I grew up an avid New York sports fan and fell in love with the ’90s Knicks.
When the playoffs began, I’d collect each Newsday edition delivered to my doorstep and clipped the Knicks headlines, articles and photos to commemorate the team’s eventual championship victory with a scrapbook.
My goal is to explain to readers what is going on in their government and tell stories that explain potentially complex pieces of legislation in a simple way that allows them to know what impact it may make on their lives.
That championship never materialized, but my bond to newspaper ink and passion for journalism grew out of those editions of Newsday. I aspired to be a sportswriter, an admission that led to customary comparisons to Ray Romano. I’d remind people Romano was an actor; the Newsday sportswriter character was Ray Barone.
I studied journalism at St. Bonaventure University where I learned the craft of reporting and writing with a deep emphasis on ethics I carry with me today. Instead of Ray Barone, I dreamed of following the footsteps of Dan Barry, a Bonaventure alumnus and Pulitzer-winning reporter.
My career has since spanned from covering high school sports to editing community newspapers on the East End. Embedded in a small community and covering issues important to those residents shows the value of local journalism.
At its core today, Newsday is local journalism.
Joining Newsday in 2022 as a towns reporter covering South Fork communities was a natural progression for me. The Hamptons may be known for its celebrity glitz, but my job focused on issues like water quality and affordability. And there were no shortage of interesting characters, like the Montauk gravedigger who retired after three decades.
Now as a Suffolk County government and politics reporter, I strive to give readers an insight into the decisions elected leaders are making and how those decisions impact their lives. It’s a wide-ranging role that can have me explaining new voting machines one day and a consolidated sewer management district another day.
A lot has changed at Newsday since I clipped those articles on the Knicks, but the commitment to tell Long Islander’s stories remains as strong as ever.
