What was your first job as a journalist?
Editor of a weekly newspaper in Rhode Island.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes
How is social media changing news?
Social media is a form of how language is evolving, and that doesn't necessarily mean for the better.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Don Delillo
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Dedication to storytelling and truth telling, adhering to ethics, being attentive, struggling against shrinking news holes.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Please read my work, provide a brief outline, background material on the subject, contact info.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Notebook, pen, paper, Word.
What's your favorite social network?
I review all social media outlets and urge readers to look upon them with a skeptical eye. Insist on ethical treatment of all subjects.
Who do you wish followed you?
I'm open to all readers, editors, fellow writers and publishers.
Why did you become a journalist?
To write stories others had not covered, to pursue foreign stories, to report on the arts, healthcare and religion.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
"Witnesses to War, Working for Peace: Report from Japan," Montreal Gazette.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Herman Melville once said, "Be true to the dreams of thy youth."
When's the best time to pitch you?
I am open to pitches and sharing story ideas at any time.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Why Germany continues to harbor hatred against minorities, which resulted in me traveling to Germany for a reporting assignment.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
A reader called to ask if I could write a feature on his dog, newly adopted, because, when the mutt barked, he claimed it sounded human.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Swimming
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The Arts Fuse, Harvard Divinity School Bulletin
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
Arts, healthcare, religion and travel are often not considered "hard" news and are relegated to the "back of the book."
