QUICK QUESTIONNAIRE: Kara Snow

Kara Snow is Executive Editor of San Diego Coastal Newspapers, which includes La Jolla Light, Del Mar Times, Solana Beach Sun, Carmel Valley Leader, and Rancho Santa Fe Record.

What's your favorite place?

The North Wall Bar in Zermatt, Switzerland, after a long day skiing in the shadow of the Matterhorn.

What's your favorite movie?

"Casablanca." Cheesy, huh?

What book has had the most impact on you?

"Everything We Had," an oral history of the Vietnam War by 33 American soldiers. I read it in eighth grade, and it extinguished forever any romantic notions of war I may have entertained.

Which words or phrases do you tend to overuse?

"You must be willing to kill your babies." To writers about those beautiful phrases we craft for a story that end up not fitting anywhere. William Faulkner said it first.

What's your addiction?

Traveling, experiencing new cultures, learning new things.

Whose shoes would you like to walk in for a day?

Richard Feynman's, in the days of the Manhattan Project.

If you could have any other profession, what would it be?

Believe it or not, a San Diego cop. Or a social anthropologist. Same thing, really,

What topic gets you the most fired up?

The purely selfish, pedantic argument against gay marriage.

What one hidden truth would you most like to uncover?

How to live forever.

What's your motto?

"Who needs sleep? We'll sleep when we're dead."

Posted Jan. 2007