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Surfing the Middle East: Deviant Journalism from the Lost Generation
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 maddening lust for annoying truths wasn't looking for easy, he was looking for real.
From Day One, the signs of violent conflict are everywhere: rocket craters, barbed wire, tear-gassed protesters, gunfire, and night patrols. But finding a shoreline touched by the best swell in the Med proves 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.
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 maddening lust for annoying truths wasn't looking for easy, he was looking for real.
From Day One, the signs of violent conflict are everywhere: rocket craters, barbed wire, tear-gassed protesters, gunfire, and night patrols. But finding a shoreline touched by the best swell in the Med proves 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.
- GenresNonfiction
250 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
2 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Jesse Aizenstat
2 books4 followersIf I wasn't a writer I'd be a song & dance man in Dallas.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 3, 2012
An Outsider's Inside View of the Crises in the Middle East
This review is from: Surfing the Middle East: Deviant Journalism from the Lost Generation (Hardcover)
To start, Jesse Aizenstat may be a young writer (and according to his own statements a dyslexic one at that), but he is a journalist in the finest sense of the word - and unfortunately journalism of this sort is sadly becoming extinct. When a journalist has the courage to step into the middle of a situation in order to feel it, see it, smell it, interact with it, even take the chance of dying for it all with the goal of reporting to the world from an eyewitness stance, that is the kind of information for which we are hungry. It is one thing to be a snazzy commentator on the television screen, a person with distance and a staff of writers and photographers to create a view of a situation: it is another to have the information from the living in the moment source.
Less the reader gets the idea from the above that this is another serious examination of the ongoing eternal crisis in the Middle East, then that is only part of this delicious memoir. Jesse Aizenstat is a young stud surfer from Santa Barbara, CA who after completing college in 2009 with a major in political science finds it impossible to find work. He had been to Israel and surrounding countries before, but his intense interest in Middle Eastern politics and shenanigans gave him the idea of combining his passion for surfing with his desire to return to the Middle East: his gimmick was to surf from Israel to Lebanon and the only magazine to whom he pitched his idea that would take him on was the Surfers Journal (!), and off he went via Birthright transport (his `in' by being Jewish) to Israel to begin his self-designed assignment. `Second to the American job economy, the other reason I embarked on this adventure was the cold hard fact that for most of my schooling life I'd been dismissed as a hopeless dumbass. From a very young age I was fond of learning about the world but grew restless in the classroom and wanted to go out to experience the world for myself. Dyslexia and my struggles in school were a mixture of jangled thoughts and emotional whippings....I learned to become responsible for myself and fight twice as hard as the people around me to pass the same green light.' So now we love this guy, but that is only the beginning of this journalistic travelogue and we have yet to appreciate the humor and jollity Aizenstat injects into his travails of successfully surfing from Israel to Lebanon.
Along the immensely entertaining story we meet the fellow surfers and the young men of journalism - Lee (a fellow surfer in Haifa), As-Salibi (a WASPy Texan reporter), Jared (an American Jew who got to Israel from the same Birthright trip but ended up working for a Palestinian news agency), and others who accompanied Jesse and Che (the name he assigns to his ever-present surfboard) - as they encounter unusual circumstances in the Middle East. `Traditionally, empires ruled the Middle East. They would rise like a wave from the depths, building to a crest so powerful its explosion would take everything that lay in its path. But like all waves, these empires eventually rolled back, leaving only a wet shore as proof of their past existence. And that is Jerusalem - a withered maze of ancient empires, built literally atop on another.'
Jesse et al face the paradox of the Israeli Palestinian conflict in a memorable Friday Protest Day along the Wall in West Bank and from these encounters we are allowed to see both sides of the struggle: Aizenstat conveys the sentiments and the realties of the ongoing struggle about land and heritage that the Israelis and Palestinians continue to fight over who owns or belongs in the disputed land. There are some very tender moments as Jesse meets a wise old wheelchair-bound protestor and observes directly the faces and attitudes of both sides of the implacable territorial argument. From this entertaining book, complete with photographs of the encounters and more important the people Jesse shares, we learn more about why the conflict in the Middle East is likely unsolvable and why.
But keep in mind that Jesse Aizenstat is not only a fine observer and reporter and has been through some rather terrifying and life changing moments during his `surfing venture', but he is also one hell of a writer and comedian. This book reads easily and well on so many levels that it should shoot up to the best seller list soon. Highly recommended.
Grady Harp
This review is from: Surfing the Middle East: Deviant Journalism from the Lost Generation (Hardcover)
To start, Jesse Aizenstat may be a young writer (and according to his own statements a dyslexic one at that), but he is a journalist in the finest sense of the word - and unfortunately journalism of this sort is sadly becoming extinct. When a journalist has the courage to step into the middle of a situation in order to feel it, see it, smell it, interact with it, even take the chance of dying for it all with the goal of reporting to the world from an eyewitness stance, that is the kind of information for which we are hungry. It is one thing to be a snazzy commentator on the television screen, a person with distance and a staff of writers and photographers to create a view of a situation: it is another to have the information from the living in the moment source.
Less the reader gets the idea from the above that this is another serious examination of the ongoing eternal crisis in the Middle East, then that is only part of this delicious memoir. Jesse Aizenstat is a young stud surfer from Santa Barbara, CA who after completing college in 2009 with a major in political science finds it impossible to find work. He had been to Israel and surrounding countries before, but his intense interest in Middle Eastern politics and shenanigans gave him the idea of combining his passion for surfing with his desire to return to the Middle East: his gimmick was to surf from Israel to Lebanon and the only magazine to whom he pitched his idea that would take him on was the Surfers Journal (!), and off he went via Birthright transport (his `in' by being Jewish) to Israel to begin his self-designed assignment. `Second to the American job economy, the other reason I embarked on this adventure was the cold hard fact that for most of my schooling life I'd been dismissed as a hopeless dumbass. From a very young age I was fond of learning about the world but grew restless in the classroom and wanted to go out to experience the world for myself. Dyslexia and my struggles in school were a mixture of jangled thoughts and emotional whippings....I learned to become responsible for myself and fight twice as hard as the people around me to pass the same green light.' So now we love this guy, but that is only the beginning of this journalistic travelogue and we have yet to appreciate the humor and jollity Aizenstat injects into his travails of successfully surfing from Israel to Lebanon.
Along the immensely entertaining story we meet the fellow surfers and the young men of journalism - Lee (a fellow surfer in Haifa), As-Salibi (a WASPy Texan reporter), Jared (an American Jew who got to Israel from the same Birthright trip but ended up working for a Palestinian news agency), and others who accompanied Jesse and Che (the name he assigns to his ever-present surfboard) - as they encounter unusual circumstances in the Middle East. `Traditionally, empires ruled the Middle East. They would rise like a wave from the depths, building to a crest so powerful its explosion would take everything that lay in its path. But like all waves, these empires eventually rolled back, leaving only a wet shore as proof of their past existence. And that is Jerusalem - a withered maze of ancient empires, built literally atop on another.'
Jesse et al face the paradox of the Israeli Palestinian conflict in a memorable Friday Protest Day along the Wall in West Bank and from these encounters we are allowed to see both sides of the struggle: Aizenstat conveys the sentiments and the realties of the ongoing struggle about land and heritage that the Israelis and Palestinians continue to fight over who owns or belongs in the disputed land. There are some very tender moments as Jesse meets a wise old wheelchair-bound protestor and observes directly the faces and attitudes of both sides of the implacable territorial argument. From this entertaining book, complete with photographs of the encounters and more important the people Jesse shares, we learn more about why the conflict in the Middle East is likely unsolvable and why.
But keep in mind that Jesse Aizenstat is not only a fine observer and reporter and has been through some rather terrifying and life changing moments during his `surfing venture', but he is also one hell of a writer and comedian. This book reads easily and well on so many levels that it should shoot up to the best seller list soon. Highly recommended.
Grady Harp
September 1, 2012
Surfing the Middle East
By Jesse Aizenstat
ISBN 13: 978-0-9837009-1-3, hardcover $26.95
Surfing the Middle East presents the ultimate dichotomy, a Californian surfer of Jewish descent making his way through the volatile regions of Israel, Palestine, Jordon and Lebanon. Along the way, he meets Israeli soldiers, fellow surfers in both Israel and Lebanon and realizes the goal he set out to accomplish, to surf the Mediterranean from Israel to Lebanon. What makes Aizenstat’s journey so remarkable is the political commentary, and the political activities Jesse becomes part of.
He talks frankly of the Palestinian situation. He explains it in terms Americans, Jews and the world can understand.
I am Jewish, so at first I was taken aback by Aizenstat’s tale. Sure, I liked his story of hanging out with Jewish surfers who were just like him, but when he talked of his time in Nablus and the terror the late night Israeli raids had caused him, both back then and in the present, I was taken aback. Here was a person of Jewish descent sympathizing with the Palestinians. As the story went on though, I found myself seeing his perspective more and more. I saw on the page, through his eyes, the Palestinians who face off weekly, unarmed, against the IDF. They are protesting the seizure of their farmland. They even took the case to the Israeli Supreme Court and won the return of their land, but the military refuses to allow them back into their land, so every week they gather at the fence to protest and to try to take down one layer of the double-layered fence that separates them from land that is rightly theirs. Weekly they are gassed with a tear gas in powder form by the fully armed IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). It is criminal.
Through Jesse’s eyes, I saw the refugee camps filled with Palestinians who are still living in Lebanon. Camps that were meant to be temporary have instead been filled with generations of refugees being born and dying there in abject poverty.
I have to say Aizenstat’s book was an eye-opening experience for me. I don’t know what the solution in Palestine/Israel is, I’m not an advocate of the two nation idea, but perhaps it truly is the only reasonable, right and humane solution to an untenable situation. I thank Aizenstat for deciding to surf the Middle East, and open my eyes to a situation I was willing not to see for religious reasons. Now that very same religious conviction tells me, it is time for a change.
Surfing the Middle East isn’t all politics and protests, in fact that is actually the tale of the minority of the story. It is instead a story of how simple things, like surfing can unite people across the world in a way that humanizes all of them because they are no longer defined by nationalistic, or religious stereotypes but rather by the common humanity and love of life that binds us all.
By Jesse Aizenstat
ISBN 13: 978-0-9837009-1-3, hardcover $26.95
Surfing the Middle East presents the ultimate dichotomy, a Californian surfer of Jewish descent making his way through the volatile regions of Israel, Palestine, Jordon and Lebanon. Along the way, he meets Israeli soldiers, fellow surfers in both Israel and Lebanon and realizes the goal he set out to accomplish, to surf the Mediterranean from Israel to Lebanon. What makes Aizenstat’s journey so remarkable is the political commentary, and the political activities Jesse becomes part of.
He talks frankly of the Palestinian situation. He explains it in terms Americans, Jews and the world can understand.
I am Jewish, so at first I was taken aback by Aizenstat’s tale. Sure, I liked his story of hanging out with Jewish surfers who were just like him, but when he talked of his time in Nablus and the terror the late night Israeli raids had caused him, both back then and in the present, I was taken aback. Here was a person of Jewish descent sympathizing with the Palestinians. As the story went on though, I found myself seeing his perspective more and more. I saw on the page, through his eyes, the Palestinians who face off weekly, unarmed, against the IDF. They are protesting the seizure of their farmland. They even took the case to the Israeli Supreme Court and won the return of their land, but the military refuses to allow them back into their land, so every week they gather at the fence to protest and to try to take down one layer of the double-layered fence that separates them from land that is rightly theirs. Weekly they are gassed with a tear gas in powder form by the fully armed IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). It is criminal.
Through Jesse’s eyes, I saw the refugee camps filled with Palestinians who are still living in Lebanon. Camps that were meant to be temporary have instead been filled with generations of refugees being born and dying there in abject poverty.
I have to say Aizenstat’s book was an eye-opening experience for me. I don’t know what the solution in Palestine/Israel is, I’m not an advocate of the two nation idea, but perhaps it truly is the only reasonable, right and humane solution to an untenable situation. I thank Aizenstat for deciding to surf the Middle East, and open my eyes to a situation I was willing not to see for religious reasons. Now that very same religious conviction tells me, it is time for a change.
Surfing the Middle East isn’t all politics and protests, in fact that is actually the tale of the minority of the story. It is instead a story of how simple things, like surfing can unite people across the world in a way that humanizes all of them because they are no longer defined by nationalistic, or religious stereotypes but rather by the common humanity and love of life that binds us all.
April 19, 2013
NOTE: I won this book from Goodreads First Reads
BRIEF DESCRIPTION TAKEN FROM BOOK:
California journalist 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. Why not surf from Israel to Lebanon? 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.
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This book is not just about a California surfer dude who plans to be the first person to surf from Israel to Lebanon. It is about people living in war torn countries in the Middle East and under attack at any moment that despite fear, find freedom and joy in doing a simple act like surfing. It is where Jewish and Arab boys, or young adults rather, can become the best of friends bonding over their love of surfing.
It's impressive to know that a journalist was determined enough to risk life and limb to d the very thing he loves in an area of the world that is as unstoppable of a pile of playing cards stacked up on top of each other.
Through Jesse's accounts of his adventures with his friends you'll be pulled into the story and have a vested interest in everyone's story. To see the pictures Jesse includes in the book makes these events and people even that much more real.You can close your eyes and be with Jesse and his friends, feeling what they feel and seeing what they see. Jesse's career as a journalist is just getting started. I look forward to what he writes next.
The book is very exciting. There are moments when you fear the worst and moments when you might laugh out loud. The language can be a little crude at times but hey, the book is definitely worth reading.
The one thing about this book is that even though it's written by a ssurfer/journalist it;s not a book that is 'empty-headed.' It's more than about paddling out, mounting a board, finding a curl and riding. It's about life, hardships, struggles and hope. It's uplifting and inspiring. Thank you Jesse for sharing your story with us!
~Julianna Menke
BRIEF DESCRIPTION TAKEN FROM BOOK:
California journalist 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. Why not surf from Israel to Lebanon? 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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This book is not just about a California surfer dude who plans to be the first person to surf from Israel to Lebanon. It is about people living in war torn countries in the Middle East and under attack at any moment that despite fear, find freedom and joy in doing a simple act like surfing. It is where Jewish and Arab boys, or young adults rather, can become the best of friends bonding over their love of surfing.
It's impressive to know that a journalist was determined enough to risk life and limb to d the very thing he loves in an area of the world that is as unstoppable of a pile of playing cards stacked up on top of each other.
Through Jesse's accounts of his adventures with his friends you'll be pulled into the story and have a vested interest in everyone's story. To see the pictures Jesse includes in the book makes these events and people even that much more real.You can close your eyes and be with Jesse and his friends, feeling what they feel and seeing what they see. Jesse's career as a journalist is just getting started. I look forward to what he writes next.
The book is very exciting. There are moments when you fear the worst and moments when you might laugh out loud. The language can be a little crude at times but hey, the book is definitely worth reading.
The one thing about this book is that even though it's written by a ssurfer/journalist it;s not a book that is 'empty-headed.' It's more than about paddling out, mounting a board, finding a curl and riding. It's about life, hardships, struggles and hope. It's uplifting and inspiring. Thank you Jesse for sharing your story with us!
~Julianna Menke
May 26, 2017
Really liked this book except for all the expletives; very objective assessment of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon and some surfing, too. Israelis and Palestinians are separated by a barbed wire fence that extends out into the ocean but when the surfers paddle out, they share the waves, laugh with each other and have a great time then paddle back to their own side of the wire. Jesse is a client of mine; I've fixed a few boards for him when he lived here in Santa Barbara.
February 4, 2024
Interesting in its relevance to current events in Israel and Gaza. Simplified overview of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some good first person accounts of events witnessed by author. Not a ton of surf related writing..description of a session off Haifa and one off Jiyeh.
October 25, 2012
I finished reading this book nearly a week ago but waited to write this brief review because I was torn on what to say. I've never liked a book so much and still wanted to list all the things I hated it about with such passion. I wanted to track down whoever edited this book and slap them around for so often letting the author switch from a journalistic tone to one more suited for a travel memoir. I wanted to read this book because as you can imagine the notion of someone surfing the Middle-east seemed such a unique human experience. I actually had to stop reading the book in public because I couldn't make any progress because strangers would stop me to ask questions. I hope some of them pick it up, because it is worth reading.
This books is not about surfing, which is fine since I'm a land mammal myself, so long poetic passages about wave riding would have been wasted on me. Surfing is merely a framing device. It lends the narrative more context than a young man visiting two countries both in a state of conflict.
I read the last page and closed this book and came away with three lingering impressions:
1) Only the most privileged of creatures i.e. a white American Male could have ever have had this adventure or written this book.
2) To be a witness of history one must not fear being martyred, injured, or tear-gassed.
3) Taxi drivers are rude no matter where you are in the world. It is a vocation for the impatient.
The title would lead one to expect a Hunter S. Thompson-like madcap adventure, but what I read was the thoughtful exploration of young man set free upon the world. The author was always aware of the danger but seemed always confident that he would be okay. He did not desire death or destruction. He wasn't being careless and didn't seem at all lost. As far as I can tell he knew exactly where he wanted to be. And I'm glad he let this reader come along for the ride.
This books is not about surfing, which is fine since I'm a land mammal myself, so long poetic passages about wave riding would have been wasted on me. Surfing is merely a framing device. It lends the narrative more context than a young man visiting two countries both in a state of conflict.
I read the last page and closed this book and came away with three lingering impressions:
1) Only the most privileged of creatures i.e. a white American Male could have ever have had this adventure or written this book.
2) To be a witness of history one must not fear being martyred, injured, or tear-gassed.
3) Taxi drivers are rude no matter where you are in the world. It is a vocation for the impatient.
The title would lead one to expect a Hunter S. Thompson-like madcap adventure, but what I read was the thoughtful exploration of young man set free upon the world. The author was always aware of the danger but seemed always confident that he would be okay. He did not desire death or destruction. He wasn't being careless and didn't seem at all lost. As far as I can tell he knew exactly where he wanted to be. And I'm glad he let this reader come along for the ride.
August 29, 2013
This book combines Jesse Aizenstat's surfer dude mentality with the heavy topic of middle east politics in a way that didn't quite work for me. While the concept of the book is interesting, there's a big disconnect in the tone. I also would have liked a little more explanation as to how Aizenstat financed and prepared for the trip to surf from Israel to Lebanon.
While this book wasn't my favorite, I did look at Aizenstat's blog and found it much more entertaining. It covers a lot of the same stories, but is more in the moment and less over-worked. It's worth checking out, and I would love to read a travel guide by this author as his descriptions of places and food were his strengths in Surfing the Middle East. I received my copy through a first-reads giveaway.
While this book wasn't my favorite, I did look at Aizenstat's blog and found it much more entertaining. It covers a lot of the same stories, but is more in the moment and less over-worked. It's worth checking out, and I would love to read a travel guide by this author as his descriptions of places and food were his strengths in Surfing the Middle East. I received my copy through a first-reads giveaway.
August 15, 2012
I don't know why I thought I'd like this book. The premise is good enough, I suppose, though clearly surfing and bro-ing out are this kid's strong suits (not journalism, which is one reason this book goes oh-so-wrong.) The writing itself is also pretty bad -- the sentences can be hard to follow and the author seems a little too obsessed with how cool he is.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews