As we watch the perhaps terminal death of the newspaper industry unfold (who ever thought we’d see the day when Editor & Publisher would fold? Read this and this) one of the many journalistic questions remains:
Are newspaper columnists about to go the way of pay phones? Already newspapers have trimmed op-ed pages and laid off editorial cartoonists. Yes, there are still some wonderful political and nonpolitical columnists out there, and weblogs are sort of like op-ed pages (except most blog posts on most blogs would not be of sufficient quality to get through a secretary’s scan of incoming mail let alone to an editor’s desk since op ed pieces must be more than name callng) are there writers there who still “get it”? Are the great columnists the ones we already have or who have died? Or are there more out there, waiting for their big breakout?
The good news is that yes, Virginia and Sidney, there is someone out there who is carrying on the grand tradition of the columnist — someone who wears his heart and his past failures on his sleeve, although he now wears a nice, clean sleeve since he is a role model for writers everywhere.
In Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer’s Life Michael Greenberg proves proof that great short-form column writing is not dead but more alive than ever. Writing in a style that is almost a combination of the late Mike Royko
, or a New Yorker column, with a touch of the dark humor of David Sedaris thrown in, Greenberg’s collection of short columns is a must-reading role model for aspiring, writers, new and old media columnists, aspiring journalists, bloggers who want to lift the quality of their posts beyond sounding like cyberspace reguritations of Rush Limbaugh or Keith Olbermann — and anyone who lives a quick, thought-provoking, often funny and sometimes bittersweet read.
Taken together, these 45 thoughtfully and painstakingly crafted short essays originally written for London’s Times Literary Supplement portray a story of a writer who persisted despite relatives trying to discourage him, early experiences that sometimes ended in seeming failure and an occasional misjudgment. In the end, stick-to-it-tiveness, talent and mastery of his craft won out. Because this is Greenberg’s second major book and we can expect (or hope) many more for him in the future.
It is a remarkable journey. Greenberg turned his back on his father’s stable scrap metal business, married and had kids, traveled, did all kinds of jobs such as driving a taxi, all the while struggling write his novel and pursue his dream. The essays cover a variety of subjects: from visiting Argentina (where his wife was arrested in a demonstration), killing a chicken, writing for movies, a dog with a funny shaped head, his experiences at Hebrew school — and the story of Hart Island, where prisoners bury the indigent dead. But above all, it’s a story of Greenberg, how he worked at his art, absorbed every single morsel of life’s details in his travels abroad and in the United States, the story of a self-effacing Jewish guy from New York who never gave up his dream despite discouragement — with a portrait of New York City in all its greatness and ungreatness painted throughout.
And I need to say this. I’m someone who travels with a book of Mike Royko columns in my car (this is written while on a trip up and down California’s coast) and who admires the essays of David Sedaris. Greenberg has his own style, since his life’s experiences and professional writer’s background are the filters through which we read his work.
But he belongs with the best of ’em up there.
Which is why Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writers’ life is MUST READING for journalists, bloggers, writers — and people who like to read the work of journalists, bloggers and writers.
Or for anyone who has a dream.
On a scale of five stars, TMV gives this book five stars:
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.