What was your first job as a journalist?
Freelance in college reviewing summer stock plays.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes
How is social media changing news?
Social media is changing news because if someone can type, then they think they're a writer, journalist, or 'citizen journalist.'
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Edmund White (whom I've interviewed several times).
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Being a journalist means I have a responsibility to elevate the stories of others in an honest, accurate way with all known facts.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
Not sure
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
With a thoughtful treatment outline, including sources
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
A laptop, cell phone, notebooks
What's your favorite social network?
I don't spend time on social networks other than work related queries.
Who do you wish followed you?
Rachel Maddow, Nicole Wallace, Bill Maher
Why did you become a journalist?
There is nothing more exciting than following news events and then speaking with the newsmakers. Examples: Salman Rushdie, Bill Maher
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I started The Daily Blab at age 10. Worked as news editor for college rag.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
An essay for media journal Spectacle "The Sky Above, The Mud Below" about America post USSR.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
It's not about you.
When's the best time to pitch you?
When you can pay.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
To interview God
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
It came in as a zillion word, single-spaced, not spell checked rant on how my publisher's column was unfair. The pitcher would write a 'fix.'
What's your favorite drink?
Coffee
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
On a long walk, no cyber, birds, sky, dogs.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Harper's, The Atlantic, NY Review of Books
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That advocacy journalism isn't honest journalism.
