Reporter at Time Magazine, Class of '75
What do you do for a living and what’s it like?
I was a government lawyer for a nanosecond in Washington, D.C. just long enough to figure out that it was the wrong career. I wanted to rejoin the English Majors! So I went back to school and became a journalist. I spent 29 splendid years at Time magazine in New York as a reporter. I retired in 2014. I’m currently working on an MA in English Literature at Hunter College. Next stop: a PhD in English Literature, if my keyboard holds up!
Why did you choose to become an English Major?
I became an English Major because of poet Donald Hall. As a sophomore, I heard him read poetry in class in a beautiful, sonorous voice, and I was smitten. I went up to a teaching fellow in the class and asked tremulously whether I could become an English Major too. The moment was so important to me that I still remember her name--Linda Silverman. (Who remembers the name of a teaching fellow FORTY YEARS LATER?) That set the course of the rest of my life.
How has a literary education contributed to success in your career and/or other aspects of your life?
Being an English Major has been like a religion to me. It has defined my work, my interests, and even my friendships. Birds who care about good punctuation flock together.
Any indelible Michigan memories?
My junior year, there was a fellow where I lived who used to salute me when I went by, which always made us laugh. Finally, I asked him why he was doing it. He replied, “Because you’re an English Major!”
