What was your first job as a journalist?
I was a cub reporter making $850 a month for a weekly newspaper that served a very wealthy area. This taught me class resentment early.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes, and I sucked at it. I'd never had made it as a journalist in the '70s or before. I think I would have been a chef, or a monk.
How is social media changing news?
It's essentially wrecked it, but, unlike global warming, there's no way to fix it now. Funny thing is, back in 2009 I had a blog, Web 2.oh...Really? a very skeptical take on early social media. Time.com named it a Top 25 blog. I was way ahead of my time. Plenty of good it did me.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
What I think you're really asking is where I was born, which is Cleveland. See, I'm doing that thing where if you don't feel like answering the question you just say what you want. Mitt Romney did that to me once.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
While you are not a neurosurgeon, you are entering people's brains. Be careful and be respectful.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
I think what you're really trying to ask is whether I think AI is a useful communications tool or an existential threat to mankind. My answer is yes.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email only, please. If you think I'm really right for the pitch, send a kind e-mail nag.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
A nail clipper and Microsoft Bob (go ahead, Google that one).
What's your favorite social network?
Threads, because Elon Musk.
Who do you wish followed you?
Jose Andreas
Why did you become a journalist?
It's thrilling to educate myself in public.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I was an art student. We were *so* much cooler than the kids on the paper.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
I wrote about a family heritage trip my son and I took to Russia, to explore the life and legacy of a remote relative, Yakov Sverdlov, who was Vladimir Lenin's right hand man during the Russian revolution. It was fascinating, scary, and kind of funny. Even 10 years ago, Russia was tough on American visitors. That said, there is no drinking age, and my 16-year-old son enjoyed our hands-on lessons in the cultural significance of Russia's favorite adult beverage.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Cultivate an area of expertise and own it.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Yesterday
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Any pitch based on something that I actually wrote is a winner. Like everybody else, maybe more so, writers just want to feel seen.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
To cover the announcement of the city where a list of best something-or-others would be released a few months later. If there is a Pixel Hell, that pitch is burning down there.
What's your favorite drink?
The Drunk Monk, a cocktail I invented myself. 2 oz VS cognac, .5 oz green Chartreuse, .25 simple syrup, flamed orange peel garnish. This was recorded in my cocktail blog, A Measured Spirit. A bar nearby actually put it on its menu. Nobody ordered it.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
In the kitchen. I'm a monster cook. Come over for my Taiwanese beef soup sometime. It's awesome.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The Atlantic
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That journalists will write about destinations, accommodations, or restaurants without visiting them.
