There are literally millions of articles, books, videos, podcasts and pieces of art dedicated to the ideas surrounding death and dying. But I’d wager a large fortune that very few of them give a perspective of death and dying through the lens of a skateboarder. This book aims to do just that - or at least start a conversation or two.
Firstly, I am by no means an expert in skateboarding, but I enjoy it immensely. I’ve been joyfully riding since 1975 and pride myself on riding all types of terrain with all types of boards. I enjoy street, vert, transition, longboarding, freestyle and I’ll even run slalom cones. My journey writing about skateboarding started in 1995 with this article: https://www.dansworld.com/michael.html.
Dansworld was one of the first websites on skateboarding and I was fortunate to be able to write about my experiences. Full disclosure: I got the date wrong (I started riding in 1975, not 1976) but everything else is pretty much spot on. The site inspired me to create my own website. I called it The SkateGeezer Homepage. Its aim was to publicize older skateboarders and get them thinking about the nostalgic side of riding. Visit the page, if you dare, but I warn you, the graphics are pretty brutal. Then again what do you expect, it was created over 25 years ago!
http://www.interlog.com/~mbrooke/skategeezer.html
The SkateGeezer Homepage led to a book contract and in 1999, The Concrete Wave (the history of skateboarding) was published. It sold 42,000 copies and launched a 52 part TV series. After this, I launched International Longboarder Magazine in the summer of 1999. This magazine eventually became Concrete Wave and I published and edited it until the summer of 2018. Here’s a collection of issues: https://issuu.com/concretewave.
I decided to sell the magazine, it was because I felt that it was time to do something else. Originally, I thought I’d move into working at a non-profit. It turned out that my life was going to go in a different direction. I wound up answering a job advertisement at a local funeral home. I had done some volunteer work at a nearby hospice and retirement home. After my interview, they asked me to come in for a day to try things. This was late June of 2018, and something about the job felt right.
So, for the last three years or so, I’ve been working as a funeral director’s assistant. It was quite a transition from publishing. I pretty much do everything but arrange funerals. From premature babies to those over 100 years old, I’ve experienced death up close and personal. I’ve done dozens of house calls to transfer the deceased back to our funeral home and assisted at well over 500 funerals.
It’s been over three years since I wrote about skateboarding and over 25 years since I connected with Dansworld to write my first piece. It feels wonderful to be writing again.
I want to thank my family, My wife Michal, daughter Maya and sons Jonthan and Ethan. They have been incredibly supportive of everything I’ve done. They’ve also been monumentally patient and understanding too. Without them, I’d be nowhere. I’d also like to thank Nathan Ho for inspiring me and being a catalyst for me to start writing again.
My hope is that this book inspires my fellow skateboarders to think about death and dying from a different perspective - a perspective that is uniquely ours. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
Balancing the Risk vs Reward
Think about the first time you stepped on a board. Were you a little bit scared or anxious? Chances are you might have had some trepidation, but it was mitigated by the sheer joy and freedom you saw other skaters experiencing and you wanted some of that! So, you took a chance, jumped on the board and were hopefully rewarded.
It is not just a question of balancing on a skateboard, but how you balance the risk vs the reward. Skateboarders know that falling can produce painful and sometimes lethal consequences. But all those worries and fears are cast aside for the reward that is riding.
Now think about the first time you learned to drop in on mini-ramp or bowl. Again, you probably felt a little anxious but knew instinctively that the reward would be truly worthwhile. It is the combination of risk vs reward that forms the first part of a skater's lens and we carry this throughout our life.
What I have learned in my 57 years of living and 46 years of riding a skateboard, is that sometimes, you have to jump right in, despite the difficulty or risk. Built into the DNA of skateboarding is risk and I know for a fact that it has changed the way I look at death and dying. While it can be risky to skateboard, I feel that the greater risk is not living a fulfilling, joyful life.
The countless hours spent with friends skateboarding create a unique bond. Sure, there are times you are competing in a game of skate or who can go the fastest down a hill, but mostly the ride is the reward. Think of the road trips you’ve been on with your fellow skaters. That first push can lead to a lifetime of freedom and exploration. For me, skateboarding was a catalyst to lead me to people, music, art and ideas that I normally wouldn’t have discovered. The more you commit, the greater the reward.
Skateboarders know all about quality time - especially if you’re living in a climate that is not sunny all the time. We cherish the opportunity to ride with friends. But most importantly, we value the time put into riding a skateboard. We know that at any moment, a pebble, car or crack in the pavement could stop us in our tracks.
When I attend a funeral, I can tell almost immediately what kind of eulogies I will hear. If the family is tight knit and supportive of one another, the eulogies will often be about the time the person put into people. While hearing about a person’s business or academic accomplishments can be impressive, it is the anecdotes about the time spent with family and friends that really leave an impression on me. I have never once heard “I wish my father would have spent less time with us” or “I wish my mom would have spent more time at the office.”
Ultimately, life is about balance. If you are obsessed with skateboarding to the point that it leaves you penniless, you’ve gone too far. Conversely, there are so many millions of people afraid to take that first push or to “drop in.” They firmly believe that life is scary and meant to be cautiously navigated. Their fears can lead to frustration, anger and depression. It makes for a joyless life. Skateboarding has a magical way of creating a sense of freedom in your mind. Once your mind is free, anything is possible. Afterall, you have a 100% chance of dying. The question is what are you going to do about it?