Deputy Director, ME Program @quincyinst - security, trade, S. Asia. NRF @tabadlab. Attorney. KPMG USMC alum. Words @RStatecraft, @ForeignPolicy, @nytimes, etc.
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
Teen trends/high school reporter, Sun-Sentinel, 1995-1996
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes. Typewriters were bomb
How is social media changing news?
For the worse, in ways that can never be stopped, only incorporated into worse news products.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
"Chris Cillizza"
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To care too much about communities, about people's words and commitments, and to fight every day to get audiences to care just a little more.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Politely, concisely, by someone who knows what I write and edit and can demonstrate why I'm right for their story in the pitch.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
WordPress, Photoshop, Nexis, Marlboro Silver, hard liquor, antacids, occasional antidepressants
What's your favorite social network?
Honestly? Waze is the only one I don't loathe because it gives members something of shared value.
Who do you wish followed you?
Someone who could cancel my outstanding student debt
Why did you become a journalist?
To tell stories that entertain, enlighten, and energize.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Not regularly. I had too many interests to focus then; I'm slightly improved now.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
A very difficult one about a veteran suicide, social media, and war comrades.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Be good enough at something else that you're comfortable either reporting on it, or leaving journalism to do it for money.
When's the best time to pitch you?
On the eve of a super blue blood moon
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Can't say; don't want to jinx it.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Tie: every cold call or email I've ever received from a PR person
What's your favorite drink?
Diet Mountain Dew
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
On a mobile browser, cursing my tetheredness to the internet
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Atlas Obscura, Deadspin, The New Yorker, Harpers, Mother Jones
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That servicemembers are all heroes, or all robots, or all victims.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.