What was your first job as a journalist?
Daily news reporter for the Green Bay News-Chronicle
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Oh yes! I love them all!
How is social media changing news?
By making it instaneous and from anyone's perspective. Viral video and photos can both give the actual facts and a skewed view.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Either Lois Lane or Mary Tyler Moore
What does it mean to be a journalist?
It means to hear as many sides of any given issue or story as you can and then tell it as objectively and cleanly as possible.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
why do i keep getting this question - my answer hasn't changed.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
email
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Laptop, camera, phone.
What's your favorite social network?
instagram
Who do you wish followed you?
David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, Ira Glass, Augusten Burroughs...
Why did you become a journalist?
Because I love to tell stories - all kinds. And I love to get things on the record and I love telling a story no one has heard before.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Yes. I was a reporter and then the editor. I did everything.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
I worked on a number for womensenews.org back in the day that were very good about low income mothers and child care workers.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Journalism isn't about the story you want to write - it's about writing the story you find.
When's the best time to pitch you?
whenever
What's the best pitch you ever got?
A pitch to write a book on going keto in 28 days - the book is also very successful.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
A pitch to write repetitive seo stuffed articles for a home and garden site that didn't want to do anything but stuff random articles.
What's your favorite drink?
Cocktail? A really salty margarita. Just hanging around all day? selter with lime over ice.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
in the garden or driving a kid somewhere
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
I love my local papers. Which I still read in paper form. But I also love the NYT, Wired magazine, and Backwoods Home.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That parenting or mothering or homeschooling is easy. That there isn't an art and a science to caring for children and being organized.
