What's going on?
Through the crowd funding site, Rock the Post, I'm organizing a book tour to get into these very issues. Click here to check out my campaign. Scroll below for a taste.
Deviant Journalism
If you’re like most Americans, you see the Middle East as an impossible place that is beyond all reasonable hope of understanding. The politics are as much of a turn off as the stories on any major news sites you check with your morning coffee.
Simply, I believe in the power of connecting with people through common interests. Which is why the first thing I did out of college—after not finding a job—was pitch a freelance assignment to the Surfer’s Journal to experience the Middle East through surfing.
With this unlikely approach, I was able to dive deeper into the big stories of Middle East than I ever thought possible. And because of this surfer-journalist duality, the whole adventure called for using a tone and vocabulary that is as serious as it is deviant; it literally matches combustibility of surfing and the Middle East.
Now, I’m back in California (still surfing) and spent the last two years writing and producing the hardcover book, eBook, and iPad app. But the job is not done yet. I want to redouble my efforts and make sure that the powerful, humanizing message of my work connects with the American public.
I want to add 3 more months to my marketing campaign to get this important story out.
The Mission
Simply, I want to connect with people about the concept of my work: taking a seemingly impossible situation and applying a seemingly irrelevant approach.
Goals to accomplish on this media tour:
- Entertain people through telling real, human stories
- Share innovation in approach—surfing and the Middle East!?
- Awaken American curiosity about the Middle East
- Educate through visual art—in book and iPad app
- Be a constructive news force in the world
So, what’s the status?
When I set out to surf the Middle East I knew I wanted to write a raw book that was filled with savage humor, meaningful travel narrative, and lots of pictures! I founded Casbah Publishing, and funded it through a private loan. In the initial budget, I planned for a 3-month marketing campaign, targeted at big media.
Already, Surfing the Middle East has been featured on four national TV outlets, Outside Magazine, the Huffington Post, and more. With this momentum, the next media blitz can only get better. Let’s make the change we want happen in the world.
TV
AOL's You've Got - http://aol.it/Tofxq4
MSNBC's NOW: with Alex Wagner -http://nbcnews.to/Ox1nyy
MSNBC's The Cycle -http://nbcnews.to/OwXqs5
Surfrider’s Int Surfing Day -http://bit.ly/NONzT8
TRANSWORLD: w/Chris Cote - to be released
Online
Outside Magazine -http://bit.ly/MDP4jN
Huffington Post -http://huff.to/NFIIA4
War is Boring -http://bit.ly/LJoX8y
Fair Observer -http://bit.ly/PN9w0Z(Six part series)
TourdeFit -http://bit.ly/LWaA1A
Useful Links
Casbah Publishing -http://bit.ly/qUGqLs
BloggingtheCasbah –http://bloggingthecasbah.com/
Surfing the Middle East
Hardcover book -http://amzn.to/Mqhe4M
eBook -http://amzn.to/Nluura
iPad app - http://bit.ly/dLUThL (made FREE for this campaign!)
The Journey (inside copy from Surfing the Middle East)
Major in political science. Graduate with honors. Fail to find a job. Go surfing in the Middle East.
Rogue journalist and self-admitted California wave junky Jesse Aizenstat couldn't find a real job after college. But his two passions, Middle East politics and surfing, seemed like a good fit for a freelance gig. What the hell? Why not surf from Israel to Lebanon?
His Jewish background may have earned him a free flight to Israel, but it wouldn't give him a pass to surf in Hezbollah-controlled South Lebanon. Even navigating the tangled towns and streets of his ancestral homeland wouldn't be a cakewalk. But then again, this dyslexic writer with a lust for annoying truths wasn't looking for easy, he was looking for real.
From Day One, the signs of violent conflict were everywhere: rocket craters, barbed wire, tear-gassed protesters, gunfire, and night patrols. But finding a shoreline touched by the best swell in the Med proved a welcoming counterpoint to the tension. Trouble is, peace, like riding a perfect wave, never lasts long. Turns out you can't just surf from Israel to Lebanon. You gotta take an air/land route. Over an inland desert. Through freaking Syria.
Other than hatred, the same surf report, and the desire to blow each other to smithereens, Israel and Lebanon seem to share little else. Like Aizenstat, they are political, cultural, and generational misfits in search of control over their identities and destinies. The author calls 'em like he sees 'em, and goes along for the ride. It gets a little deviant, a little insane, a little frightening, but in the end is fully satisfying. You couldn't ask for a better ride.
If you’re like most Americans, you see the Middle East as an impossible place that is beyond all reasonable hope of understanding. The politics are as much of a turn off as the stories on any major news sites you check with your morning coffee.
Simply, I believe in the power of connecting with people through common interests. Which is why the first thing I did out of college—after not finding a job—was pitch a freelance assignment to the Surfer’s Journal to experience the Middle East through surfing.
With this unlikely approach, I was able to dive deeper into the big stories of Middle East than I ever thought possible. And because of this surfer-journalist duality, the whole adventure called for using a tone and vocabulary that is as serious as it is deviant; it literally matches combustibility of surfing and the Middle East.
Now, I’m back in California (still surfing) and spent the last two years writing and producing the hardcover book, eBook, and iPad app. But the job is not done yet. I want to redouble my efforts and make sure that the powerful, humanizing message of my work connects with the American public.
I want to add 3 more months to my marketing campaign to get this important story out.
The Mission
Simply, I want to connect with people about the concept of my work: taking a seemingly impossible situation and applying a seemingly irrelevant approach.
Goals to accomplish on this media tour:
- Entertain people through telling real, human stories
- Share innovation in approach—surfing and the Middle East!?
- Awaken American curiosity about the Middle East
- Educate through visual art—in book and iPad app
- Be a constructive news force in the world
So, what’s the status?
When I set out to surf the Middle East I knew I wanted to write a raw book that was filled with savage humor, meaningful travel narrative, and lots of pictures! I founded Casbah Publishing, and funded it through a private loan. In the initial budget, I planned for a 3-month marketing campaign, targeted at big media.
Already, Surfing the Middle East has been featured on four national TV outlets, Outside Magazine, the Huffington Post, and more. With this momentum, the next media blitz can only get better. Let’s make the change we want happen in the world.
TV
AOL's You've Got - http://aol.it/Tofxq4
MSNBC's NOW: with Alex Wagner -http://nbcnews.to/Ox1nyy
MSNBC's The Cycle -http://nbcnews.to/OwXqs5
Surfrider’s Int Surfing Day -http://bit.ly/NONzT8
TRANSWORLD: w/Chris Cote - to be released
Online
Outside Magazine -http://bit.ly/MDP4jN
Huffington Post -http://huff.to/NFIIA4
War is Boring -http://bit.ly/LJoX8y
Fair Observer -http://bit.ly/PN9w0Z(Six part series)
TourdeFit -http://bit.ly/LWaA1A
Useful Links
Casbah Publishing -http://bit.ly/qUGqLs
BloggingtheCasbah –http://bloggingthecasbah.com/
Surfing the Middle East
Hardcover book -http://amzn.to/Mqhe4M
eBook -http://amzn.to/Nluura
iPad app - http://bit.ly/dLUThL (made FREE for this campaign!)
The Journey (inside copy from Surfing the Middle East)
Major in political science. Graduate with honors. Fail to find a job. Go surfing in the Middle East.
Rogue journalist and self-admitted California wave junky Jesse Aizenstat couldn't find a real job after college. But his two passions, Middle East politics and surfing, seemed like a good fit for a freelance gig. What the hell? Why not surf from Israel to Lebanon?
His Jewish background may have earned him a free flight to Israel, but it wouldn't give him a pass to surf in Hezbollah-controlled South Lebanon. Even navigating the tangled towns and streets of his ancestral homeland wouldn't be a cakewalk. But then again, this dyslexic writer with a lust for annoying truths wasn't looking for easy, he was looking for real.
From Day One, the signs of violent conflict were everywhere: rocket craters, barbed wire, tear-gassed protesters, gunfire, and night patrols. But finding a shoreline touched by the best swell in the Med proved a welcoming counterpoint to the tension. Trouble is, peace, like riding a perfect wave, never lasts long. Turns out you can't just surf from Israel to Lebanon. You gotta take an air/land route. Over an inland desert. Through freaking Syria.
Other than hatred, the same surf report, and the desire to blow each other to smithereens, Israel and Lebanon seem to share little else. Like Aizenstat, they are political, cultural, and generational misfits in search of control over their identities and destinies. The author calls 'em like he sees 'em, and goes along for the ride. It gets a little deviant, a little insane, a little frightening, but in the end is fully satisfying. You couldn't ask for a better ride.
2 comments:
Yes, it is very good.
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