I joined Salon in 1998 to become our first full-time news editor, and succeeded the irreplaceable David Talbot as editor in chief in February 2005.
Before that I spent many years as a freelancer -- including for Salon; Scott Rosenberg taught me how to use email in 1995 so I could send in my stories -- and I also ran my own business, consulting to national foundations and nonprofits on education, community development and urban poverty issues. In the 1980s, I was California bureau chief for In These Times and editor of the Santa Barbara News and Review (now the Independent).
As a columnist for San Francisco Magazine, I won Western Magazine Awards in 2004 and 2005 for writing about local politics. I've written for everyone from the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post to Vogue and the Nation. In the last couple of years I've become a regular on MSNBC and CNN, best known for debating conservative zealots like Dick Armey, David Frum, G. Gordon Liddy and Pat Buchanan. I love baseball, Bruce Springsteen and Stephen Colbert; I hate torture and misogyny. I'm proud of what we've accomplished at Salon -- with much more to come -- and I'm even prouder of my daughter Nora, an undergraduate at Fordham University.