a standout at grambling. magna cum laude graduate.id you always know you wanted to be in journalism? you did an high school, and i guess in college? did you want to change the world? charles: i had no desire to be a journalist. i majored in english and prelaw because i thought i was going to become a lawyer. i liked writing. when people ask me, how someone goes from being on the visual side, to writing, the fluke is how i went from being someone majoring in english to being on the visual side. the writing was like coming home. that was something i have always done. but, i didn't -- journalism just wasn't a profession in my world. i am from a tiny town. the closest newspaper was eight miles away. it was a couple volunteers with another job. the idea of a journalist, as a way to make a living, that just didn't exist. i did not have role model saying this is what i wanted to do. the idea of expressing was something important to me. i thought eventually i would become a politician. william: you wanted to be governor of louisiana. charles:

doesn't need you, grambling needs you. it really made an impression on me because what he was saying to me is you're not just coming here to get something from us, i want you to come here to give something to your fellow students, and that is the way that i kind of navigated college was that it was that i was giving as much as i was getting. >> cohan: and, i mean, you were a standout in high school intellectually. you were editor of your high school newspaper. you were a standout at grambling, magna cum laude graduate. did you always know you wanted to be in journalism? you did that in high school and college. did you want to change the world? >> i had no desire to be a journalist. i majored in english and pre-law because i thought i would become a lawyer. i liked writing. when people asked me the question you asked before which is how someone goes from being on the visual side to writing, i tell people -- >> cohan: especially at the "new york times." >> i tell people the fluke is how i went from being someone majoring in