I read a must-read article today about Israel’s oldest newspaper giving its journalists a day off and asking 31 of its nations top authors and poets to write the articles and reports in their sted.
The result, apparently, was a beautiful mashup of literary news. Here are some quick clips taken directly from the article; I insist that you go read the full thing.
Stock Market: Dow Jones traded steadily and closed with 8,761 points, Nasdaq added 0.9% to a level of 1,860 points…. The guy from theshakshuka [an Israeli egg-and-tomato dish] shop raised his prices again.
Weather: Summer is the pencil/that is least sharp/in the seasons’ pencil case.
TV Guide: I didn’t watch TV yesterday.
Investigative Reporting: I lay in bed and thought wondrously how, amid the alienation and indifference of the harsh Israeli reality, such islands — stubborn little bubbles of care, tenderness and humanity — still exist.
Does anyone know where I can get my hands on an English-language version of that specific paper? It would be amazing to read something like that in an American paper. Imagine having every article written by a famous American author. Every article, every clip would have the potential of being a work of art.
Awesome. That is such a great idea. It looks like you can get that day’s paper in English online—not sure if you were looking for a print copy—but if you’re cool with the online version, go to http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/PrintEdition.jhtml and select June 10th in the previous day side bar.
Oh, this is fantastic. Thank you. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.
I love how much investigating the “Investigative Reporting” author he did to write this. Sat in bed and wondered…how rigorous! Same can be said of the TV Guide author.
And yet, the investigative reporter reminds me of Hemmingway’s answer to why the chicken crossed the road, “To Die… in the rain.”