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What is one thing about you that might surprise people?
I'd never left Brooklyn, N.Y., before attending school in Missouri. It was a culture shock. I'd never been to the Midwest. I remember being stuck at the St. Louis airport for three hours. Shortly after my arrival on campus, I remember being caught up in the first MU football game frenzy. There were grown men dressed in black and gold bumble bee outfits parading in front of Gardner-Hyde Hall.

What would be your best advice to current students?
You can't be selectively serious about journalism. You have to serious all the time about everything you do. The people who are serious are the ones who will be successful. The people who turn the serious attitude toward their work on and off never get above the B+ level of success. Put in the extra work. The work you do is only interesting when it's a challenge. People get bored with the field because they're not looking for new ways to challenge themselves. With each new story you should always be asking a more difficult question you didn't consider. You should constantly be raising the bar for yourself.

What is your favorite J-School memory?
Actually, a couple of memories come to mind when I reflect on my most memorable J-School experiences, the less favorable one would have to be attending school in the Midwest in July. It was unbelievably hot. The second brings back memories of one of my former professors. Thomas Duffy served as editor of the East St. Louis Newspaper and he was a tough professor. For some reason, however, I always wanted to impress him. I have vivid memories of him sitting in his chair, staring us down, and saying "never start a sentence with however." To this day, I never start a sentence with "however."

What is the best professional lesson you learned at the J-School?
Don't let the interview subject control the interview. I did a lot of stories at the Missouri State Penitentiary and a friend of mine, Miles Corwin, called me on it. I learned this lesson the hard way.

What do you consider to be your greatest professional achievement?
It would have to be the last book I wrote, The Last Good Season. The book explores the myth that Brooklyn would have been a better place had the Brooklyn Dodgers not left the city. The book came out a year ago. While writing this book, I experienced that moment of great journalistic promise; the moment when I learned something about myself through my work.