Look Back Library

By Chloe McDonald

The Success Lab brought Next Up to the next level, and it didn’t take long to feel like home.  An inviting environment has formed inside our headquarters, with comfy couches, busy kids, and colorful walls full of student artwork and signed skateboards.  The most recent addition to our collection of resources is our very own Look Back Library.  Thanks to the efforts of non-profit founder Kevin Marks to preserve this integral element of skateboarding culture and history, Next Up participants now have access to a thorough collection of skateboarding media.

The life and career of Kevin Marks has been intertwined with skateboarding since childhood.  He bought his very first Thrasher Magazine (Mark Gonzalez beanplant) in September 1986, marking the beginning of his fascination with the skateboarding magazine.  After college, Marks worked in sales for skate companies until leaving to pursue travel and filmmaking.  His 1999 skate film The Four Corners Tour led to the birth of a distribution company, Overboard Enterprises, which he owned and operated until 2013.  The skateboarding entrepreneur later joined the forces with a non-profit organization called LAUNCH where his idea for the Look Back Library would come to fruition.

Marks began developing relationships with magazine collectors around the country during a project with LAUNCH.  Eventually, Marks explained in an interview with Next Up, “the idea came to me that I could potentially turn this kind of work into its own non-profit, and I’ve been developing the idea ever since.”  Look Back Libraries have popped up across the country, full all sorts of vintage and contemporary skateboarding media being saved from dumpsters and dusty basements nationwide.

Like many young skaters back then, reading a magazine was THE way to learn about what was going on inside skate culture.  Thirty-one years later, Marks is still fond of them and continues his collection today.  “I’m nostalgic for the way things were.  When I look at a mag from the 80’s now, it takes me back to that time…I enjoy taking those trips back in time.”

These days “reading” a magazine isn’t quite the same – editorials are cut shorter and more emphasis is placed on photo spreads and advertising.  Good writing is neglected in contemporary skateboarding journalism.  With the rise of the internet, kids get their skateboarding education mostly through video clips on social media without ever having to readmuch more than post comments online.  It is the mission of both Next Up Foundation and Look Back Library to fight Illiteracy, and reading is yet another way to connect youth to education through skateboarding.

Marks makes regular visits to the Next Up headquarters to restock the collection and learn how our kids are utilizing it.  Students take turns holding the position of library monitor, responsible for maintaining the sorting, checking in and out, and proper handling of library materials.  Aside from leisurely reading, our students make use of the library to conduct research, write, and even do art projects.  With the Success Lab’s very own Look Back Library, participants at Next Up have “history lessons at their fingertips,” says Marks.  He hopes that our students will be excited about learning from the past, just as he did as a young skateboarder. 

It goes without saying that we are grateful to Kevin Marks for his contribution to Next Up Foundation.  We are proud of our friend’s commitment to serving the skateboarding community through the preservation of history and support of youth education.  Thank you, Mark!