You know, a dog can snap you out of any kind of bad mood that you're in faster than you can think of.
I'm talking to anyone who has been dumped - have not gotten the job you really wanted or have received those horrible rejection letters from grad school. You know, the disappointment of losing, or not getting something you badly want. When that happens, show what you are made of.
I think about the question of perspective in reporting all the time, and since I spent 20 years of my career in Washington as both a reporter and an editor I'm keenly aware that a newspaper should not be dominated by stories in which the only voices and perspective come from those in power.
The Obama administration has had seven criminal leak investigations. That is more than twice the number of any previous administration in our history. It's on a scale never seen before.
As someone who has spent a lot of her career as an investigative reporter, I'll confess that a frustration of mine has always been that so much investigative journalism involves a dissection of events in the past.
As a big user of public libraries, I deplore the cutbacks they have had to sustain.
I am in awe of women who have full family lives and seem to work round the clock in the 24/7 news cycle.
The idea that women journalists bring a different taste in stories or sensibility isn't true.
I do see myself as someone who has a lot of story ideas.
I don't pretend I know everything.
Although I believe the Web has greatly increased the distribution of quality news, I do worry about those who don't have Internet access.
The printed newspaper is a powerful showcase for news, opinion and advertising.
I've taught a college journalism course at two universities where my students taught me more than I did them about how political news is consumed.
Budget cuts are a sad reality in most newsrooms, and I am concerned that they reduce the collective muscle of journalists who are doing the expensive, and often dangerous, work of on-the-ground reporting.
I admit that I am hopelessly hooked on the printed newspaper. I love turning the pages and the serendipity of stumbling across a piece of irresistible information or a photograph that I wasn't necessarily intending to read.
I like the immediacy of blogs and the democratizing effects of letting millions of voices bloom on the Web.
I don't keep up with Twitter all day long.
In one's relationship with dogs and with a newsroom, a generous amount of praise and encouragement goes much better than criticism.
People often assume New York City is no place to keep a dog. This is certainly what my parents told me when I was growing up there. But I have found this not to be the case at all.
I have to pay attention to work on the weekends and always have my iPhone with me, but I don't mind.
