I found journalism mostly by accident. My family moved around a bunch when I was a kid, and just before my junior year of high school I found myself with only two options for a writing class: better grammar skills or newspapers.

I loved that newspaper class, at first for the free pizza and high-speed Internet connection. But I soon discovered journalism’s other allures: writing about strange places and interesting people, the hum of a newsroom, the immediacy of a daily story and the camaraderie that comes from working with talented people in a high-pressure environment.

Almost 20 years have passed since then. I’ve reported for a bilingual neighborhood weekly, a hyper local Bay Area news site, one of California’s oldest newspapers and finally, the Star-Tribune, Wyoming’s only statewide paper. Now, I’m managing editor, supervising a staff of talented, ambitious reporters.

I’m also a husband to my high-school sweetheart and father to a pair of rambunctious, intelligent kids. I make music and sometimes people pay me for it. And sometimes I get in my car and drive for hours with no plan but to find something new.