At first I wasn’t sure what to think of it: Keith Olbermann in a brown leather chair reading from what looked like a library copy of a James Thurber collection. At first I was skeptical. But then I sat down and listened, and I was impressed. I felt like I was witnessing a history-making event. Maybe I’m young and uninformed, but I’ve never seen a newscaster read literature on the air. Is this something that used to be done? I don’t know, but I have to say, I’m excited. We’ve talked a lot on Bark about why “people” (whoever these beings are) aren’t reading literature, or reading at all, and how to change that. We’ve also talked about trying to find creative ways to get our work out there, including using mixed media. So seeing Keith Olbermann reading short stories during his hour-long cable news show was kind of surreal. It was as though he’d been reading Bark and had taken on our cause, but no, his motivation was personal. See, his father just passed away, and during his final days, Keith read James Thurber to him. According to Olbermann, his father suggested that he read the stories on the air. It was a final wish of sorts, and so Keith did it, twice. The first time he read “A Peacelike Mongoose,” and the second time, the show I saw, he read “A Box to Hide In.” Both stories are really short and easy to follow; they’re kind of fable-like in their simplicity and morality, but more than anything they are good, thoughtful stories. And they were read for millions to hear right there on prime time cable TV. And Keith said he might keep doing it from time to time. How about that.