What was your first job as a journalist?
I sold my first article to the Wittenburg Door in 1994.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes. I switched to word processing programs in the 1980s and got my first Apple computer when I enrolled at Yale Divinity School in 1988.
How is social media changing news?
Advertorial over editorial.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Given the ongoing corporatization of the news media, the lines between fact from fiction have become blurred beyond belief.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
I prefer the term writer/storyteller as I seek to reclaim the art of narrative inquiry as a valid form of reporting.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
I tend not to follow hashtags.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
email.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
After attending SXSW 2012, I learned how to employ my iPad as my laptop. I now use a combo of an iPad/iPhone.
What's your favorite social network?
None actually.
Who do you wish followed you?
God
Why did you become a journalist?
I began writing when I was nine but didn't call myself a writer until I sold my first article to the Wittenburg Door in 1994.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I did a bit of writing but I don't recall that I did anything all that memorable.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
My 14 years with the Wittenburg Door, the nation's oldest, largest and only religious satire magazine.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Follow the advice of the lack Bill Hicks and don't sell out your authentic voice to the highest bidder. Stay unbranded and unboxed.
