and then i met lillian ross, and it is a story in the book. >> rose: just give me the punch line. >> and asked what actually happened. >> rose: and you realized your mother told the truth. >> i think she did, yes, or a pretty good version of it, which is all you can ask for. >> rose: what of your mother is in you? >> well, my mother loved food, too. she did. she loved her kids. >> rose: loved to write. >> she loved to write. she understood and really conveyed to us that work was, qln, the great-- a great passion. that you couldn't live without work, that that's-- when you were asked what--, "what are you going to be when you grow up?" the question was answered in terms of work, not in terms of motherhood or, you know, being married. it was, "what are you going to do?" >> rose: is that the way you define it? >> the great passion? >> rose: yeah. >> probably, probably. . >> rose: and journalism, tell me about your-- the arc of your-- your attitude about journalism. >> oh, i think -- >> why are you look at me? you know i know what you're going to say. >> well, because journalism is somet

are you aware of sort of a tradition of repertoire is like lillian ross and the names can go on obviously, chairman capote and malcolm gladwell or -- malcolm gladwell more recently. what is that legacy as you go into it with "the new yorker" where there is such a rich history? >> i think in, it is an asset in the sense that i look at a lot of these people. i read in cold blood while i was working on the willingham story. i read the executioner's song which didn't come out of "the new yorker" but another great crime, nonfiction story. and it was based on non-fiction. so these -- when i'm working on a story i really try not to think about those things because if i had it in my head truman capote when i'm trying to write my story i don't think i would ever get a word out. so i use it as -- so i use it as inspiration and i often, for each one of my stories, i will look to certain stories and i will read them and say okay, these provide -- sometimes aspiration is not the linear. it is about a different subject that perhaps it is about trying to portray a character getting inside the character