Guest Blogger #6: Erin Ashley

She.is.the.real.deal. (Was that enough periods to make my point?)

Erin Ashley is simply remarkable. I'm not only speaking of her surfing. I'm talking about the person both in and out of the water. She's a woman who says what she means and means what she says. Her recent interview with Liquid Salt was pretty damn amazing. What readers didn't see was the portion of the interview where she talked at length about her experiences in NOLA after Katrina. This chica pulled no punches. That is so typical of Worm. She tells it like it is whether you like it or not. Ain't no shame in her game. Her surfing? Well, in a word, astounding. You'd think someone who surfs that well would be full of herself, dropping in on everyone and cursing out those she deems kooks. Wrong. Worm is a sweetheart. She, like me, believes you're supposed to go out there and have some fun. And that she does. That's the kind of surfer I respect most: smart, humble, polite and always wearing a smile.

She's been doing a Kerouac thing of late. Here is what she wrote for this blog as a result:

we are very lucky human beings indeed. Fortunate enough to be born in a country where possibilities are endless and we are never ready to settle for the status quo. Where we don't have to travel to a foreign land for a better life. It is all theoretically within our reach as long as we are willing to stretch them. Unfortunately i feel we are taught from a younger age that while it is within our reach we cannot all achieve this goal. that only some will succeed and the others will have not tried hard enough. this eventually fills us with indifference for others plights.

i have seen this biproduct first hand. I saw the worst of what we can do to one another. How deep the trenches of apathy can reach. Saw what death and despair in the flesh combined with our collective indifference has allowed. I've buried those memories.

I consider myself fortunate though because before these trips i never knew how important the word thank you was until i was thanked for giving someone hope. I discovered listening to someones story can remind them that we all matter. that we all yearn to be heard and none of us deserve to be forgotten. I was reminded that people will help people because in the end we are all in this together. i saw the true beauty of mankind.


what you do today is itself the extent of revolution. It's limits and its triumph
-???