Rona Jaffe, One Memory

Some years ago, Rona Jaffe and I sat next to each other at a literary event. She was (lucky for me) one of the most personable people in the room.

At the time, I was a reporter for The New York Observer, and she mentioned that she had been a reporter. We began talking about this, and I asked about her interview technique.

"Fall in love with them," she said. (Note how I'm leaving out my silent response.)

Somebody else had advised the same strategy, only what this person had said was, "You need to offer a platform." At the time, I nodded in agreement, wondering what the person had just said. Everything made sense until "a platform." I visualized a diving board. For more than a year, I tried to figure out what the hell this person was trying to say; call me jargon-challenged.

And Rona Jaffe put it so plainly!

English goes a long way.