I began my journalism career working as a stringer for newspapers, which is slang for freelance. Badgered by the lifestyle editor at the North County News, I joined the staff and found it nearly impossible to write after covering civic activities with a newsroom filled with other reporters throwing spit-balls at each other.

Finding myself in the middle of scrapes like the battle Ossining parents faced trying to keep a Sprint cell tower off of an elementary school was stimulating but the quiet of my study beckoned and I went back to freelance, taking on the types of stories I enjoyed. One of my greatest thrills to this day was seeing my byline in "The New York Times."