'Word Is, You Look for the Kids'

Why this Narratively contributor's most ambitious project was also one of the most emotionally trying.

Photo by Jonathan Weiskopf

When I first heard from Hamilton Harris, after a friend had told him to contact me for my story “Legends Never Die,” all his email said was, “Word is, you look for the 'KIDS.'”

That was the buzz among the kids from the movie Kids: I was looking for the skateboarders and downtown Manhattan youth whose lives became immortalized in the 1995 cult classic film by Harmony Korine and Larry Clark.

Hamilton, a kid from Kids, now lives in the Netherlands. His email became my reporting mantra, a trope repeating in my head, in the lively, genuine voice he presented during our Skype interview. The essence of this skateboarding brotherhood seemed grounded in Hamilton. Yet, even as Hamilton unwittingly became a kind of guardian angel for me, guiding me through the story, it felt devastating that much of his interview didn’t end up in the actual article. I continue to hope that he is in there, albeit in between the lines.

Similarly, I inserted a piece of myself into the article…