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Constructed by: Jeffrey Wechsler

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: We Did It!

Themed answers are common phrases, but with “WE” inserted:

• 22A Motto of an intrepid cotton farmer? : I WILL FEAR NO WEEVIL (from “I will fear no evil”)
• 33A Presentation on professorial fashion trends? : TWEED TALK (from “TED Talk”)
• 38A Light lunch in a haunted cafe? : COBWEB SALAD (from “Cobb salad”)
• 66A Like text anyone is allowed to edit? : YOURS FOR THE TWEAKING (from “yours for the taking”)
• 96A Data from a middle school track meet? : TWEEN SPEEDS (from “ten-speeds”)
• 100A “I like the cut of your jib!”? : SWEET SAIL (from “set sail”)
• 117A Take new profile pics at the gym? : SWEAT FOR A PORTRAIT (from “sat for a portrait”)

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 19m 39s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Some neutral tones in a designer’s palette : GRAYS

A palette is a board on which an artist holds and mixes paints. A classical palette is oval in shape, and has a thumbhole and an insert for brushes. Not every artist uses a classical palette. For example, Picasso used a sheet of newspaper.

10A The “B” of RBG : BADER

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) served on the US Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg was the second woman to join the Court, and was nominated by President Bill Clinton. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. During that time she did not miss one day on the bench. In 2009 Justice Ginsburg had surgery for pancreatic cancer, and was back to work 12 days later. She had left-lung lobectomy to remove cancerous nodules in 2018, which forced Justice Ginsburg to miss oral argument in January 2019, for the first time since joining the court 25 years earlier. She finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2020. Much of Ginsburg’s life is recounted in the excellent 2018 movie “On the Basis of Sex”.

18A Shakespeare hero in the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” : ROMEO

“Love Story” is a 2008 song written and recorded by Taylor Swift. It was inspired by a boy whom she knew, but never dated. After introducing him to family and friends, all of those around her expressed a lot of dislike for him. To Swift, this felt a little like the premise of “Romeo and Juliet”, and so she referenced Shakespeare’s tragedy as she penned the lyrics of “Love Story”.

22A Motto of an intrepid cotton farmer? : I WILL FEAR NO WEEVIL (from “I will fear no evil”)

A weevil is a small beetle known for the damage that it can do to crops. The boll weevil damages cotton plants by laying eggs inside cotton bolls. The young weevils then eat their way out. Some weevils have snouts that are as long as their body.

25A “Fresh Air” broadcaster : NPR

“Fresh Air” is a marvelous radio talk show broadcast on NPR, and hosted by Terry Gross. The first broadcast of the program was made in 1975, with Judy Blank hosting. Terry Gross took over a few months later, and Gross has been presenting and producing the show ever since. I had the privilege of hearing Terry Gross give a talk here in my hometown some years ago. What a fascinating woman she is, full of great stories about her experiences interviewing so many interesting personalities.

33A Presentation on professorial fashion trends? : TWEED TALK (from “TED Talk”)

Tweed is a rough woolen fabric that is very much associated with Scotland in the UK, and with County Donegal in Ireland. The cloth was originally called “tweel”, the Scots word for “twill”. Apparently a London merchant misinterpreted some handwriting in the early 1800s and assumed the fabric was called “tweed”, a reference to the Scottish River Tweed, and the name stuck …

The acronym “TED” stands for “Technology, Entertainment and Design”. TED is a set of conferences held around the world by a non-profit group called the Sapling Foundation. The conference subjects are varied, and the meetings are often led by big names such as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Gates and Jane Goodall. The Sapling Foundation then makes recordings of the conferences available for free online with the intent of disseminating the ideas globally. These conferences are known as “TED Talks”. There are also TEDx events, which are locally-run talks presented under license from TED.

38A Light lunch in a haunted cafe? : COBWEB SALAD (from “Cobb salad”)

Robert H. Cobb owned the Brown Derby chain of restaurants. One of his regular customers was the famous Sid Grauman, who ran Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Late one night, Grauman asked for a snack, and Cobb came up with a chopped salad simply made from ingredients he happened to have in the refrigerator. Grauman liked it so much that he continued to request it, and the Cobb salad was born.

45A Gulliver of “Gulliver’s Travels” : LEMUEL

In the 1726 adventure novel “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift, Gulliver comes across the two islands of Lilliput and Blefuscu in the South Indian Ocean. Both are inhabited by people who are one-twelfth of “normal” size, so Gulliver appears like a giant to them. “Gulliver’s Travels” is well known for its satirical references to real life, and indeed these two islands are poorly disguised satires of Britain (Lilliput) and France (Blefuscu). The two islands were at war, as was constantly the situation with Britain and France.

46A Paris’s Musée d’__ : ORSAY

The Musée d’Orsay is one of the premier museums in Paris, and holds the world’s largest collection of impressionist art. A truly beautiful building, the d’Orsay is a former Beaux-Arts railway station.

54A Some guinea pigs : PETS

The guinea pig species of rodent is also known as a cavy. Guinea pigs aren’t related to pigs, and they are not from Guinea (in West Africa). They actually come from the Andes. Guinea pigs were used widely for research in the 1800s and 1900s, and as a result we use the term “guinea pig” for a test subject to this day.

55A Component of some firm-textured fabrics : WORSTED

Worsted is a high-quality, smooth yarn made from relatively long wool fibers. The name “worsted” comes from the traditional manufacturing center for the yarn in England, i.e. the village of Worstead in the county of Norfolk.

59A Sportage maker : KIA

Kia’s Sportage is a compact SUV that has been manufactured since 1993.

60A Matthew of “Stranger Things” : MODINE

Actor Matthew Modine has basically been a lifelong pacifist. He was offered the lead role of “Maverick” in 1986’s “Top Gun”, but he turned it down because he viewed the script as military propaganda that glamorized the “war machine”. However, he did take on the role of Private “Joker” in Stanley Kubrick’s gritty Vietnam War film “Full Metal Jacket”, just one year later. Kubrick’s movie focused on the dehumanizing effects of basic training and combat, a very different message than that presented in “Top Gun”.

62A First word of “Simple Gifts” : ‘TIS

“Simple Gifts” is a Shaker song from 1848 written by Joseph Brackett. The song became widely popular when Aaron Copland used its melody in the ballet “Appalachian Spring”, first performed in the 1940s.

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come ’round right.

74A Fencing sword : RAPIER

A rapier is a very thin sword with a sharp point that is used to kill and maim by thrusting the point into the body, rather than by slashing.

80A Harvested : GLEANED

Gleaning is the gathering of unharvested grain left in the fields after reaping. Centuries ago, such a process was essential in agricultural societies, allowing the poor to gather food. In parts of Europe, the right to glean was protected by law, thereby creating a basic social welfare system.

86A __ salt : ROCK

Halite is the mineral form of sodium chloride, and is also known as “rock salt”. It is used to melt ice, as salt water has a lower freezing point than pure water. Adding salt to icy sidewalks can therefore cause any ice to melt (as long as the ambient temperature isn’t too low). A mixture of halite and ice can also be used to cool things below the freezing point of water, perhaps to make ice cream.

95A Life, for one : CEREAL

Life breakfast cereal was introduced by Quaker Oats in 1961. Back then, Life contained just whole grain oats. Today’s recipe includes added sugar and flour.

96A Data from a middle school track meet? : TWEEN SPEEDS (from “ten-speeds”)

Ten-speed bikes are characterized by their two front chainrings and five rear cogs providing ten gears. They were also commonly referred to as derailleur bikes or simply road bikes during their heyday in the mid to late 20th century. The term “ten-speed” distinguishes the design from the simpler single-speed or three-speed “cruiser” bikes.

100A “I like the cut of your jib!”? : SWEET SAIL (from “set sail”)

A jib is a triangular sail that is set at the bow of a sailboat.

104A Grocery payment sys. : EBT

Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) is a system that allows government benefit recipients to access their funds through a debit-like card. It is primarily used for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

107A Goddess of peace : IRENE

Eirene (also “Irene”) was the Greek goddess of peace, with “eirene” being the Greek word for “peace”. The Roman equivalent to Eirene was the goddess Pax.

108A Angelic being : SERAPH

A seraph is a celestial being found in Hebrew and Christian writings. The word “seraph” (plural “seraphim”) literally translates as “burning one”. Seraphs are the highest-ranking angels in the Christian tradition, and the fifth-ranking of ten in the Jewish tradition.

120A __ Alamos, New Mexico : LOS

The town of Los Alamos, New Mexico takes its name from the Spanish for “the poplars” or “the cottonwoods”. Famously, it is home to Los Alamos National Laboratory which was founded during WWII to work on the Manhattan Project, the development of the first atomic bomb. The town of Los Alamos didn’t exist as such, until it was planned and constructed to support the employees working on development of the bomb.

121A Yankee manager between Showalter and Girardi : TORRE

As a manager, Joe Torre was part of four World Series wins, all of them with the New York Yankees baseball team. Torre is an Italian American who was born in Brooklyn, New York. During the run up (pun intended!) to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Torre carried the Olympic flame part of the way through Florence in Italy, handing it over to the next runner at the famous Ponte Vecchio. I’d guess that was quite a thrill for him …

123A Marsh wader : EGRET

Egrets are a group of several species of white herons. Many egret species were faced with extinction in the 1800s and early 1900s due to plume hunting, a practice driven by the demand for egret plumes that could be incorporated into hats.

124A Brian of Roxy Music : ENO

Roxy Music is a British band formed by Bryan Ferry, who also served as the lead singer. One of the group’s more famous former band members was Brian Eno, someone who turns up in crosswords far too often …

126A Silly sort : TWIT

“Twit” is a word not used very often here in America. It’s a slang term that used to be quite common in England where it was used for “someone foolish and idiotic”.

127A Summer of disco : DONNA

Donna Summer is known as “The Queen of Disco”, with great hits like “Love to Love You, Baby”, “I Feel Love” and “Hot Stuff”. In the late sixties and early seventies, LaDonna Gaines (her real name) lived and worked in Germany. There she met and married an Austrian actor called Helmuth Sommer. They divorced not long after the marriage, but Donna kept his family name, just changing the “o” to “u” to give her the stage name of “Donna Summer”.

Down

1D Crossword component : GRID

Arthur Wynne is generally credited with the invention of what we now know as a crossword puzzle. Wynne was born in Liverpool, England and emigrated to the US when he was 19-years-old. He worked as a journalist and was living in Cedar Grove, New Jersey in 1913 when he introduced a “Word-Cross Puzzle” in his page of puzzles written for the “New York World”. The first book of crossword puzzles was published by Simon & Schuster, in 1924. The collection of puzzles was a huge hit, and crosswords were elevated to the level of “a craze” in 1924 and 1925.

2D Mike of “Dirty Jobs” : ROWE

Mike Rowe is host of the successful reality show called “Dirty Jobs” that is broadcast by “Discovery Channel”. Rowe is also a spokesperson for Ford Motor Company in a series of television commercials. He is quite the singer too, and he sang professionally with the Baltimore Opera for a while.

4D Site for maligning poor dining : YELP

yelp.com is a website that provides a local business directory and reviews of services. The site is sort of like Yellow Pages on steroids, and the term “yelp” is derived from “yel-low p-ages”.

5D Basis for standard timekeeping : SOLAR DAY

A solar day is the time taken for a planet to rotate completely about its axis so the sun reappears in the same position in the sky. A solar day on Earth is 24 hours. A solar day on Mars is just under 24 hours, and is referred to as a “sol”.

6D Ferret kin : WEASEL

Weasels are small mammals with long, thin bodies. That body shape is an advantage when weasels chase their prey into narrow burrows.

7D Not perfect, as mdse. : IRR

Irregular (“irr.” or “irreg.”)

10D Folk legend Joan : BAEZ

Joan Baez is an American folk singer and a prominent activist in the fields of non-violence, civil rights, human rights and environmental protection. Baez has dated some high-profile figures in her life including Bob Dylan, Steve Jobs (of Apple) and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead.

11D “The African Queen” screenwriter James : AGEE

James Agee was a noted American film critic and screenwriter. Agee wrote an autobiographical novel “A Death in the Family” that won him his Pulitzer in 1958, albeit posthumously. He was also one of the screenwriters for the 1951 classic movie “The African Queen”.

“The African Queen” is a 1935 novel by C. S. Forester that was adapted into a very successful 1951 film of the same name starring Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. The title refers to a steam-powered launch that travels the Ulanga River. The story is set during World War I. At the climax of the tale, the African Queen is used as a makeshift torpedo to sink a German gunboat (spoiler!).

15D Webster who had a way with words : DANIEL

Daniel Webster was a US senator for Massachusetts in the runup to the Civil War, as well as US Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Millard Fillmore, William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. Famously, Webster debated Senator Robert Hayne of South Carolina in an unscripted exchange on the Senate floor in 1830. Webster’s “second reply to Hayne” is regarded by many as the most eloquent speech ever delivered in the US Congress. Included in the speech was his assertion that the US government is “made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people”. These words were echoed by President Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address as “government of the people, by the people, for the people”.

16D Andes grazer : ALPACA

Alpacas are like small llamas, but unlike llamas were never beasts of burden. They were bred specifically for the fleece. As such, there are no known wild alpacas these days, even in their native Peru.

19D Yogi in the Hall of Fame : BERRA

Yogi Berra is regarded by many as the greatest catcher ever to play in Major League Baseball, and has to be America’s most celebrated “author” of malapropisms. Here are some great “Yogi-isms”:

• It ain’t over till it’s over.
• 90% of the game is half mental.
• Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.
• When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
• It’s déjà vu all over again.
• Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t go to yours.
• A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.

23D Authoritative orders : FIATS

A fiat is an arbitrary rule that is imposed. The verb “fiat” is Latin for “let it be done”.

24D Baylor University city : WACO

Baylor is a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas that was founded in 1845, making it the oldest continuously-operating university in the state. Baylor is named for US Congressman and Baptist minister Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, who co-founded the school. The list of Baylor’s past presidents includes Ken Starr, the independent counsel whose investigation led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

33D Former Corvette option : T-TOP

The Chevrolet Corvette was introduced to the world in 1953, and was named after the small maneuverable warship called a corvette. The “Vette” has legs. It is the only American sports car that has been around for over 50 years.

36D “In Praise of Folly” writer : ERASMUS

Dutch humanist and theologian Desiderius Erasmus penned his satirical essay “In Praise of Folly” in just seven days, while recovering from a kidney ailment at the home of his friend, English theologian Sir Thomas More. The Latin title “Moriae Encomium”, is a clever pun on More’s name, translating to “In Praise of More”.

41D “The Bear” award : EMMY

“The Bear” is a comedy-drama TV show that started airing in 2022. It stars Jeremy Allen White (of “Shameless” fame) as a chef from a Michelin-star restaurant who heads home to Chicago to run his family’s sandwich shop after his brother dies. I really enjoyed this one …

47D Do : COIF

A coif is a hairdo. The term “coif” comes from an old French term “coife” describing a skull-cap that was worn under a helmet back in the late 13th century.

48D River of Florence : ARNO

The Arno is the principal river in the Tuscany region of Italy, and passes through the cities of Florence and Pisa. Famously the Arno flooded in 1966, the worst flood in the region for centuries. There were numerous deaths and extensive destruction of priceless art treasures, particularly in Florence.

49D Last words of 18-Across : I DIE
[18A Shakespeare hero in the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” : ROMEO]

In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, the last words uttered by Romeo are:

O true apothecary!
They drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.

Juliet’s last words are:

Yea, noise? then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.

52D Improvise, with “it” : WING …

To wing it is to improvise, to do something without sufficient preparation. There is some debate about the term’s etymology, but I like the idea that it came from the theater. An actor would be described as winging it if he or she learned lines while standing in the wings just before going on stage.

56D __ alcohol : ETHYL

Ethyl alcohol is more usually known as ethanol. It is the alcohol found in intoxicating beverages, and nowadays is also used as a fuel for cars. Ethanol is also found in medical wipes and hand sanitizer, in which it acts as an antiseptic.

58D Sushi pairing : SAKE

We refer to the Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice as “sake”. We’ve gotten things a bit mixed up in the West. “Sake” is actually the word that the Japanese use for all alcoholic drinks. What we know as sake, we sometimes refer to as rice wine. Also, the starch in the rice is first converted to sugars that are then fermented into alcohol. This is more akin to a beer-brewing process than wine production, so the end product is really a rice “beer” rather than a rice “wine”.

63D Uses a colander : STRAINS

A colander is a bowl-shaped utensil with holes in it that is used for draining liquid from food. The term “colander” comes from the Latin word “colum” meaning “sieve”.

65D Skyscraper beams : GIRDERS

According to many, the world’s first skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, Illinois, which was built in 1885. It was 10 stories tall and stood at 42 meters (138 feet). What made the building unique, at the time, was the use of structural steel in the internal frame. That frame bore the weight of each floor, as well as the weight of the external masonry.

66D Cellist Ma : YO-YO

Yo-Yo Ma is a “ma-velous” American cellist who was born in Paris to Chinese parents. Ma started studying the violin when he was very young, working his way up (in size) to the viola and finally to the cello. He has said that he wanted to play the double bass, but it was just too big for his relatively small frame.

67D Cartel founded in Baghdad in 1960 : OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in 1960 at a conference held in Baghdad that was attended by Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Nine more countries joined the alliance soon after, and OPEC set up headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and then Vienna, Austria in 1965. The basic aim of OPEC was to wrest control of oil prices from the oil companies and put it in the hands of the sovereign states that own the natural resource.

72D Saturn or Mercury : CAR

Saturn was a brand of automobile introduced by General Motors (GM) in 1985. The Saturn line was GM’s response to the increase in sales of Japanese imports, and was initially set up as a relatively independent division within the company. Saturn had its own assembly plant, and its own network of retailers.

The Mercury brand of car was made by Ford from 1938 until 2011. Mercury was introduced by Henry Ford’s son Edsel Ford. Mercury vehicles were positioned as being more luxurious that the regular Ford models, and more economical than Ford’s high-end Lincoln models.

81D “To __ is human … ” : ERR

Alexander Pope’s 1709 poem “An Essay on Criticism” is the source of at least three well-known quotations:

• A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.
• To err is human, to forgive divine.
• For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

83D Draft status : ONE-A

The US government maintains information on all males who are potentially subject to military conscription, using what is called the Selective Service System (SSS). In the event that a draft was held, men registered would be classified into groups to determine eligibility for service. Class 1-A registrants are those available for unrestricted military service. Other classes are 1-A-O (conscientious objector available for noncombatant service), 4-A (registrant who has completed military service) and 4-D (Minister of religion).

84D Actor Morales : ESAI

Esai Morales is an American actor, as well as a skilled musician who can play multiple instruments. Morales was originally interested in pursuing a career in music and played in a band called “The Plan” before he turned his attention to acting. He has incorporated his musical talents into some of his acting roles. For example, in the film “La Bamba,” which tells the story of the late musician Ritchie Valens, Morales portrayed Valens’ half-brother Bob, and played the guitar and sang in several scenes.

85D Hawk : SELL

The verb “to hawk” has a Germanic origin, and comes from the Low German word “hoken” meaning “to peddle”. A hawker is actually slightly different from a peddler by definition, as a hawker is a peddler that uses a horse and cart, or a van nowadays perhaps, to sell their wares.

87D Vox co-founder Ezra : KLEIN

Ezra Klein is a journalist and blogger who writes for “The Washington Post”, “Bloomberg” and “MSNBC”. Klein’s contribution at “The Washington Post” is the most-read blog that the paper publishes.

“Vox” is a news and opinion website that was founded by former “Washington Post” journalist Ezra Klein in 2014. “Vox” is Latin for “voice”.

94D Basic interface for a PC : USB PORT

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard dealing with how computers and electronic devices connect and communicate, and dealing with electrical power through those connections.

95D Civil rights activist Chavez : CESAR

César Chávez was a Mexican American farm worker, and co-founder of the union today known as the United Farm Workers. Chávez was born in Yuma, Arizona, but moved to California as a child with his family. He never attended high school, dropping out to become a full-time migrant farm worker. In 1944, at 17 years of age, he joined the US Navy and served for two years. 5-6 years after returning from the military, back working as a farm laborer, Chávez became politically active and rose to national attention as an articulate union leader during some high profile strikes. He is remembered annually here in California on his birthday, March 31, which is a state holiday.

97D “It’s time, everyone! Break a leg!” : WE’RE ON!

There are many, many colorful theories for the origins of the expression “break a leg” that’s used in the world of theater to mean “good luck”. Regardless of the origin, what is clear is that using the phrase “good” luck is considered to be very “bad” luck.

99D Part of CODA : DEAF

Child of deaf adult (CODA)

102D Judy Jetson’s brother : ELROY

“The Jetsons” is an animated show from Hanna-Barbera that had its first run in 1962-1963, and then was recreated in 1985-1987. When it debuted in 1963 on ABC, “The Jetsons” was the network’s first ever color broadcast. “The Jetsons” is like a space-age version of “The Flintstones”. The four Jetson family members are George and Jane, the parents, and children Judy and Elroy. Residing with the family in Orbit City are their household robot Rosie and pet dog Astro.

108D Organic fluids : SERA

Blood serum (plural “sera”) is the clear, yellowish part of blood i.e. that part which is neither a blood cell nor a clotting factor. Included in blood serum are antibodies, the proteins that are central to our immune system. Blood serum from animals that have immunity to a particular disease can be transferred to another individual, hence providing that second individual with some level of immunity. Blood serum used to pass on immunity can be called “antiserum”.

109D Wyatt of Tombstone : EARP

Wyatt Earp is famous as one of the participants in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Earp was a city policeman in Wichita, Kansas and also in Dodge City, Kansas. Earp was also deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona where the O.K. Corral gunfight took place. Years later, Earp joined the Alaska Gold Rush and with a partner built and operated the Dexter Saloon in Nome.

The Arizona town of Tombstone built up around a mine that was owned by one Ed Schieffelin. Schieffelin had been told by US soldiers stationed in the area that the only stone (ore sample) he would find in the area was his tombstone. Regardless, he did file a claim, and it was centered on the grave site of one of his men who had been killed by Apaches. Schieffelin filed papers under the name “the Tombstone claim”.

112D Golden Fleece ship : ARGO

The Golden Fleece was the fleece of a winged ram made from pure gold that was held by King Aeëtes in Colchis, a kingdom on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. The fleece is central to the tale of Jason and the Argonauts, who set out on a quest to steal the fleece by order of King Pelias.

115D “Tell Mama” singer James : ETTA

“Tell Mama” is a 1967 song recorded by Etta James that was written by singer Clarence Carter. Carter had released a 1966 version of the song himself, under the original title “Tell Daddy”.

119D Journalist Velshi of MS NOW : ALI

Ali Velshi is a television journalist from Canada who joined MSNBC (rebranded MS NOW) in 2016, after having worked with CNN and Al Jazeera America.