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What do you do?
I teach journalism at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, Calif., both in class and online. In spring 2008, I will be a visiting professor at Duke University and will be teaching Reporting Public Policy. I remain active in the Journalists Exchange on Aging, a professional organization I co-founded, and I am a frequent arts reporter for the MediaNewsGroup. I have continued work for the Department of the Interior in the national parks, serving at Capitol Reef National Park in Utah for two summers. Previously, I have served as a writer-in-residence at Badlands National Park in South Dakota, Grand Canyon National Park – North Rim and the Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores, Colo. I write interpretive brochures and guides for the national parks and the Bureau of Land Management, and I write poetry and do photography that hangs in the park visitor centers. I also have spent a summer with the Department of Fish and Game in Wyoming.

What life obstacles have you overcome?
In 1990, I developed chronic spondylitis, lupus and then cancer. I was at that time a reporter with the Contra Costa Times/Lesher Publications in Walnut Creek, Calif., and had been so for 10 years. I was placed on permanent disability. From there my life actually became interesting and productive. I first had an intense period of as much recovery as possible. Then I began a different kind of life. I wrote an award-winning book, Early Stage Alzheimer's Disease (Springer 1994). I traveled to Spoleto, Italy, as a writing fellow and began to write poetry again. I taught media ethics at St. Mary's College in Moraga, Calif., in addition to spending summers as a writer with the Department of the Interior. In 2004, I was diagnosed with a second kind of cancer and spent 2005 in chemo and radiation. I am still a proud survivor.

To keep my hand in journalism, I do freelance writing for the Alameda Newspapers Group (Oakland Tribune and others). Using my other training, I also supervise student chaplains at the local hospital and occasionally fill in at local churches for absent pastors. So, I have crafted a nice life in my years of disability. The pain of the disease continues, and there are days I cannot walk or work, but overall it made me a much better person.

How did you get your job?
I got my first Bay Area newspaper job the hard way. I applied and applied, with no luck in such a saturated market, for 10 years. Finally, the Contra Costa Times had a half-time temporary opening for a religion writer. I jumped at it and then quickly fought my way into permanent full-time reporting by agreeing to cover anything at any time. Persistence paid off.

What is the best professional lesson you learned at the J-School?
The best thing that happened to us at the J-School was being made to learn to use the CRT - the early crude version of computers. We were told computers would replace typewriters, and it was of course true. In fact, what I most remember about J-School was the prescience of the teaching. My professors predicted multiplex theaters, DVDs and many other things long before they became common.

What advice do you have for current students?
Live life fully. Take every risk you're presented with, instead of choosing the safe way. Trust yourself and don't betray yourself even if no one else knows about it. Never give up. Laugh often, cry if you feel like it, and be kind to people, even the jerks. You never know who'll be there when you need that extra hand.

At this point in your career, what is your greatest professional achievement?
I believe that my greatest professional work is what I have contributed to gerontology. Early Stage Alzheimer's Disease (Springer 1994) was the Nurses Book Club selection the year it was published. I am a co-founder of the Journalists Exchange on Aging, the first professional organization for journalists specializing in gerontology issues. Finally, I was honored in my local community with the first Troy Grove Award for Elder Abuse Prevention for my reporting on that topic.

What makes you good at your job?
I am good because I am passionate, stubborn, read voraciously, question everything starting and ending with my own fallible assumptions, have no respect for anything other than integrity, work hard, never give up and will always have a young heart despite any obstacle!