In any kind of conflict, you have a certain dehumanization that comes along with it. And it's important as a reporter, a writer, a journalist, to try to restore humanity.
As a journalist, your job is to bear witness.
Cultures that may seem as durable as stone can break like glass, leaving all the things that held them together unattended. I believe that the craftsman, the artist, the cook, and the silversmith are peacemakers. They instill grace; they lull the world to calm.
The best journalism is sometimes about footnotes—when we write small to say something big.
I had a great childhood. I think writers are always better off when they have more twisted childhoods, but I didn't.
Journalism is always the art of the incomplete. You get bits and pieces.
On the flip side, I enjoy covering the Arab world, I've spent my entire career here in the Middle East, but I would never call myself a war correspondent.
