Letter To A Young Journalist

Ed's note: I got my hands on the following email from Lane DeGregory to a journalism student in response to a couple questions: "Is there anything you wish you could tell yourself when you were as inexperienced as us? What mistakes should we be making?" Enjoy.

I wish I hadn't thought I had to be so smart.

When I was starting out, I was afraid the politician I was profiling would realize I didn't understand property taxes; that the hockey coach I had to interview would out me for not knowing a hat trick from a helmet; that the commercial fisherman would think me unworthy of sharing his story because I had never been on a trawler. So I tried to study as much as I could beforehand and fake my…