Recruit From The Ramp
I think I might have just solved the nationwide worker shortage. Hop in your hooptie and gun it to a nearby skatepark. I’m serious.
Jerry Seinfeld said, “When a skateboarder is learning how to do a trick, how many times do they have to get it wrong to get it right? You get hurt, but you learn how to do that trick no matter how long it takes. You’ve got a life lesson here. Anytime I see those kids I think they’ll be alright.” The late writer Glenn O’Brien said, “Skateboarding attracts creative, multi-disciplinary, free thinking, creative people.” Shepard Fairey, one of the pioneers of modern street art, said, “Skateboarding is pretty much the fountain from which my art has sprung. Skateboarding you do by yourself. It’s really creative.”
I know a lot of these kids. We helped create the Holyoke skatepark and I’ve stood for hours in the cold weather waiting for my son Jake to land a trick. He won’t leave until he does it. Skateboarding is hard work. These kids have grit and that is really missing today. People with grit succeed. These kids can go long hours. They shovel the park in the winter and sweep it clean in the summer. Yeah, they might speak and dress differently, but that’s rebellious cool, Jack.
In this month’s Thrasher Magazine they profile skaters with jobs. There are firefighters, set designers, scientists, comedians, D.C. lobbyists, FBI agents, neurosurgeons, lab techs—and they all still skate.
Right now Tyler the Creator, a skateboarder, fashion designer and recording artist, has the number-one tune on the Billboard Magazine Album Chart. Tyler has been a skater since he was a kid. I’m telling you, skateparks are the real talent pools. Hire one and through their network they’ll ID others. Keep your dukes up.