better sense of who 

Lenny is and his approach—as someone 

who is constantly learning, innovating 

and is always 10 steps ahead of 

everyone else. You’ll see how he 

adapts to different situations, whether 

it’s equipment or technology failures or 

fickle weather systems, and how he 

refines his surfboards and hydrofoils. 

Life of Kai really is just the life of Kai. 

“Kai looks at things 

differently. What he really 

sees is opportunity and 

possibility.” 

By now you probably know the 

story. Kai Lenny is the wunderkind 

whose parents moved to Maui to 

windsurf. He was a prodigious young 

windsurfer himself—a tiny kid flying 

high above the waves at Hookipa Beach 

Park who used to sew mini sails and kites 

during circle time at his Montessori 

school. His mentors include Laird 

Hamilton, Dave Kalama, Robby Naish 

and other famous pioneers who were 

literally inventing new ocean sports in 

his backyard. It rubbed off on Lenny. 

He’s a stand-up paddle world champion 

many times over (winning his first title 

at age 18), winner of the grueling 

Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard World 

Championships and one of the most 

FRED POMPERMAYER 

48

Jaws, January 2015: 

Lenny puts up with 

the rain to find 

his pot of gold at the 

end of the rainbow.

dominant wind- and kitesurfers in the 

world. Yes, he surfs, too. He’s a fearless 

big-wave rider who can also kick some 

impressive aerials on a shortboard. 

Lenny isn’t just a good athlete. He’s 

a gifted waterman. He has a keen vision 

of the ocean and looks at it differently 

than most people. “He sees the sea 

surface and what’s under the sea surface 

and uses that energy,” says Decesare. In 

big waves, Decesare says that Lenny’s 

mind is like a calculator, putting aside 

fear to work out different variables and 

factors. This gives him the confidence to 

perform in conditions that would make 

normal humans blanch. 

It’s hard to imagine that the kid 

with the wide smile that hints of 

mischievousness and constant delight 

didn’t have a place in the lineup when he 

was younger. He wasn’t taken seriously, 

because he was a multi-sport athlete. His 

first loves were windsurfing, stand-up 

paddle and kitesurfing while everyone 

else was surfing. Even his mentors like 

Naish tried to prepare Lenny for the day 

when he’d have to set all other equipment 

aside and choose one sport. His dad, 

Martin, remembers watching other kids 

hassle his son and asking him if he just 

wanted to focus on surfing. Lenny looked 

at his dad and said, “Why would I want to 

do that? All the sports I do are so fun.” 

In the back of his mind, Lenny knew 

he could be an all-around waterman. He 

loved the ocean and didn’t want to 

pigeonhole himself. He wanted to take 

advantage of whatever the conditions 

offered and use whatever equipment he 

needed to have a good time. But even as 

he became a gifted athlete and champion 

stand-up paddler, he still didn’t get much 

credibility. “Other surfers were like, 

‘Stand-up paddle kid, windsurfer, 

weirdo.’ They didn’t really give him 

much credit as a surfer,” says Decesare. 

It took a while for Lenny to gain the 

respect of his peers, and it was his bigwave 

surfing that helped him prove 

himself. Lenny has surfed the massive 

waves at Peahi, the famed Maui break 

also known as Jaws, on every type of 

board since he was 16 years old. He’s 

able to perform so well precisely because 

of his windsurfing and kitesurfing 

background. People started to take 

notice, especially as Lenny began to 

focus more on surfing. 

“They came to realize he’s not a onedimensional 

surfer but the complete 

package, from big waves to Sunset-style 

waves to Pipeline to shortboard aerial 

trick waves to incredible, giant towsurfing 

waves, who’s now a champion in 

the big-wave world,” says Decesare. In 

2019 he racked up two big-wave awards: 

Men’s XXL Biggest Wave Award and 

Men’s Overall Performance Award. This 

year, he garnered five nominations 

across three categories for the 2020 Red 

Bull Big Wave Awards. 

A big turning point came when 

Lenny began competing well on the bigwave 

circuit. He won the contest in 

Puerto Escondido in 2017. He backed 

that up by winning the Nazaré Tow 

Surfing Challenge with his teammate, 

Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca, last February. 

Lenny and Chianca are friends and 

competitors. They were at surf survival 

camp together, which cemented their 

friendship and the blind faith that as 

partners they would pick each other 

up on a jet ski as 60-to-70-foot waves 

threaten to annihilate them. That rocksolid 

camaraderie allowed Lenny to 

enter the contest feeling calm, focused 

and collected. 

Both surfers’ gifts for big waves were 

on full display in Portugal. “Lucas and 

I want to ride the biggest waves in the 

world, but not just ride them and 

survive. We want to perform and do 

huge maneuvers,” Lenny says. “My focus 

for years now has been how can I take 

snowboarding-type maneuvers and 

implement them into big-wave riding. 

These guys can do it on huge mountains 

in Alaska. Why can’t I do it on huge waves 

in the ocean?” While others may have 

chosen a safer route to the shoulder, 

Lenny took different lines and flipped 

360s while riding down the steep faces 

of Praia do Norte waves. 

“I love the fact that ultimately 

I can achieve something I 

couldn’t do before. On top of 

that, I love the art form of it all.” 

JAKE MAROTE 

50

Moment of reflection: 

Lenny takes a break 

from his surf session 

at Hookipa on 

October 6, 2019.

“For me, it’s never been about 

beating someone else. It’s 

about beating myself.”

They looked like they were just having 

fun, too. You have a sense that Lenny and 

Chianca would be out there whether or 

not there was a contest running. They 

stayed in the water for two hours after 

the competition wrapped up because the 

waves were still pumping. Once they were 

out of the water, Lenny looked at images 

on a phone. He chuckled and said, “I love 

big-wave surfing.” 

Still, despite his success and long 

overdue recognition within the surf 

community, you’d expect Lenny to have 

a little chip on his shoulder. Instead, 

he’s laser-focused on performing at the 

highest level and eliminating as many 

gray areas as possible. 

“For me it’s never been about beating 

someone else. It’s always been about 

beating myself,” he says. He loves rising 

to the occasion in competitions when 

he’s facing the best in the world. It forces 

him to push himself to the next level, 

to a place he wouldn’t go without the 

pressure—what he calls encouragement— 

of someone who rides better than he 

does. “The reason why I’ve been so 

consistent and getting better across all 

my sports stems from being purely 

passionate on the deepest level for what 

I do. I love the sports all the way down to 

the technical stuff, like my equipment. I 

love the fact that ultimately I can achieve 

something I couldn’t do before. On top of 

that, I love the art form of it all,” he says. 

That relentless march toward 

progress and innovation is baked into his 

DNA. From an early age, his parents 

helped him set goals, baby steps that 

would blaze a path to riding mountainsized 

waves. For example, when he was 

around 9 years old, his dad showed him 

the spot up at Hookipa where all the 

windsurfers eventually wind up. Martin 

taught him where to come in so he could 

climb across the rocks. “Eventually, 

when he would go out and push himself, 

he’d get clobbered. But you’d see him 

twinkle-toeing around the rocks. He 

knew what he was doing and he was 

fine,” recalls Martin. 

When Lenny was in his early teens, he 

and his dad would sit down every year 

and plan out a road map of goals Lenny 

wanted to achieve. They continue to 

revisit the plan annually, tweaking it 

here and there and adding more to the 

JAKE MAROTE 

Daily acrobatics, 

October 2019: Lenny 

does a backflip on his 

foil board in the 

waves off of Hookipa. 

53

list. Now, instead of plotting when he’ll 

become a world champion, his dad says 

Lenny’s thinking of more ambitious goals 

and charting a path toward a lifelong 

career as a professional athlete. 

In some ways, being stuck at home 

during quarantine has been a 

throwback to old times. Lenny can 

toss equipment in the back of his truck 

and tackle whatever the conditions offer 

up that day: windsurfers, kites, wings 

and multiple boards painted cobalt blue 

with a red racing stripe down the 

middle, a nod to his love of Formula 1. 

Maybe he’ll throw in some paddles for 

good measure. He’s also taken time to 

do things he normally doesn’t have time 

for when he’s home for short stints, like 

mountain biking, training on his brandnew 

road bike or hitting the gym. His 

dad says, “It’s been wonderful having Kai 

just be Kai at home and getting to know 

him again.” 

When you give Lenny some leniency 

and freedom, it’s hard to keep up with 

him. Really, the constraints of being 

home have allowed Lenny to become even 

more creative. Instead of training for his 

next competition, meticulously checking 

his gear for his next trip or worrying 

about his sponsorship obligations, he’s 

been reconnecting with what he really 

wants to do. 

“I’m able to focus on what caught my 

eye when I was a little kid and fell in love 

with the sport, which is the sport itself, 

versus the stuff surrounding it, you 

know?” he explains. He’s more concerned 

about perfecting the subtleties of various 

maneuvers, like the feeling of looking 

over his left shoulder when he does a flip 

while windsurfing, or really spotting the 

landing when doing full 360 airs while 

surfing. He’s landed new tricks, too. 

After cocooning at home for months 

rebuilding, training and gearing up 

without distractions and external 

obligations, it wouldn’t be surprising if 

Lenny explodes back onto the scene 

once competitions resume and travel 

restrictions are lifted. He says it’s given 

him a new perspective, one that’s more 

inward focused and analytical. Over the 

past few months, Lenny has tried to 

break down situations to understand 

what allows him to be who he is and 

have his best moments. “Is it when my 

gear is set up this way? Is it how I wake 

up or how I approach it? Do I like to be 

a little more relaxed or focused? That 

sort of thing will make me much more 

successful when it all returns,” he says. 

And Lenny can’t wait for it all to 

return because he still has goals—many. 

“With foiling, I want to ride huge swells 

in the middle of the ocean and travel 

from one land mass to another. With 

big-wave riding, I want to ride the 

biggest waves in the world and ride parts 

of the wave that either no one has ever 

done or only a very few people ever have,” 

he says. There may be a Life of Kai, Part 2 

in the future, too. And that’s just off the 

top of his mind. There are plenty of 

missions he hasn’t even dreamed of yet. 

“I just want to do everything. I’ll see 

someone across the world do something 

incredible and then I really want to do 

that. I’m so inspired by their approach. 

For me, it’s more that I need to get to that 

point and then the actual destination of 

accomplishing it,” he says. “For the rest 

of my life, so long as I have goals ahead 

of me, I’ll always be entertained and 

having fun.” 

“So long as I have goals 

ahead of me, I’ll always be 

entertained and having fun.” 

FRED POMPERMAYER

Photographer Fred 

Pompermayer took 

this otherworldly 

shot at Jaws in 

January: “Whenever 

Kai is in the water, 

I know something 

special will happen.” 

55

Win-Win Situation 

Five years ago, there were only a handful of colleges with esports 

programs. Today there are more than 130. With the gaming 

industry exploding, savvy schools are attracting hungry students 

who seek careers in a wild new frontier of opportunities. 

Words SCOTT JOHNSON 

At the vanguard of 

collegiate esports, 

Full Sail University 

in Florida opened its 

$6 million gaming 

arena in May 2019.

FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY 

57

Full Sail student 

Megan Danaher is 

captain of the 

Armada’s Overwatch 

Varsity Squad. 

ne Sunday morning in early March, 

Megan Danaher meanders through 

the Fortress, an indoor auditorium on 

the campus of Full Sail University, a twoyear 

college near Orlando, Florida, that 

prepares students for careers in the 

entertainment industry. The Fortress, 

which at 11,200 square feet is the largest 

collegiate arena for competitive video 

gaming, or esports, in the United States, 

reflects this academic mission. A giant 

screen hangs over a brightly lit stage 

where a banner reads “Hall of Fame 

Week.” The heavy beats of R&B music 

blare through enormous wall-mounted 

speakers. Camera operators and 

photographers surge through a crowd of 

young people, some of whom wear blackand-orange 

jerseys that signify their 

membership in Armada, Full Sail’s varsity 

esports team. Danaher strides confidently 

toward a group of guys standing in a 

circle and takes off her sweatshirt, 

ruffling her bangs and revealing her own 

Armada jersey. Her gamer handle is 

stitched in block letters across her upper 

back: Peptoabysmal. 

Danaher is the captain of Armada’s 

Overwatch Varsity Squad, and the team’s 

only woman. A first-person, team-based 

shooter game, Overwatch is defined by its 

fast pace and complex graphics. Several 

of Danaher’s teammates wear black face 

paint under their eyes, and now they 

crowd in close, jerseys shimmering in the 

strobes. There are Lleaf and Anarchy, 

Yakisoba, 2A1Z and Beaverbiskit. “I just 

washed my hands,” says Danaher. With 

the threat of COVID-19 just beginning to 

emerge, the organizers have provided 

Purell and disinfectant wipes, along with 

stickers to indicate whether someone 

58 THE RED BULLETIN

Danaher, aka 

Peptoabysmal, is the 

only woman on her 

team. Below: Hand 

sanitizer at an event 

in early March 2020. 


prefers an elbow bump to a handshake, 

but people are still mingling. The group 

fidgets nervously, eager to take the stage 

for the upcoming tournament. 

The Fortress is quickly filling to 

capacity in anticipation. The hall this day 

provides a smorgasbord of delights for a 

gamer—fierce competitions, deep expert 

commentary, practice sessions on stateof-the-art 

sponsored MSI Stealth 

computers, free swag and a chance to 

meet their favorite players. A dozen 

students from two League of Legends 

teams are already duking it out. The 

action is broadcast onto the giant screen. 

Two commentators twirl pens between 

their fingers and call the action. In 

another corner a student is deep into an 

NBA 2K match with Toxsic, a professional 

gamer. From atop the stage, a host 

shouts, “Don’t go anywhere, ’cuz you 

don’t wanna miss the next match!” 

Armada’s Overwatch coach, an impish 

and enthusiastic semi-pro, convenes a 

quick huddle with his players. “What do 

we have to do?” he screams. “WIN!” 

comes the thunderous retort. Danaher, 

who, like everyone else at the conference 

in the early days of the pandemic, is sans 

mask, turns aside from the group and 

grimaces at her hands. “Ugh, I gotta wash 

’em again now.” 

The tournament at first is lopsided. 

The fighters battle, shouting into their 

headsets as fingers scamper over 

keyboards and mice. Pandemonium 

consumes the crowd. Armada esports 

teams are good. Really good. The 

challengers, Full Sail varsity hopefuls, 

can’t quite keep up. The looming rout 

doesn’t seem to dampen enthusiasm, 

though. A particularly vocal fan in the 

front row screams and hoots with utter 

abandon, jumping out of his seat, 

oblivious to stares, while behind him a 

young woman stares with quiet, rapt 

fascination at the onscreen drama. The 

whole event is being livestreamed on 

Twitch, the platform of choice for gamers 

the world over. 

Esports has been growing as an 

industry for years. More recently, 

colleges have been getting in on the 

action. And for those that aren’t, perhaps 

they should be. Esports is set to surpass 

$1.5 billion in revenues by 2023, 

according to the Esports Ecosystem 

Report, published by Business Insider 

Intelligence. Meanwhile, the number of 

venture capital investments in esports 

doubled between 2017 and 2018, 

according to the accounting firm 

Deloitte, representing a more than 800 

percent increase in actual dollars, to 

more than $4.5 billion. Nationwide, 

hundreds of schools have opened esports 

programs in recent years and more are 

on the way. Robert Morris University in 

Chicago, which merged with Roosevelt 

University this year, was the first school 

to embrace esports in 2014. Since then 

more than 130 collegiate programs have 

popped up all over the country, in dozens 

of states. They range from the small, like 

Roosevelt, to the big, like the University 

of California, Irvine, which was the first 

public university to create an esports 

program in 2015. In 2018, when Boise 

State University, in Idaho, opened its 

esports program, 20 students enrolled. 

Last year there were 200 applicants. 

Esports revenue is set to surpass 

$1.5 billion by 2023. Smart colleges 

are getting in on the action. 

THE RED BULLETIN 59

“The whole esports space is full of 

problem solvers. They had to do 

that to get where they are.” 

“The interest in our university based on 

esports is a big part of the conversation,” 

says Chris Haskell, who runs Boise’s 

program. “We advise colleges that are 

thinking about opening esports programs 

that whatever space they’re planning for 

in year one they need to have a plan for 

how to double that in year two,” says 

Michael Brooks of the National 

Association of Collegiate Esports, a 

governing body for college esports. 

But there’s something else going on. 

Gaming is the largest area of interest for 

males and females between the ages of 10 

and 20, according to statistics compiled 

by NACE. Those figures place gaming 

right at the cutting edge of a substantial 

shift in the corporate landscape of the 

future. An entire ecosystem is emerging 

that caters to virtually every aspect of 

creative and business life that could 

possibly spin out from the ubiquity of 

video games in modern life. Before 

the world went into a COVID lockdown, 

stadiums were routinely filled with tens 

of thousands of people for professional 

Overwatch League tournaments. The 

games’ viewership figures dwarfed 

those for more traditional sports leagues 

like the NFL or NBA. And increasingly, 

colleges are feeling the economic 

windfalls. NACE-registered schools 

gave out some $15 million in gaming 

scholarships during 2019. 

In schools and corporate boardrooms 

across the country, a convergence of sorts 

is underway. On one side of the equation 

are employers looking for independent 

thinkers with a wide range of skills. That 

could mean the ability to manage an 

online community, or it could mean 

knowing how to build or jerry-rig a PC 

to work faster or better or with more 

graphics. On the other side is a massive 

gaming community that, by virtue of its 

problem-solving skills, is uniquely suited 

to meet that demand. 

“If you want to be the best player at 

your chosen game, you had to have 

figured out a lot on your own,” says 

Brooks. “Employers are looking for people 

with these skills, and now they’re 

discovering through esports that there’s 

this whole subset of students who have 

these skills.” In other words, a timely and 

potentially very lucrative meeting of two 

demographics is unfolding, driving 

change in the college experience as well 

as the hiring process. “If you’re thinking 

of being a rapidly moving company, you 

want people with a technical ability on 

the software or hardware side, but you 

also need people who are good at 

problem solving, and the whole esports 

Before lockdown, 

stadiums were full 

of esports fans. 

60


Known as the 

Fortress, Full Sail’s 

esports arena is the 

largest in the country. 

At 11,200 square feet, 

the facility can hold 

up to 500 spectators.

According to NACE, 

schools gave out 

some $15 million in 

gaming scholarships 

in 2019. Enrollment in 

esports and gaming 

programs is soaring. 

Events at Full Sail are 

currently on hold, but 

if there’s any industry 

that can transition to 

a completely virtual 

new reality, it’s likely 

to be gaming.


“I would love to go full-time esports. 

To live a comfortable life off of 

video games would be the dream.” 

space is full of problem solvers,” says 

Brooks. “They had to do that to get to 

where they are.” 

With large-scale sporting events on 

hold—baseball and basketball seasons 

are underway again, but the roaring of 

the crowds has been replicated—live 

video-gaming tournaments are also on 

pause, at least for now. But if there’s any 

industry that stands a chance to 

transition to a completely virtual new 

reality, it’s likely to be gaming. Already, 

colleges are adapting. At Full Sail, where 

fully half of the students were remote 

learners to begin with, the entire student 

body had gone remote within a week of 

the first closures. Students there have 

continued their learning via Zoom and 

engaged more fully with each other 

through online club gatherings. 

Back in March, as Danaher and 

her teammates bask in their 

Overwatch victory, on the other 

side of the Fortress, Gus Hernandez 

rallies a crowd to the NBA 2K match. 

Hernandez is a man happily defined 

by his hair—a glorious bouquet of lightred 

curls fashioned into an impressive 

Afro. (“I decided to own it,” he says.) 

Hernandez is enrolled in Full Sail’s 

sportscasting degree program, and as he 

paces behind Toxsic, the pro gamer, he 

puts his skills to the test. “And ... Booker 

moves, passes and ... scores!” he says, 

seemingly delighted as much by the 

spotlight as by the game on the screen. 

As a kid, Hernandez always wanted 

to be famous. Raised in a Brazilian family 

in north Boston, he grew up watching 

his stepfather play rounds of FIFA and Pro 

Evolution Soccer on a PlayStation 2 

in the family’s modest two-bedroom 

apartment. Hernandez spent hours 

listening to legendary Boston sportscaster 

Jack Edwards broadcast local soccer 

games on an old radio and soon began to 

imagine himself behind the microphone. 

He also started to appreciate the more 

“energetic, emotional commentary” of 

New England Revolution games he 

discovered on local Portuguese stations. 

“That drew me in,” he says. 

Hernandez was in his early teens when 

he first discovered Twitch, and he started 

commentating games on his own feed. 

A company called Sinai Village found him 

and asked him to commentate several Pro 

Clubs soccer games. When he was 17, 

a league in the United Kingdom offered 

to fly him over to do one of their games. 

The trip ended up being canceled, but 

a spark had been lit. As his Twitch feed 

grew, Hernandez branched out to other 

games, like Counter-Strike. Recently he 

opened up the Twitch stream for Counter- 

Strike: Global Offensive and found that his 

own feed topped the list. “I would like to 

think those streams would be attracting 

organization owners,” he says. At age 19 

he already has an enviable brand and a 

position in the marketplace that is likely 

to attract attention. “People tell me that 

I have a really exciting style of 

commentary,” he says. 

These days, he commentates every 

major Super Smash Bros. event in 

Florida, while also keeping up with nonsoccer 

games, too. “I would love to go 

full-time esports,” he says. “To live a 

comfortable life off of video games, 

something that was a safe haven for me 

growing up, would be the dream.” Until 

that happens, he would like to find a 

more traditional sportscasting job at a 

local network, or an ESPN. His dream of 

being famous has morphed only slightly. 

“I always wanted to be some sort of 

talent, but I never thought it would be 

in sports,” he says. “With esports, it’s 

a realistic goal for me.” 

The demand for people like 

Hernandez is exploding, even as an 

infrastructure to support their dreams 

continues to grow. Career choices 

abound: Shoutcasters to call games to 

millions of fans; managers to organize 

the growing number of live events, 

which are on par with or even surpass 

NFL or NHL audiences. Coders, 

designers, animators, copywriters, 

product managers, game designers and 

technicians—all are in high demand in 

the global entertainment marketplace. 

This, then, is the boom that has 

everyone excited, not least the students 

themselves. “This is a whole different 

Sportscasting major Gus Hernandez commentates esports games all across Florida. 

THE RED BULLETIN 63

dynamic these days,” says Sari Kitelyn, 

who heads up Full Sail’s esports programs. 

“Gaming can really bring you career 

opportunities.” 

Sports, of course, have always offered 

avenues to employment. Traditional 

athletes have leveraged their skills in 

conjunction with sports management 

programs to find work off the field. But 

now, the skills and tools being developed 

within esports are presenting a different 

degree of opportunity. “Think about 

consumer brands and how they’re 

engaging with the public,” says NACE’s 

Brooks. “Almost all that is shifting to 

an online interaction, to managing 

communities, streaming, to livestreaming 

in particular, with personalities and 

events, and that’s where we see a ton of 

advertising, marketing and journalism 

interest, and esports is right there 

teaching people how to do that.” 

By early afternoon, the Fortress 

has begun to empty. Danaher, 

Hernandez and another Full Sail 

student, Erik Alpizar, take a break in 

a lounge area. Danaher munches on a 

cinnamon pretzel and talks about her 

two cats, Cookie and Gazlowe, who 

she named after a goblin in World of 

Warcraft. The conversation turns to 

games. Alpizar, who did a stint in the 

Navy, is a devoted player of Dragonball, 

a one-on-one fighting game. By his own 

reckoning, Alpizar is one of the top five 

players in Florida. (He placed 96th out 

of some 1,200 players in a Las Vegas 

tournament last year.) “When I was really 

in the thick of it, there was a month 

where literally on a Friday night I was 

driving to Tampa, and then on Saturday 

I was in Jacksonville, and then the 

following week I was in Miami. And then 

the week after that, I would be in Orlando 

Full Sail student Erik Alpizar is a devoted player 

of the one-on-one fighting game Dragonball. 

64 THE RED BULLETIN

“This is a whole different dynamic 

these days. Gaming can really 

bring you career opportunities.” 


Members of 

Armada, Full Sail 

University’s 

varsity esports 

team, go up 

against their 

Overwatch 

challengers. 

at a venue they have over at a Buffalo 

Wild Wings.” 

Alpizar tells Hernandez and Danaher 

about Arslan Ash, the Red Bull-sponsored 

Tekken player from Pakistan who 

seemingly came from out of nowhere to 

beat a South Korean master named Knee 

at the 2019 EVO event and took the 

mantle of world champion. Tekken had 

opened doors in unexpected ways for 

Pakistan and its people, he explains; a 

country often in the headlines for stories 

about terrorism or geopolitics was now 

making news about video games. “It was 

just an excellent thing in esports,” he says. 

“There’s no negative connotation for 

people from Pakistan ’cause the common 

person doesn’t care. People that play 

games don’t care. With esports being 

global now and picking up steam, it’s so 

easy for any community to just step out 

and be like, ‘Oh, hey, we’re opening to 

make it more public. Hey, we’re from 

Pakistan. Hey, we’re from Jordan. Hey, 

we’re from all these places, all who can 

play.’ There’s a 7-year-old girl who won 

a Pokémon grand final from Indonesia. 

It’s like this is our path to world peace.” 

Full Sail’s Hall of Fame week has 

been an annual celebration for 

more than a decade. A select 

coterie of graduates who have done well 

in their chosen field and given back to 

the school in some way are invited back 

each year to be inducted and speak to 

current students. In that sense the school 

feels like the pipeline it advertises itself 

to be—a place where people who know, 

more or less, what they want to learn are 

connected with a workplace that wants 

their skills. “Everybody wants everybody 

to move,” Kitelyn says. “Everybody’s 

almost all in together to keep building 

and providing some infrastructure to 

the industry. Because obviously the 

economic impact has been huge so far.” 

One graduate being honored in 

March is Erin Eberhardt, who graduated 

a decade ago and now works at Blizzard, 

the L.A.-based gaming giant. Raised on a 

7-acre plot in rural Ohio, Eberhardt was 

a free-range child, but in the evenings 

the family gathered to watch her father, 

an air traffic controller, game with 

friends. “We had chairs sitting behind 

Dad, and we’d be all like peering over 

and would pop out, just screaming like 

maniacs, like little kids.” Eberhardt went 

to a traditional university but found it 

uninspiring. She got a Full Sail degree in 

2010. When she entered the job market, 

YouTube and other streaming services 

were just ramping up. Twitch didn’t yet 

exist. She got a job at Disney working in 

development and then moved over to 

PlayStation for five years. 

Esports experienced a surge in 2016 

when the Overwatch League was 

announced. Eberhardt applied to the 

game’s maker, Blizzard Entertainment, 

and got hired. Since then she’s seen a 

steady influx of professionals from other 

sectors into the gaming world. “We’re 

seeing a lot of people from traditional TV 

and film coming in, a lot from the NFL, 

the NBA,” she says. “We just have this 

amazing nexus of these awesome minds 

all working together on this product.” 

She predicts that the next generation 

of hires is going to come straight from 

the world of collegiate esports. “This is 

exactly what is growing the next future 

generation of who is working in esports,” 

she says. “It’s in the collegiate level. 

Pretty much every single major [at Full 

Sail] could find themselves working in 

esports at one point because it’s kind of 

‘all hands on deck’ right now.” Full Sail 

is feting Eberhardt in part for her role 

in staging a massive live event last year 

around a game called Hearthstone. 

Danaher, one of Eberhardt’s mentees, 

views the Hearthstone event as a key 

moment in her own development. “It was 

perfect,” she says. 

The arc of Danaher and Eberhardt’s 

respective trajectories in some sense 

mirrors the growth of the industry. 

A decade ago, when Eberhardt was 

entering the job market, gaming was still 

an incipient industry. Full Sail didn’t 

have an esports team. Now Danaher’s 

options stretch out attractively in 

multiple directions. Like Eberhardt, 

Danaher grew up gaming. “I was the 

nerdy girl that liked video games,” she 

says. She did theater and sports, too, and 

thrived on the team sports environment 

and the human connection. Now she 

Full Sail alum Erin 

Eberhardt now 

works at Blizzard 

Entertainment. 

THE RED BULLETIN 65

It’s not just kids playing video 

games that has executives from 

Hollywood to Orlando drooling. 

The Full Sail 

University 

campus in Winter 

Park, Florida. 

studies creative writing. Danaher’s ideal 

job would be to stage the kinds of 

massive live events that draw hundreds 

of thousands of people to arenas around 

the world for gaming events. Her parents 

have come around to her point of view. 

“Back then they were probably like, ‘Get 

off those stupid games and do your 

homework’ sort of thing,” she says. “But 

now they kind of see, like, yeah, there 

actually are jobs here. She’s not just 

goofing off.” 

After graduating this coming 

October, Danaher will begin a master’s 

degree program in sports management 

at Full Sail. She envisions a career 

devoted entirely to esports involving 

project management, team management 

and team building. She has her eye set 

on an outfit in Texas that runs an esports 

stadium. “I would help build the team, 

manage the team, make sure that they’re 

getting their practices, they’re sleeping 

right. Making sure that their mental 

health is still doing OK,” she says. “I 

just want to do things that help build 

a team up, like things that I’m doing 

right now, but in a larger capacity that 

I get paid for.” 

Full Sail University began in a truck, 

literally, a 26-foot GMC motor home. It 

was first conceived as a mobile recording 

studio where artists could learn the 

basics of music production in short, goaloriented 

sessions. Today the campus 

consists of several single-story buildings 

tucked away in an otherwise mostly 

empty grid of office spaces and small 

businesses in Winter Park, Florida, in 

suburban northeast Orlando. Its 

graduates have gone on to work in the 

biggest studios in Hollywood, including 

Netflix, Amazon and Disney. Every single 

Marvel film that has appeared in theaters 

to date has at least one, and often more 

than one, Full Sail graduate. The School 

of Sportscasting is named after famed 

SportsCenter alum and radio host Dan 

Patrick, who is a frequent visitor. Dave 

Arneson, the creator of Dungeons & 

Dragons, taught game design at the 

school until 2008. With courses costing 

$450 an hour, it isn’t cheap. But 

applications continue to stream in. 

It’s not just kids playing video games 

that has executives from Hollywood 

to Orlando drooling. It’s all the other 

stuff. “Twitch has about a thousand job 

openings right now but they don’t have 

candidates for those skill sets,” says 

NACE’s Brooks. Computer engineers, 

database managers and sound engineers, 

especially those who have a solid 

background in gaming, are in demand. 

“We hear the same thing for Microsoft. 

They’re naturally seeing that their 

current employees are also gamers. 

That’s where they’re getting employees 

from. That’s the population they want 

to get in front of.” 

This is driving meaningful 

connectivity between the corporate 

landscape and the collegiate one. It 

actually starts even earlier than that. 

“You’re going to have some of these 

semi-trained, semi-pro kids that are 

coming out of high school being 

recruited into collegiate programs,” 

says Eberhardt. “They’re being recruited 

for the skills that they have in their 

gaming.” She points to the Overwatch 

tournament inside the Fortress, and the 

entire Hall of Fame experience at Full 

Sail. “Those were all students,” she says. 

“The sound guys, all the runners, the 

PAs, the lighting, the rigging—all a 

student-run production. That kind of 

experience is exactly what we’re looking 

for at studios.” 

66 THE RED BULLETIN

At Full Sail 

tournaments, it’s 

a totally studentrun 

production, 

from the PAs to 

the lighting, 

sound and 

rigging people. 


It’s the end of the day at Full Sail and 

a crowd starts to gather in front of a 

large outdoor stage where a screen has 

been set up behind a pair of chairs and 

a game console. As the audience begins 

to fill in, Hernandez and Alpizar take the 

stage. Full Sail’s Armada Smash Bros. 

team will be taking on challengers from 

the audience. A few brave souls take the 

stage. Elijah. Then Kenneth. They both 

lose. The crowd starts warming up. The 

next contestant, Logan, puts up more of 

a fight. More people sit down, settling in 

for a long evening of video gaming. On 

stage Hernandez and Alpizar are finding 

their rhythm. The warm Florida air is 

soothing. A steady thump of dance music 

wafts in from somewhere else on 

campus. You get the sense, on this 

pleasant evening, that everyone who is 

here is exactly where they want to be. 

“This is esports, baby!” Alpizar shouts. 

Employers everywhere from Twitch to Microsoft are looking for applicants with a gaming background. 

THE RED BULLETIN 67

LET’S 

MAKE 

AN 

ORDEAL 

Cooped up by COVID, a crew of 

Wyoming outdoor athletes concoct an 

informal but intense mountain triathlon in 

their own backyard. The so-called Laramie 

Brunch—which combines biking, climbing 

and a glacial-lake crossing—is a tough 

reminder that one does not need airlines or 

mass-start events to rediscover the soul 

and hard-earned joys of adventure. 

Words MARK JENKINS 

Photography GREG MIONSKE 

68 THE RED BULLETIN

Two competitors in 

the Laramie Brunch pick 

their way up the 

technical face of the 

Diamond in Wyoming’s 

Snowy Range. At the 

top, they’ll be halfway 

home in this homegrown 

adventure triathlon. 

THE RED BULLETIN 69

The lake is calm and the skies are 

leaden. We were hoping for a Rocky Mountain 

dawn—pink welkin with the promise of warm 

sunshine—but it is not to be. Dark clouds roll right 

above our helmeted heads, enveloping the towering 

rock ramparts. If it starts to rain, or more likely 

snow, our mission is over. 

We are shivering when we finally dismount from 

our heavily loaded steeds. It is daybreak, bleak and 

desolate. We’ve bicycled 45 miles and gained 4,000 

feet—from the benighted plains at 7,000 feet up to 

Lake Marie, at almost 11,000 feet, in the Snowy 

Range of southeastern Wyoming. Martha can’t feel 

her feet. Justin’s on the edge of bonking. Alice is 

being stoic. We all pound trail food for the calories 

of heat and slug back electrolyte-laced water. 

“Critical Error #1,” says Martha. “I didn’t bring 

enough warm clothes.” 

I’d told her that her puffy winter jacket was 

overkill for this undertaking, so she left it at home. 

But now I see that there is still deep snow in the 

couloirs between the stone faces. 

To warm up, we do jumping jacks together along 

the shore of the lake. 

We are two teams: Justin and Alice; Martha, my 

fiancée, and I. Justin unstraps a packraft from the 

handlebars of his mountain bike and I pull one from 

my panniers. We set to work inflating our tiny boats. 

Martha packs our rope and climbing gear and 

harnesses into two dry bags. Alice does the same 

with their mountain climbing equipment. 

Both packrafts, 4-pound inflatable baby boats, 

are meant for one person, not two, let alone the 

addition of two heavy sacks of climbing gear. Our 

biggest fear is capsizing. Lake Marie was frozen solid 

a month ago, so the water is unbearably cold. Heart 

attack cold. We don’t have wetsuits. I admonish 

Martha to be careful as she gets into the raft. 

“I know, I know,” she replies. 

She delicately kneels in the bow and I get into the 

stern, my knees almost against her back. We push 

gently away from the bouldery bank and begin to 

paddle in unison, our two dry bags of climbing gear 

bobbing along behind us on a cord. 

I’m immediately paddling too hard. 

“Don’t go all Lewis and Clark,” Martha says. 

I try to stay calm and match her pace. 

The water, thankfully, is tranquil. We paddle 

silently through the black water like Vikings on a 

raid. Trout are leaping here and there, their rings 

expanding. Massive-antlered moose lurk along the 

shore, concealed in the shadows of the forest. A bald 

eagle, its white head visible against the black clouds, 

circles above us. The world is silent. 

Gliding across this alpine tarn, it feels as if we are 

floating through another time. A time before cars 

and traffic, overpopulation and pollution. A time 

when the sky and the earth, the lakes and the woods 

and the stars, were still part of a human’s life. A time 

that kept quiet and remained humble, confident in 

the intrinsic value of its own stark serenity. 

We thought it might take us an hour to raft across 

Lake Marie (named after the first woman to be 

70 THE RED BULLETIN

The confinement of 

COVID-19 had been 

driving us crazy. We 

had to do something 

big, hard—and close. 

Harper, Large and Joel 

ride back to Laramie 

as an evening storm 

rolls in. 

elected to the Wyoming State Legislature, in 1910)— 

especially if the wind kicked up. Instead, stroking in 

synchronization across the velvety water, humming 

“Lake Marie” by John Prine, we make the half-mile 

crossing in 10 minutes. Alice and Justin follow close 

behind us, paddling smoothly, soundlessly. 

When our packraft bumps against the boulders, 

Martha clambers out with a grin. “That was more 

enjoyable than I expected,” she whispers brightly. 

“Leg two, of six, completed!” I reply. 

We pull the raft out of the water and place rocks 

inside it to keep it from blowing away. We open our 

Walmart dry bags and are dismayed to find they are 

filled with lake water. All our gear is soaked, but 

there’s nothing we can do. We cinch on our climbing 

harnesses, bandolier the climbing gear and slings 

across our chests, clip our rocks shoes to our 

harnesses and start tramping up the talus. Alice and 

Justin are just behind us. 

We have crossed the moat and are now working 

our way to the castle walls. Clouds have kept the sky 

dark, but the fat, furry marmots, whistling to one 

another, sound the alarm of our approach. 

We reach the base of the 700-foot face of the 

Diamond, put on our rock shoes and begin to climb, 

silently storming the castle. 

THE RED BULLETIN 71

The Brunch delivered on all counts—technical challenges, scenic vistas and socially distanced camaraderie, all followed by pizza and beer. 

72 THE RED BULLETIN

The confinement of COVID-19 had been 

driving us crazy. We had to do something. 

Something big but close. Something hard but 

possible. Something fun! 

“Ever heard of the Jackson Hole Picnic?” Martha 

asked me one afternoon. She’d lived in Jackson for 

a summer. 

I shook my head. 

“It’s a mountain triathlon. Bike 20 miles from 

Jackson to Jenny Lake, swim the 1.3 miles across, 

hike up the Grand Teton—over 7,000 vert—then 

reverse it all.” 

“Sounds like a solid day,” I said. 

“We should create our own picnic,” said Martha. 

“Right here in Laramie.” 

We googled the Jackson Hole Picnic. It was the 

brainchild of writer/photographer David Gonzales. 

After failing twice, he finally did the picnic in 2012: 

23 hours out and back. Gonzales says he named it 

the picnic for two reasons: “You gotta bring a lot of 

food, and it’s not an organized event.” Gonzales has 

since created a few other picnics in mountain towns 

in Montana and the Northwest. Always, participants 

have to do it on their own, totally self-supported. 

In truth, mountain climbers have been pedaling 

to their projects for at least a century. In 1931, 

alpinist brothers Franz and Toni Schmid bicycled 

from Munich, 200 miles south through the Alps to 

the base of the Matterhorn, made the first ascent of 

the notorious North Face and then rode back home. 

Moreover, the word “picnic” has been used 

ironically in many alpine climbing tales, most 

notably in Felice Benuzzi’s 1946 picaresque classic 

No Picnic on Mount Kenya. Benuzzi and two other 

Italians were being held as WWII POWs in Kenya. 

They escaped the prison camp at night, trekked for 

days, climbed the north face of Mount Kenya, then 

returned across the savannah and snuck right back 

into the POW camp. Glorious! 

In five minutes, Martha and I mapped out our 

own six-leg picnic: Bike 45 miles from the Pedal 

House bike shop in Laramie, Wyoming, up to the 

Snowy Range; cross Lake Marie by any means; 

ascend the Medicine Bow Diamond—five pitches of 

technical rock climbing—choosing your own route, 

5.5 to 5.11; run or rapel off the mountain; recross 

Lake Marie; ride back to Laramie. 

“You can get across Lake Marie any way you 

want—swim, paddle, canoe—but everything has to 

be carried on your bike up and back,” she declared. 

“Boats, ropes, climbing gear, PFDs!?” 

“Everything.” 

After watching a couple YouTube Jackson Hole 

Picnic vids, Martha said, “Looks too much like a bro 

fest. We should require male/female teams.” 

The next day we pitched our idea to Joel Charles, 

chief bike mechanic at the Pedal House. 

“I like the co-ed requirement,” said Joel. 

“Sausage and eggs! Why don’t we call it the ‘Laramie 

Brunch?’ ” 

So we did. 

It would be a local event for local outdoor 

athletes. No sponsors, no professional athletes, no 

prizes. You ride your own bike, whatever it may be, 

climb with your own gear and wear your own 

clothes. By the end of the week, we had four 

2-person teams: 

Justin Bowen, 28, a serious rock climber and 

grad student (in watershed management) who has 

lived in Jackson Hole for six years; and his partner 

Alice Stears, 26, serious cyclist and Ph.D. candidate 

(in botany), who once rode from Missoula, Montana, 

to Eugene, Oregon. 

Martha Tate, 32, an emigration attorney, ice 

climber, globetrotter and adventure gal; with me, 

61, as her comrade. 

Amanda Harper, 30, a mountain guide, mountain 

bike racer, co-director of the University of Wyoming 

outdoor program; and Joel Charles, 42, sometime 

climber and former bike racer, father of Josie, 3. 

Matt “Large” Hebard, 43, a former savage bike 

racer and present savage ice climber, father of two 

sweet daughters; and a mysterious female partner 

none of us had ever met. Large insisted her name 

was Rihanna and claimed she was a CrossFit badass, 

gorgeous as a model. 

Martha, the author, 

Justin and Alice 

celebrate a 

surprisingly quick 

ascent. 

It would be a local event for local 

outdoor athletes. No sponsors, no 

professional athletes, no prizes. 

THE RED BULLETIN 73

We scheduled the Laramie Brunch for the last 

weekend of July. Boulder-based photographer Greg 

Mionske drove up to document the fiasco, and my 

daughter, Addi, volunteered to be safety boater and 

cheerleader (she made posters—“Are U Suffering 

Yet?” “How About Now?” and “Home Stretch”—and 

would wave them, shouting much-needed 

encouragement, throughout the Brunch). 

In terms of technical skills, the hardest part of 

the Brunch would be climbing the chossy, 700-foot, 

glass-slick quartzite face of the Snowy Range 

Diamond. Because the rockfall risks on this 

obscure wall are so substantial, nobody climbs 

there except a handful of locals. Indeed, the 

chances of getting whacked by a falling rock were 

great enough that we decided only two teams 

could climb on the wall at the same time, on two 

separate routes, 200 horizontal feet apart. Two 

teams would do the Brunch on Saturday, the other 

two on Sunday. 

It wasn’t a race. It wasn’t meant to be a sufferfest. 

The point was simply to push ourselves with friends 

in the mountains—and to finish. 

The risk of rockfall is 

high enough that 

teams agreed to climb 

200 feet apart. 

Off belay,” I shout down at Martha, 200 feet off 

the deck on the Diamond. I have been careful 

not to knock rocks on her. We are on a route 

called Overhang Direct, first climbed in 1959 by K. 

Hull and R. Nessle. They rated it grade III, F-7, 

A-2—the modern YDS climbing grade is perhaps 

5.9R. 

I gobble a PBJ while Martha climbs. When she 

gets to my stony ledge, she traverses over to the 

anchors, only to discover that the nylon webbing we 

put in just last weekend has been chewed through 

by marmots, the devil’s scouts. 

Unbelievably, the next set of anchors, over 300 

feet in the air, are also munched by marmots. 

Luckily, above the third pitch—the money pitch, the 

big overhang with lots of exposure and razor-sharp 

rock—the anchors are still intact. I lead the fourth 

pitch, Martha quickly leads the fifth pitch and we run 

to the summit together. We have taken the castle. 

“Halfway!” I yell. 

“Two and a half hours,” says Martha. “Our fastest 

ascent yet.” 

Surprisingly, the clouds have thinned and the 

weather improved. We can see far down onto the 

high plains, almost making out Laramie 45 long 

miles away. 

“It’s all downhill from here,” I say. 

“We still have to paddle back across the lake,” 

Martha reminds me. 

Martha eats her PBJ while I peer over the cliff 

looking for Alice and Justin. They are climbing a 

different route, called the Red Spot, first ascended 

by R. Frisby, R. Jacquot and J. Mathiesen in 1965. 

I can’t see my friends and call down into space. 

An unintelligible reply wafts up the wall. 

The threat of rain has vanished—we can relax. 

There is nothing quite so piquant as sitting on top of 

a mountain you have just climbed, staring out over 

the landscape. You are filled with a profound sense 

of satisfaction. You can sense the magnetic power of 

the planet. The earth, after all, is just a big round 

stone. When we are gone, geology will continue. 

After an hour Alice and Justin top out. We take 

the obligatory summit photo—all of us hugging and 

yahooing—then start hiking down the trail. Back at 

our boats in half an hour, we repack the dry bags 

and prepare to paddle. 

“I can’t believe how calm the water still is,” 

says Alice. 

The Norse gods are smiling down at us and we 

know it. 

We slide back across shimmering Lake Marie, the 

water having transformed in the past few hours 

from murky black to teal blue. Again, John Prine’s 

song floats with me. 

“Five legs finished,” says Justin as we haul our 

boats up out of the water. “One leg left.” 

We take our time collapsing our packrafts, rolling 

them up and securing them to the bicycles. We dip 

water from the lake and drop in iodine pills. We eat 

again. I realize I have a flat and pump up my tire. 

Everything feels natural and unhurried. 

We saddle up and begin to ride. In just two 

miles, we surmount the 11,000-foot pass, called 

74 THE RED BULLETIN

Hard pulls: Crossing Lake Marie in a boat built for one (left) and riding in a paceline on the way back to Laramie. 

Libby Flats, abruptly stop pedaling and fly down 

the mountain. 

At the base of the Snowy Range is a mountain 

town called Centennial, population 250. Centennial 

is 30 miles from Laramie and according to our selfconcocted 

Brunch rules, food and beverages obtained 

in Centennial are allowed. We had passed through 

this one-horse town before dawn when everything 

was closed. There was a headwind and we were 

naturally looking forward to a tailwind on the way 

home. Alas, during the day the wind shifted 180 

degrees, so now we have a headwind riding back. 

This seems downright unfair, so we dismount, stable 

our steeds, pull up chairs on the patio at the Bear 

Bottom Bar and Grill and order pitchers of cold beer 

and platters of tater tots. 

“I thought this was going to be a sufferfest,” says 

Martha, popping a tot in her mouth. 

“Me too,” adds Alice. 

Pouring himself another beer, Justin says, “I feel 

better already!” Justin is riding his fat-tired 

mountain bike with clipless pedals but no cleats on 

his shoes. This doesn’t bother him a bit. 

I’m sure there are serious cyclists who would 

question the wisdom of stopping for pints of strong 

IPA before riding the final 30 miles of a mountain 

triathlon, but that’s just the way we do it in 

Wyoming. Besides, tater tots have been scientifically 

proven to be the perfect food for long bike rides. 

We hang out eating and drinking and telling 

stories for two hours before finally saddling up and 

riding away. We are ostensibly two teams of two, but 

in actuality, from the first minute on our bikes, we 

have been a team of four. 

With encouragement from Greg and Addi every 

10 miles, we roll back into Laramie just after 5 p.m.: 

15 hours for 90 miles of biking, 1 mile of boating, 

a thousand feet of rock climbing and several long 

rest-and-fuel breaks. 

Martha and I sleep like dead Vikings but manage 

to rally the next morning, drive up into the Snowies 

and hike up the back of the Diamond by 11 a.m. 

Greg is leaning over the face taking photos and 

fiddling with his drone. 

The two Sunday teams—Harper and Joel, Large 

and Rihanna—are somewhere on the face below. 

Martha and I drink cold beers waiting for them to 

summit, shouting down words of harassment. They 

too chose to start at the Pedal House at 2 a.m. 

They’ve been moving for over 10 hours when they 

finish the wall and clamber onto the top of the 

Diamond. But look! There are only three of them. 

Martha and I were expecting to meet Large’s 

glamorous hotshot. 

“Where’s Rihanna?” I cry. 

The threesome break into laughter. 

We have been snookered. Rihanna never existed. 

The CrossFit babe was only an adventure avatar. 

Large couldn’t find a female partner so he made one 

up for us. They worked together as a threesome all 

along. They even wore matching red onesies! 

Harper carried her gear on her cross bike, using a 

giant seat bag and handlebar bag. Joel rode one of 

his old steel-frame racing bikes with no panniers or 

gear, but tethered to the front of Large; Large rode 

his 40-pound, $5,000 cargo bike with almost all the 

team gear—ropes, wetsuits, everything—in a big 

black box. It was not a happy arrangement. 

“The ride up here totally crushed me,” admits 

Large, standing on the summit of the Diamond. He 

looks dead and is only halfway done. 

They opt to rappel the face while Martha, Greg 

and I walk down. Back at the edge of Lake Marie, the 

threesome slowly stretch into full-length wetsuits. 

They will swim rather than paddle. They pull on large 

rubber flippers, step into the water backwards and 

then, using dry bags for flotation, start swimming. 

Their crossing of Lake Marie is painfully slow because 

Large barely knows how to swim. 

“I hate water!” Large bellows. He is on his back, 

holding the dry bag on his chest like an otter, 

In terms of technical skills, the 

hardest part of the Brunch would be 

climbing the Snowy Range Diamond. 

THE RED BULLETIN 75

The Laramie Brunch is like any other triathlon that includes technical rock climbing in matching onesies and midride stops for tater tots. 

kicking as best he can. But he doesn’t know how to 

flutter kick. Instead, he kicks as if he were pedaling 

a bike, frantically pounding his legs straight down. 

Martha, Greg and I are in the safety canoe and 

find it all hilarious. Large disagrees. “This is the 

longest I’ve been in the water in my life!” he yells. 

Joel and Harper seem to be having a good time, 

flutter kicking and chatting away. They swim beside 

Large as psychological support. At one point, I truly 

worry for him. His face is gray and his eyes pinched. 

He looks like he might start sinking. Nevertheless, 

he eventually makes it to the far shore. 

“I told you I hate water!” he roars from the bank. 

They all drink mimosas with friends and family 

alongside Lake Marie, drying out their wetsuits in 

the sun, while we load the canoe back onto my car. 

Large rallies with a little beverage. 

Eventually the threesome saddle up and grind 

slowly up over the pass. On the way down out of the 

mountains, Large never touches his brakes. He 

passes us at 50 mph. They buy snacks in Centennial 

but do not tarry. The weather, which had been 

bluebird all day, is turning. Thunderclouds are 

filling the sky, casting black shadows across the 

plains. The wind is blowing uncharacteristically 

from the east. An upslope wind portends poor 

weather in these parts. 

Large, Joel and Harper battle this headwind all 

the way back to Laramie. It looks exhausting. On a 

bike, wind is always worse than an uphill. They are 

racing directly into a storm, hoping to beat it, and 

they almost do. Just two miles from Laramie they 

get caught—buckets of rain and pelting hail. The 

wind swirls like a dervish. To the north, they spot a 

funnel cloud, which gives them sufficient inspiration 

to get the damn ride done. Sometime after 6 p.m. 

they slosh up to the Pedal House: more than 16 

hours of suffering. 

76 THE RED BULLETIN

That night Martha and I had a party at our 

house for everyone who had made the 

inaugural Laramie Brunch a success. We had 

boxes of local pizza and all kinds of local beer. Addi 

made twice-baked potatoes that disappeared 

immediately. 

Justin showed up first with more beer. He was in 

high spirits. 

“I feel great!” 

He said he actually had gone to the gym in the 

afternoon. It was too wet to climb hard so he pumped 

iron instead. 

Justin and I immediately started planning our 

next adventure together: a new route on the north 

face of the Grand Teton. 

Alice arrived next. She cycled to our house in the 

pouring rain, not giving it a thought. She looked like 

she was ready to do it all over again. “I feel just 

fine,” she said brightly. She was leaving the next 

morning for a backpacking trip across the Gros 

Ventre mountain range in northern Wyoming. 

Harper showed up with more beer and friends. 

“I’ll do it next year!” she said excitedly. 

When Large and Joel finally arrived, Large was 

wearing an expedition down parka, he was still so 

cold. He was wiped. He slouched on the couch and 

could barely speak. Perhaps the gods were punishing 

him for poaching the event without a proper partner. 

But Joel was in fine form, telling stories of his 

bike-racing days in Boulder. He hadn’t ridden a 

bike for a decade—he claimed to have trained for 

the Laramie Brunch by drinking one less beer a 

day—and thanked Martha for coming up with an 

adventure that got him back on the bike. He said the 

final stretch into Laramie brought back corporeal 

feelings he hadn’t had since he stopped racing. 

We all told stories. That’s what we humans do. 

Martha told one about running a half marathon in 

the excruciating heat of Alexandria, Egypt. Justin 

had a tale of living in a van and ice climbing in 

Kyrgyzstan. I told a story of getting sepsis on a bike 

ride across Russia. 

Everybody had their own tale of struggle and 

perseverance, failure and triumph. Everyone had 

their own epic. That is the nature of the tribe of 

outdoor athletes. 

As everyone was leaving, Alice thanked us and 

said, “The whole reason I did this was I needed 

something to look forward to. COVID has made us 

feel like prisoners. This was a wonderful escape!” 

Felice Benuzzi, World War II POW, would be 

proud. 

Everyone had a tale of 

struggle and perseverance, 

failure and triumph. 

Everyone had their own epic.

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THE RED BULLETIN 

BEYOND THE ORDINARY

guide 

Get it. Do it. See it. 

GETTY IMAGES 

Solitude is bliss 

on Lake Powell. 

GLORIOUS 

SOCIAL 

DISTANCE 

Getting away from it all is hard when everyone is 

trying to do the same thing. Here are four ways to 

get creative—and cut yourself off from the crowds. 

Words WILL COCKRELL 

THE RED BULLETIN 79

Do it 

G U I D E 

Discover Public Lands 

SIERRA NEVADA 

MOUNTAINS, CALIFORNIA 

California’s Sierra Nevada 

mountain range, which runs 

400 miles from the Mojave 

Desert to Oregon, is home to 

the state’s most celebrated 

natural wonders. It’s a place 

where you can climb the 

Lower 48’s highest peak, 

Mount Whitney, one day and 

hug the world’s largest tree 

the next; spend half your trip 

touring Yosemite National 

Park and the other half 

floating on the emerald 

waters of Lake Tahoe. 

Understandably, campgrounds 

in the area are almost always 

running at capacity—which is 

why those in the know have 

cut the campground cord. 

“The area is overwhelmingly 

public lands,” says Bureau of 

Land Management (BLM) 

Bishop Field Manager Steve 

Nelson. “You won’t come 

across many “no trespassing” 

signs and there is still a high 

level of self-discovery here.” 

Specifically, Nelson is 

referring to BLM and Forest 

Service land, where camping 

is actually allowed almost 

anywhere—as long as you are 

versed in Leave No Trace 

practices and respectful of 

things like seasonal fire 

restrictions and no-go zones 

near trailheads, main roads 

or designated campgrounds. 

Simply familiarizing yourself 

with which agency manages 

what (and mastering the art 

of car camping off-grid) is 

like having a skeleton key to 

secret campsites in some of 

the most beautiful swaths of 

wilderness in America. 

In the Sierra, there are 

beautifully secluded pit stops 

just a few miles off the east 

side’s main artery, U.S. Route 

395. The Alabama Hills, a 

BLM-managed stretch of high 

desert, full of RV-sized 

boulders, has many dirt roads 

that take you far beyond the 

day-trippers. Two more 

options: Find a secluded spot 

near Mammoth Lakes and 

Skip the campgrounds and find your own secret campsite. 

enjoy an outdoor pint in town, 

or park near Lee Vining Creek 

as a launchpad for day trips 

into Yosemite (bandit camping 

is strictly prohibited within 

most national parks). 

The next level is exploring 

the network of dirt roads that 

crisscross Forest Service land 

and take you deeper into the 

mountains. Many of the 

unmaintained roads between 

Isabella Lake and Sequoia 

National Park lead to such 

Rush-hour traffic 

on Lake Tahoe’s 

Emerald Bay. 

isolated alpine valleys, you 

could ignore the must-see 

stuff altogether, set up near a 

bubbling river and stay put for 

an entire week. 

Nelson notes that not every 

dirt road leads to a parking 

spot in paradise. And if it does, 

you may not be alone. He 

urges you to simply keep 

exploring. “No one gives away 

their favorite spot anymore,” 

he says. “Which is why it gets 

tougher every day to find 

them.” Of course, that’s 

probably a good thing. 

Make it happen: Off-grid 

adventures on public lands 

require next-level carcamping 

and leave-no-trace 

skills. The best resources for 

identifying boundaries are 

your GPS or map apps like 

Cal Topo, which typically 

have a feature showing colorcoded 

agency boundaries. 

The BLM and Forest Service 

websites list all the rules and 

regulations for using the land 

safely and respectfully. 

Mastering the art 

of camping offgrid 

is like having 

a skeleton key to 

secret campsites 

in the most 

beautiful spots. 

80 THE RED BULLETIN

Remote Getaways 

Pololu Valley has a classic hike that 

ends at a black-sand beach. 

GETTY IMAGES 

The Waipio Valley 

has breathtaking 

views—and truly 

breathtaking hikes. 

Quarantine in Paradise 

HAWI, HAWAII 

When the state of Hawaii 

announced a mandatory 14- 

day quarantine upon arrival, 

many decided to put their 

vacations on hold. For others, 

however, a vacation is a 

quarantine of sorts, and 

there’s no better place to stay 

put than the remote northern 

tip of the Big Island, where 

lush cliffs plunge into the sea 

and the locals like a lot of 

space. “It’s a little like Oregon 

meets the tropics,” says Bruce 

Bromberg, the revered chef 

and co-founder of the Blue 

Ribbon restaurants, who 

moved to the Big Island in 

2015. “There’s almost no one 

living next to someone else 

and it’s the perfect place to destress 

and decompress.” 

The island of Hawaii— 

which shares the same name 

as the state itself—is five times 

larger than the second biggest 

(Maui), with nearly the samesize 

population. Bromberg fell 

in love with the Big Island 

during a James Beard 

celebrity chef event. A year 

later, he, his wife and his 

daughter moved to Puako, a 

low-key town halfway 

between Kona and an idyllic 

outpost in the north called 

Hawi. Hawi is a place that 

somehow remains remote and 

undiscovered-feeling, despite 

being the turnaround point 

for the annual Ironman 

Triathlon in October. 

In Hawi, house-arrest is not 

a bad thing, especially if you 

rent an isolated plantation 

cottage with wraparound 

decks and sea views, and 

several acres between you and 

your nearest neighbor. Most 

rentals sit on huge parcels of 

land, and Bromberg says the 

town itself has a deep local 

Hawaiian vibe. There is a kava 

tea hut, an Alpaca farm and a 

penchant for living off-grid. 

“The local Kohala Grown 

Market makes these great 

smoothies,” he says. “We come 

here and get fruit I’ve never 

seen or heard of in my life.” 

Bromberg heads north to 

hang in Hawi every chance he 

can get, often on his way to 

go hiking in one of the five 

stunning valleys that 

converge at the end of the 

tiny Kohana Mountain Road, 

Route 270. Each valley 

radiates away from the sea 

within two huge natural 

reserves. Closest to Hawi is 

the Pololu Valley. “We hike 

down the cliff to a stunning 

black-sand beach that’s 

Contemplate 

world peace 

in Pololu. 

great for swimming,” says 

Bromberg. “People disappear 

into these valleys for days, 

camping.” The furthest, 

Waipio Valley, is the most 

well known but is typically 

accessed from the east, rather 

than through Hawi. The best 

part: Even when things return 

to normal and Hawaii does 

fully open to tourists, little 

will change in Hawi because 

the tourists never came here 

in the first place. 

Make it happen: Pay close 

attention to the state’s rules 

around outside visitors and 

triple check with your rental 

host about regulations on 

their end—both can be fluid 

these days. 

THE RED BULLETIN 81

Do it 

G U I D E 

Go Back in Time 

BOLD COAST, MAINE 

A four-hour drive northeast of 

Portland, Maine, just beyond 

the historic fishing village of 

Lubec, is a lighthouse. 

Geographically speaking, this 

lighthouse is officially the 

easternmost point in the 

United States, punctuated 

severely by the steep and 

craggy cliffs above the Bay of 

Fundy, across the U.S.-Canada 

border. And Lubec is a town 

that truly feels like the end of 

the road. The town of about 

1,500 salty souls is in fact 

largely cut off from industry, 

technology and even tourism. 

The weather isn’t just small 

talk here—it’s a throwback 

town where livelihoods 

depend on understanding 

tides and predicting low 

pressure systems. It also 

happens to bookend some of 

the best hiking and camping 

in the Northeast. 

Lubec is also the 

easternmost point of what is 

known as “the Bold Coast”— 

an empty stretch of coastline 

between Milbridge and Lubec 

that has so many nooks, 

Lubec has 

authentic 

throwback charm. 

crannies, caves and cliffs, it 

makes Cape Cod look like the 

Hamptons. While it may not 

be all that surprising that you 

can get a world-class lobster 

roll at places like Quoddy 

Bay Lobster, few people 

realize that the state’s best 

wilderness experience is 

actually an hour beyond 

Maine’s natural crown jewel, 

Acadia National Park. The 

Bold Coast has dozens of state 

reserves and wildlife refuges, 

both inland and along the 

coast. Lubec’s Coastal Trail, 

within the 532-acre Quoddy 

Head State Park, soars along 

hundred-foot cliffs before 

dropping onto a crescent of 

sea-sculpted cobblestones. 

Leaving Lubec, headed 

back toward Portland, the 

Bold Coast Scenic Byway 

(which parallels much of the 

Bold Coast’s Scenic Bikeway) 

passes dozens more spots for 

coastal hiking and camping, as 

well as fresh seafood in small 

fishing villages. Cutler is a 

good jumping-off point for 

multi-day Lost Coast-style 

adventures along the Fairy 

Head Loop, a 10-miler in the 

The West 

Quoddy 

lighthouse 

marks the 

easternmost 

point in the U.S. 

Cutler Coast Public Reserve, 

dotted with primitive camping 

sites and side trips for whale 

watching. While most reserves 

in the area have primitive 

walk-in camping options, 

there are a few established 

campgrounds. One of the best, 

McClellan Park campground, 

is in fact right at the beginning 

of the Byway (if traveling east 

to west). 

Fall presents a particularly 

unique opportunity on the 

Bold Coast. Even during 

“high season” it’s pretty quiet 

here. But by October, locals 

begin drinking at the bars 

again, seasonal inns shutter 

and the sea begins to stir. 

Of course, sunshine is a 

rarity this time of year, but 

the Bold Coast is that rare 

place where moody weather 

actually enhances the 

experience. 

Make it happen: There are 

direct flights to Portland from 

all over the U.S. It is always 

important to respect the 

most current regulations 

regarding travel into Maine, 

and the safety of the small 

communities that live along 

the Bold Coast. 

Admit it: You want a lobster roll. 

82 THE RED BULLETIN

Remote Getaways 

Serenity meets 

adventure on a 

Lake Powell 

houseboat trip. 

GETTY IMAGES 

Hire a Houseboat 

LAKE POWELL, ARIZONA 

Houseboating might have a bit 

of an image problem— 

floating RVs are not exactly 

subtle. But the truth is a multiday 

cruise on one of America’s 

most stunning lakes is the rare 

vacation that blends serenity, 

fun and adventure. Captaining 

a vessel into an empty cove is 

exploration at its finest; 

careening from the top deck 

into the water using the boat’s 

waterslide—while holding a 

beer—brings out your inner 

7-year-old; watching the sun 

set over national parkland, as 

the Milky Way appears above 

you, is as close to backpacking 

as you can get without a heavy 

pack. 

America’s houseboating 

mecca is Lake Powell on the 

Utah-Arizona border, where 

the Colorado River meets the 

Glen Canyon Damn to create 

a 186-mile-long reservoir, 

with 96 major side canyons. 

If stretched out, Lake Powell 

would be longer than the 

continental United States. 

Surrounded by protected 

National Monument and 

Recreation Area land, it’s 

easy to get lost in the lake’s 

endless tributaries, deep in 

the mind-bending orange 

canyons, beneath 200-foot 

sheer sandstone cliffs, or 

beached on a seldom-visited 

sliver of sand. Lake Powell is 

surrounded by natural arches, 

slot canyons and precarious 

spires. But most of its 

shoreline can only be reached 

by boat (or a prohibitively 

long, dry hike), cutting crowds 

to a fraction of what they are 

along road-trip routes in the 

area. And the deeper you go, 

the fewer boats you see. 

“Escalante Canyon, at mile 

marker 69, is just beyond 

where most people will cruise 

to,” says Robert Knowlton, 

general manager of boat 

rentals and tours for the 

houseboat marinas on the 

lake. “It’s my favorite spot; I’ve 

been back there and not seen 

anyone for two or three days.” 

The boats he rents vary in 

size, bedroom count and 

amenities. All come with a full 

kitchen and outdoor grill, but 

high-end cruisers come with 

things like rooftop hot tubs 

and bars. Before you scoff, 

Knowlton says a hot tub can 

make a fall trip. “In September 

and October, evenings are 

cooler and the hot tub feels 

great,” he says. “Fall is my 

favorite time of year here— 

daytime temps stay below 100, 

the water is still warm and the 

lake is less busy.” 

Busy or not, houseboating 

is social distancing in the most 

literal sense. Stocked with 

enough provisions to get you 

through a four-to-seven-day 

stay, you spend the entire time 

with only the people sleeping 

on your boat. Even if you do 

see other boats during your 

trip, interaction with other 

humans is entirely optional. 

In the fall, Lake 

Powell’s waters 

are less crowded 

but still warm. 

Make it happen: The two 

houseboat marinas on Lake 

Powell are Wahweap on the 

western end and Bullfrog, 95 

miles to the east. Which one 

you choose depends largely on 

where you live—people from 

Colorado or Texas go to 

Bullfrog; Californians tend 

to hit Wahweap. Pro tip: 

Take advantage of “preboarding,” 

in which you can 

board your houseboat the 

night before the start of your 

trip—between 5 and 9 p.m.— 

and cast off at first light. It 

costs extra, but less than the 

hotel rooms you would need 

to book that night anyway. 

THE RED BULLETIN 83

Do it 

G U I D E 

TRAIN LIKE A PRO 

“I JUST LIKE 

FLYING THROUGH 

THE AIR” 

Snowboarder Zeb Powell reveals 

how he prepares for his gravitydefying 

acrobatics. 

“I don’t really do the 

standard tricks,” Powell 

says. “I like to try less 

traditional tricks—and 

then see if I can make 

them crazier and harder.” 

Known for his innovative, stylish riding, Zeb 

Powell, 20, became a snowboarder out of 

adversity. A self-described “crazy child,” 

Powell learned to snowboard at age 8 after his 

local skatepark closed. On the mountain, when 

an instructor tried to force Powell, a goofy-foot, 

to ride regular, he nearly gave it up. Still, the 

passionate skateboarder took to snowboarding 

quickly. “It came naturally, and I didn’t really 

have a learning curve,” he says. “I just like 

flying through the air.” While attending 

Stratton Mountain School (in Vermont), 

Powell began competing nationally in 

slopestyle events. Intensely creative, he 

constantly experiments and takes a “ride 

everything” approach. As he invents tricks and 

puts his spin on the sport’s signature moves, 

Powell pushes his body into ever more extreme 

positions. In January 2020, he won the X 

Games Knuckle Huck, which rewards stylish 

and innovative aerials. ”I want to do something 

that people have never seen before.” 

84 THE RED BULLETIN

Fitness 

SKILLS 

“With a new trick, 

I break it down” 

“At Stratton Mountain School, we 

had trampolines and a foam pit, 

and were always going crazy on it. 

That’s where I pushed my air 

awareness. With a new trick, 

I break it down. If I’m trying to do 

a 720, I’ll do a 360 first and review 

the video. If I like it, I’ll keep doing 

it or build off of it. Usually, it’s a 

grab that no one else is doing. 

There are so many variations. 

I think skateboarding’s really 

broadened my variety of tricks. 

A big part of it is confidence— 

believing I can do the trick and not 

bailing halfway through it.” 

FOCUS 

“It’s all about how 

to push myself” 

“I don’t really look at it like 

training. It’s just snowboarding. 

I watch videos of other riders who 

inspire me before I go out and try 

to focus on my ambitions for the 

day. I think ambition breeds 

creativity. Being in a light mood 

also is important to my riding. I like 

to have my friends just laughing, to 

be around people who make me 

smile. When I went to X Games the 

first time, everyone was all serious, 

and it definitely influenced my 

riding. Then I figured out how to be 

in my head and make my own jokes 

and keep myself happy.” 

“FOR MOTIVATION, I SEEK 

OUT THE JOY OF RIDING” 

“I try to be a diverse 

snowboarder—to ride jumps, 

rails, halfpipe and big 

mountain. When I’m bummed 

or down, I know that I just 

need to get on my snowboard 

and I’ll be fine. I get so much 

joy out of it. I think that’s 

what it’s about.” 

STRENGTH 

“I don’t go to the 

gym at all” 

FUEL 

“I think I’ve only had 

five salads in my life” 

BRIAN NEVIS/RED BULL CONTENT POOL JEN SEE 

“All my friends are always mad 

at me because I don’t go to the 

gym at all. I run sometimes if 

I haven’t been active for a while. 

But I think skateboarding and 

wakeboarding do most of the work 

for me. They keep my legs strong. 

I think wakeboarding helps with 

my core, too, because I’m getting 

pulled at like 20 mph. And I’m 

doing all kinds of tricks. It definitely 

keeps me strong and makes me 

more agile. I am into yoga, but 

I don’t really have a long enough 

attention span for it. I would 

definitely like to do it more.” 

“I always have granola bars in my 

backpack. I like Clif Bars, especially 

the White Chocolate Macadamia 

Nut flavor. If I eat two of them, I feel 

like I’ve had a lunch. That’s about it 

when I’m snowboarding—granola 

bars and water. I’m actually a picky 

eater. I’m like a kid. I’ll eat tacos, 

but I won’t eat them with 

everything on them. I’m, like, plain 

guy. I need to change it. I like to 

keep PB&J in my room, in case 

I get hungry. I like fruit. I’ll eat 

vegetables, too, but I don’t go out 

of my way to eat them. I think I’ve 

only had five salads in my life.” 

THE RED BULLETIN 85

See it 

G U I D E 

15 

October 

AFI FEST 

Although the slate 

for this Los Angelesbased 

film fest hasn’t 

been announced yet, 

it’s confirmed that the 

show will go on in 

some shape or form. 

Last year’s lineup 

included a rousing 

world premiere of 

Queen & Slim, 

directed by AFI 

alumna Melina 

Matsoukas and written 

by Lena Waithe. 

Thru October 22; 

fest.afi.com 

Available now 

GO FAST PULL UP: THE JIMMY LEVAN STORY 

In 1998, a 24-year-old Jimmy LeVan landed a jump on his BMX from the top of the stairs at St. Mary’s 

Church in Austin, Texas, to the pavement on the other side of the road. It has since become known 

as the “Austin Church Gap,” attempted by countless others but so far only nailed by LeVan, the X 

Games rider who went on to carve out an innovative and influential career in street BMX and create 

the renowned Metal Bikes brand. It’s just one moment in his dramatic life story, as documented in 

this captivating film, which also details a terrifying spill he took in 2007. “I flatlined and died four 

times in my coma,” LeVan tells the camera, matter-of-factly. redbull.com 

17 

September 

NEW YORK FILM 

FESTIVAL 

In the throes of a global pandemic, 

the NYFF team quickly pivoted its 

setup to accommodate for drive-in 

screenings and virtual press passes 

for its 58th installment. According to 

programming director Dennis Lim, 

this year’s slate focuses on answering 

one question: Which films matter to 

us right now? Headliners include 

Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock (right), 

Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland and Azazel 

Jacobs’ French Exit. Thru October 11; 

filmlinc.org/nyff2020 

Available 

now 

OPEN THE 

DOORS 

This documentary 

was intended to be a 

celebration of a newly 

minted F1 race team 

—Scuderia AlphaTauri, 

formerly Toro Rosso. 

But, following the 

cancellation of the 

Australian Grand Prix 

in March, it became 

an unprecedented 

glimpse into the 

mindset of an F1 

team during 

lockdown, and their 

eventual debut at the 

Austrian GP in July. 

redbull.com 

86 THE RED BULLETIN

Calendar 

CHRIS RYE, SANTA POD, RED BULL CONTENT POOL, DESIGN MUSEUM, NICK PUMPHREY, MARGUS RIGA 

8November 

RED BULL 

SOLO Q 

After kicking off 

this summer, the 

global gaming 

extravaganza comes 

to a head in the U.S. in 

November before the 

world finals. The event 

is the official 1v1 

League of Legends 

tournament for 

gamers, with more 

than 35 countries 

participating. For the 

online competition, the 

leaderboard activation 

can only be accessed 

through a Red Bull 

Solo Q Limited Edition 

can. redbull.com 

25 

October 

RED BULL 

BASEMENT 

If you’re a student with 

an innovative idea that 

could enact positive 

change in the world, 

this global tech project 

is providing an outlet. 

Get your application in 

by October 25, and the 

selected winners will 

receive mentoring, 

workspace and microfunding 

to help realize 

their idea, before 

showcasing it at a 

global workshop 

in December. 

redbull.com 

Available 

now 

A LAND 

SHAPED 

BY WOMEN 

Freeride snowboarders 

Anne-Flore Marxer and 

Aline Bock spent a winter 

making this film—set in 

the inspiring landscape of 

Iceland, a country ranked 

top for gender equality by 

the World Economic Forum 

11 years running—about the 

push for equal rights in a 

sport historically dominated 

by men. redbull.com 

Available 

now 

RETURN 

TO EARTH 

This year will likely be most 

remembered for long 

periods spent indoors. 

Thank goodness, then, for 

this cathartic bike movie, 

which celebrates the 

feeling of just letting time 

fly and enjoying it. Filmed 

in stunning locations 

worldwide—from the 

deserts of Utah to the 

mountains of Patagonia— 

and featuring the kinetic 

skills of riders including 

Brett Rheeder, Thomas 

Vanderham and Casey 

Brown, this cinematic 

journey will help you 

reconnect with nature 

or, at the very least, make 

killing time at home more 

enjoyable. redbull.com 

THE RED BULLETIN 87

MOUNTAIN 

MAGIC 

This winter’s coolest new gear for skiers, 

snowboarders and backcountry adventurers. 

Words KELLY BASTONE and JOE LINDSEY 

You’ll appreciate 

the stretch of 

Black Diamond’s 

Dawn Patrol Hybrid 

Pants when you’re 

tackling a steep 

uphill pitch.

G U I D E 

BACKCOUNTRY GEAR 

BLACK DIAMOND DAWN PATROL 

HYBRID PANTS 

Breathable soft-shell fabric with four-way stretch 

minimizes clamminess and provides freedom of 

movement for bootpacking up steep pitches. 

Fabric on the thighs and cuffs is reinforced with 

a proprietary membrane that is less stretchy but 

more protective: Even wet snow won’t soak 

through, due in part to the Empel DWR treatment 

that’s sustainably produced and contains no 

toxic PFCs. $299; blackdiamondequipment.com 

DPS PAGODA TOUR 100 RP SKIS 

DPS’s carbon laminates make for super light skis, 

but the Pagoda Tour’s construction of ash and 

paulownia, sandwiched with strips of aerospace 

foam, dampens chatter on hard snow without 

sacrificing power; it holds its own against heavier 

skis and climbs like a ski-mo lightweight. Tip: 

Order it with DPS’s Phantom, a semi-permanent 

waxless base treatment that offers great glide 

with almost no maintenance. $1,300 (+ $150 for 

Phantom base treatment); dpsskis.com 

SCARPA F1 LT BOOTS 

Torn between light weight for the uphills and 

power for turns? These boots are Scarpa’s nocompromise 

answer. The no-friction walk mode 

borrowed from its ultralight Alien touring boot 

offers range of motion for comfortable uphilling. 

A custom-moldable liner and Boa closure 

prevent hot-spot blisters and cold toes. Ready to 

rip? Three forward lean angles, a burly power 

strap and the carbon-Grilamid cuff offer lateral 

power with precise control. $800; scarpa.com 

SPYDER SANCTION GTX PRO 

Extremely breathable yet rugged enough for 

daily wear, the Sanction (and women’s Solitaire) 

combines multiple Gore-Tex fabrics: Pro-Shell 

Stretch on the front and arms feels unconfining, 

while everywhere else, standard Pro Shell 

delivers lightweight durability. Two internal drop 

pockets secure even extra-wide skins, and the 

Solitaire (designed with pro Amie Engerbretson) 

includes a zippered vent on the collar to keep 

goggles from fogging. $750; spyder.com 

STANLEY STAY-HOT TITANIUM 

TRAVEL MUG 

Slim and ultralight, this leakproof travel mug 

claims precious little space in your pack and 

weighs just 8 oz. But its double-walled vacuum 

insulation keeps beverages hot for up to four 

hours—and on a cold, wintry tour, sipping a 

steaming drink can mean the difference between 

pressing on and retreating home. Not too big or 

small, the 14 oz. capacity is just right. $100; 

stanley-pmi.com 

OSPREY SOPRIS/SOELDEN PACKS 

With women’s (Sopris 30-l) and men’s (Soelden 

32-l) designs, Osprey’s first airbag packs feature 

plenty of thoughtful touches: a cavernous main 

compartment; attachment loops for everything 

from ice axes to skis and boards, even sleds; and 

Osprey’s comfortable, secure harness. Alpride’s 

electronic E1 airbag system has simple 

rechargeable capacitors for fast inflation and 

auto-test LED indicators to constantly monitor 

the system. $1,200; ospreypacks.com 

The rugged, versatile Spyder Sanction and 

Solitaire integrate multiple Gore-Tex fabrics. 

THE RED BULLETIN 89

G U I D E 

SNOWBOARD GEAR 

PICTURE ORGANIC DEMAIN JACKET 

Until now, you had a choice for technical shells: 

high-performance or eco-friendly. The Demain’s 

solvent- and PFC-free Xpore technology is half 

the weight of competing waterproof/breathable 

membranes but performs just as well. The shell 

fabric is made of a blend of sugarcane waste and 

recycled polyester, with technical features like a 

powder skirt, pit zips and ergonomic hood. You’ll 

stay dry and warm, while helping keep winters 

cold. $500; picture-organic-clothing.com 

BURTON WOMEN’S GORE-TEX 

AVALON BIB PANT 

Always a great-fitting bib—because Burton sinks 

major R&D into designing pants for women—the 

uninsulated Avalon now features two-layer Gore- 

Tex for extra durability and waterproofing. Pores 

in the lining open to release excess heat but 

close when the body cools, perfect for stop-andgo 

activities like resort snowboarding. The dropseat 

construction lets you answer nature’s call 

without removing your jacket. $300; burton.com 

JONES STRATOS 

With equal abilities on hardpack and in the 

backcountry, the limited-edition Stratos defies 

easy categorization. The narrow sidecut and 

basalt stringers help keep the edge locked in 

while carving corduroy, but the directional shape 

that tapers to the rear and a setback stance 

option offer exceptional float for deep natural 

snow. Most hybrid boards aim for capable 

performance in all conditions, but the Stratos 

achieves mastery. $580; jonessnowboards.com 

K2 CLICKER X HB BINDINGS 

The original step-in bindings were finicky, but the 

concept is irresistible: Just step in and slide for a 

secure, slop-free connection to the board that no 

strap binding can match. K2’s Clicker X HB has 

an intuitive toe-first step-in, a large platform for 

fast edge-to-edge response, and a stiff nylon 

highback for extra ankle support. Tool-free 

adjustable lean angle lets you dial in your 

position. Pair with K2 Maysis Clicker X HB boots 

for the full package. $250; k2snow.com 

BURTON ANON WM3 GOGGLES 

Smaller faces shouldn’t mean a smaller view. 

These women’s goggles feature cylindrical lens 

technology for distortion-free vision at every 

angle in a size and shape that fits smaller heads. 

The Magna-Tech interchangeable lens system 

uses 14 powerful magnets for a secure hold and 

a fast, tool-free swap. Ingeniously, the magnets 

pair with compatible MFI Facewarmers for an 

airtight seal against the elements. $230 

(includes two lenses); burton.com 

GIRO GRID/ENVI HELMET 

Giro’s lightest helmets yet at 14 oz., the Grid 

(men’s) and Envi (women’s) are stylish, comfy— 

and don’t skimp on protection. It starts with 

MIPS Spherical, which features a ball-and-socket 

system of concentric spheres of EPP foam that 

slide against each other to protect the brain from 

rotational impact energy. The helmet also offers 

a cozy Polartec padded liner, adjustable venting 

and compatibility with Giro-branded Outdoor 

Tech audio systems. $280; giro.com 

The WM3 goggles are made to fit smaller heads 

and have an ingenious magnet system for lenses. 

90 THE RED BULLETIN

The Arbor Veda is 

ready to rip all 

over the mountain 

and has a great 

sustainability 

story, too. 

ARBOR VEDA SNOWBOARD 

Nimble enough for freestyle and burly enough 

for big lines, the Veda feels at home all over 

the mountain, just like its designer: pro rider 

Marie-France Roy. Arbor’s Grip Tech sidecut 

design puts power under your feet for precise 

edge control, while subtle angled riser sections 

at tip and tail pull contact zones slightly off the 

surface for a less-grabby feel. Roy’s climateactivist 

role comes into play, too, with FSCcertified 

wood cores, recycled steel edges 

and bio-resin laminate construction. 

$500; arborcollective.com

Tweaked this year, 

the acclaimed 

Enforcer is lighter 

and more playful— 

and just as 

powerful as ever. 

NORDICA ENFORCER 100 SKIS 

As a perennial “best of test” pick, you’d think 

Nordica would leave the acclaimed Enforcer 

alone. The latest tinkering makes the new 

version lighter (9 lbs., 5 oz. per pair), but what 

matters is where: Trimming heavy plastic in 

the tips lowers swing weight for quicker turn 

initiation, and lets Nordica extend the wood/ 

carbon hybrid core further along the board 

length for a more playful feel. At 100 mm 

underfoot, it’s equally at home slashing 

grooves on fresh-laid groomers or blasting 

through powder and chop in the bowls. 

$850; nordica.com

G U I D E 

SKI GEAR 

Ski 

Accessories 

ARC’TERYX CASSIAR LT JACKET 

Lined with brushed flannel, the Cassiar LT (and 

women’s Ravenna LT) delivers a bit of warmth on 

chilly lift rides, yet the lightweight fabric and 

streamlined tailoring keep pace on aggressive 

descents. Pit zips dump heat, a powder skirt 

seals out deep drifts, and three-layer Gore-Tex 

will remain waterproof for years. Smart seaming, 

with articulated elbows and gusseted 

underarms, offers freedom of movement and 

keeps the fit trim and sleek. $599; arcteryx.com 

STIO ALPINER HOODED JACKET 

The Polartec Alpha Active technology inside this 

hardworking midlayer is spooky good at keeping 

you comfortable. The airy, lofted insulation 

provides warmth without bulk and pulls moisture 

away from your body. The result: You stay warm 

and dry whether you’re bashing moguls at full 

blast or hunkered down on a long lift ride. With 

a generous hood, full-zip front and men’s and 

women’s styles, it also makes a great shell layer 

for high-energy winter sports. $289; stio.com 

Hydaway Collapsible 

Water Bottle 

The size of a hockey puck when 

empty, this light silicone bottle tucks 

neatly into a jacket pocket and offers 

a more sustainable alternative to the 

single-use plastic cups that skiers 

find at lodges’ water stations. Instead 

of drinking from those one-and-done 

vessels, just expand this 25 oz., BPAfree 

bottle and fill ’er up. $30; 

myhydaway.com 

Atomic 

Connected Straps 

These data trackers attach to boots’ 

power straps to analyze skiers’ turns, 

calculating such metrics as edge 

angle, arc shape, pressure control and 

G-forces. Results are reported via 

Atomic’s Connected App, which skiers 

can use to evaluate their technique 

and compare it against users 

worldwide. $499; atomic.com 

BLIZZARD BLACK PEARL 88 SKIS 

The world’s top-selling women’s ski was 

redesigned this year to keep its easy-turning 

likability—while expanding its ferocity. All six 

lengths (from 147 cm to 177 cm) feature a new 

beech-and-poplar core that’s optimized for every 

size, so each model delivers a progressive flex 

and solid edge hold. That gives the Black Pearl 

more high-speed stability, yet the tip and tail are 

soft enough for easygoing maneuvers. Fast or 

slow, this ski obliges. $780; blizzardsports.com 

SALOMON SHIFT PRO 130 BOOTS 

Here’s a Goldilocks option for resort skiers who 

tour beyond the lifts: The Shift Pro 130 (and 

women’s Shift Pro 110 W) is light enough for 

uphilling but burly enough for uninhibited 

descents. Credit the Coreframe construction, 

which sandwiches super-stiff carbon between 

weight-saving polyamide. The heat-moldable 

shell and liner ensure a blister-free fit, and thin 

soles allow for solid power transmission from 

boots to skis. $850-$975; salomon.com 

The Shift Pro is a Goldilocks option for 

resort skiers who tour beyond the lifts. 

POC Cornea Solar 

Switch Goggles 

Many lenses with transitional tints 

that fade in dim light require seconds 

(even minutes) to adapt to changing 

conditions. But the Solar Switch 

instantly adjusts its light transmission 

and lets skiers zoom between sunny 

slopes and shady glades. Solar energy 

powers a liquid crystal technology 

that’s layered between the antiscratch, 

anti-fog lenses. $450; 

pocsports.com 

THE RED BULLETIN 93

WILD CHEERS 

This rugged barware is as dapper as it is durable, whether you’re 

enjoying a good drink in the backcountry or your backyard. 

Words JOE LINDSEY 

The Camelback 

Horizon Wine 

Tumbler is 

designed to bring 

joy to outdoorsy 

wine snobs. 

CAMELBAK HORIZON WINE 

TUMBLER 

Don’t use just any tumbler for vino; the 12 oz. 

Horizon’s curved interior wall mimics the bowl 

shape of a good wine glass to concentrate the 

aromas and flavors of your favorite vintages. 

The no-slip silicone base pad and adjustable 

slider lid reduce the chance of splashes and 

spills. Stainless-steel construction is 

dishwasher safe and keeps even delicate whites 

at a constant temperature. $25; camelbak.com

G U I D E 

YETI COLSTER CAN INSULATOR 

Skip the flimsy neoprene koozie for this 

superior option. The double-wall vacuum 

insulation keeps drinks cold for hours, with no 

messy condensation to slick your hands. The 

stainless-steel construction is durable, dent 

resistant and dishwasher safe. It comes in a 

rainbow of colors to mix and match, and three 

sizes that fit everything from conventional 12 

oz. brews to slim seltzers to tall 16-ounce cans. 

$25-$30; yeti.com 

OTTERBOX ELEVATION 36 GROWLER 

This slim growler is the ideal companion when 

you’re on the move. The 36 oz. capacity is perfect 

for pouring a cold, frosty brew for yourself and 

a friend or two post-adventure. Vacuum-sealed 

insulation and a copper lining keeps beer or 

other drinks cold for hours, and the screw-top lid 

is leak free and can be clipped to a pack for easy 

carrying. The stainless-steel construction with 

optional powdercoat finishes will offer years of 

dependable use. $45; otterbox.com 

COLEMAN SUNDOWNER 

ROCKS GLASS 

Have whiskey on the rocks—on the rocks—with 

this stout tumbler. The insulated stainless-steel 

construction keeps ice cold up to nine hours 

with no slippery condensation on the outside. 

A generous 13 oz. capacity works for straight 

pours or cocktails, and the slidable plastic lid and 

rubberized bottom pad add security for unstable 

surfaces. Also makes an ideal coffee mug for 

lazy weekend mornings. $15; coleman.com 

HYDRO FLASK INSULATED 

WINE BOTTLE 

Take wine for the picnic without worrying 

about fragile glass bottles thanks to this 

tall 25 oz. tumbler with a leakproof lid. 

The generous size will hold a full 750 ml. of 

your favorite wine. Double-wall insulation 

keeps your Fruiliano at a constant chill, and 

the BPA-free stainless steel won’t pick up 

flavors from previous use. 

$45; hydroflask.com 

KLEAN KANTEEN COCKTAIL KIT 

Bring your own portable party with this 

sweet cocktail kit. The 32 oz. mixer has doublewall 

vacuum construction and features a 

cap with a pour-through setting for perfect 

pours. Two insulated 8 oz. tumblers keep frozen 

drinks cold for hours (lids help prevent spills), 

and the four-pack of 10 oz. stainless tumblers 

(single-wall) let you share your latest cocktail 

creation with even more friends. $106; 

kleankanteen.com 

GROWLERWERKS UKEG GROWLER 

The problem with growlers—even the tightest 

lid can’t prevent the fizz and freshness from 

escaping eventually. The uKeg solves that with 

an automatic pressurization system using simple 

CO 2 

cartridges. Just fill and pressurize for 64 oz. 

of fresh, perfectly carbonated beer for up to two 

weeks (it’s fridge safe). A pressure gauge and 

sight glass help monitor vital signs, all in a 

striking steampunk style in stainless or copper 

finishes. $159-$179; growlerwerks.com 

The uKeg growler can keep beer perfectly 

carbonated for up to two weeks. 

THE RED BULLETIN 95

GLOBAL TEAM 

THE RED 

BULLETIN 

WORLDWIDE 

The Red Bulletin 

is published 

in six countries. The 

cover of this month’s 

German edition features 

actor Daniel Brühl 

(Rush), who currently 

stars on TNT’s The 

Alienist: Angel of 

Darkness. 

For more stories beyond 

the ordinary, go to 

redbulletin.com. 

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THE RED BULLETIN USA, Vol 10 

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Florian Obkircher 

Chief Sub-Editor 

Davydd Chong 

Publishing Manager 

Ollie Stretton 


Mark Bishop, 

mark.bishop@redbull.com 

Fabienne Peters, 

fabienne.peters@redbull.com 

96 THE RED BULLETIN

STAND 

FOR YOUR 

PLAYGROUND 

Join the #outdoorstate 

and make a plan to vote. 

makeadamnplan.org

Action highlight 

All flip, no flop 

In case you couldn’t tell, Dimitris Kyrsanidis loves the beach. “The San Blas Islands 

[in Panama] were one of a kind,” says the Greek freerunner. This parkour project, 

shot on the tropical coast of Central America in February this year, was titled 

From the Office to the After Office. Fortunately, Kyrsanidis’s line of business 

doesn’t require a suit. Watch him in action at redbull.com. 

The next 

issue of 


is out on 

November 17. 

EDUARDO VASQUEZ/RED BULL CONTENT POOL 

98 THE RED BULLETIN

ADIDAS.COM/FIVETEN 

DARREN BERRECLOTH WEARING THE TRAILCROSS 

LOCATION: ZION, UT

The Red Bulletin Oct/Nov 2020 (US)

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