What was your first job as a journalist?
Managing Editor for a series of regional magazines that nobody read.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Lol yes.
How is social media changing news?
It's killing attention spans and aiding in the spread of disinformation while syphoning all the money from traditional media outlets.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Rita Skeeter.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
It means being honest and brave, even when the world wants to burn itself down around you.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
I try to avoid Twitter if I can.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Quick and direct.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Brain and fingers. Oh, and a really great Pakt Weekender.
What's your favorite social network?
Instagram
Who do you wish followed you?
Kurt Russell.
Why did you become a journalist?
To tell stories about people and places that deserve to have their stories told.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Yes, I was the film critic.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
My collective oral history of Big Trouble in Little China, the greatest movie ever made.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Listen to your editors and pay your dues by working hard. There is no quick way to the top.
When's the best time to pitch you?
In the morning when I'm fresh.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Still waiting for it.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Any that was based on the assumption that I'm a woman.
What's your favorite drink?
Mezcal old fashioned.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Teaching my son to read.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Smithsonian.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That it's all free trips and bottomless margaritas.
