I'm from a small town in northern New York state, in the United States. I moved to the Netherlands in 1997.

My first reporting job was in Jerusalem, after the first Palestinian intifadah. I led a schizophrenic existence, crossing between East and West Jerusalem every day to edit and write for an Israeli magazine and a Palestinian newspaper.

When I moved to the Netherlands, it didn't take me long to discover Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Since then, I've done it all here -- translator, news reader, producer on Newsline and now Dutch Affairs correspondent.