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.

What I hold dear is well-known to all of my colleagues. And, really, The Times is the kind of place, the greatest journalism doesn't just pop forth from our heads. It's, you know, a group of people, and the great ideas bubble up from the reporters to their editors and get to us.

Nobody wants a unitary voice of authority any more.

In one's relationship with dogs and with a newsroom, a generous amount of praise and encouragement goes much better than criticism.

It's a little dangerous to be a badass.

I think as an investigative reporter I had tough standards, but I don't think of myself as a tough person.

I have an older sister who sounds, unfortunately, exactly like me, and we sound like our mother did.