David Swick is an attentive and passionate professor whose journalistic work guides his teaching, appealing to his students and earning him this issue’s faculty of the month. I got the chance to sit down with the J-school’s favourite wordsmith, to chat about everything — from being a news-junkie to Joan Didion.
Madeleine Hurley: How do you feel about being nominated as this month’s faculty of the month?
David Swick: I think it’s wonderfully fun that I had to leave to be honoured in this way, since I’m not at the school this term. Right now, the only award I keep on display in my home office is an award I received in 2009 from that graduating class. It’s a wine bottle spray painted gold, and in the gold paint there are words scratched into it that say, “Prof I’d most like to get high with.” I said something about how I was deeply touched and everybody laughed, but it was true.
MH: What is your favourite thing about teaching journalism?
DS: I worked in journalism for more than 20 years and did a little bit of everything, such as working for newspapers and CBC radio, so I liked jumping all around. It wasn’t until I was invited into King’s to give a guest lecture on interviewing, and to my shock, [I realized] I loved it. I didn’t understand that teachers learned so much; and learning is half the fun of being alive. I try to treat the students in a professional setting and speak to them deeply one on one. So, I find it really rewarding and it’s an absolute delight when you see students improve and recognize in themselves that they are growing as writers and people.
MH: What initially made you want to pursue journalism in the first place?
DS: As a very young child, I was an avid newspaper reader. I was so short that I couldn’t hold the newspaper, so I would lie on the floor on my belly and move the newspaper up and down. I alarmed my parents when I was about nine or 10 because every night, I would show up at the dinner table and say something like, “hey, did you hear about that axe murderer in Iowa who chopped up his family?” My parents were worried about the influence of this and gave me a rule that I was not allowed to read the newspaper. Instead, I read it at school, so journalists find a way.
MH: What’s your favourite music to listen to?
DS: My favourite musician is a guy from Texas named James McMurtry. I’ve loved him for about 25 years and he’s a sensitive, brilliant songwriter who deals with topical issues as well as affairs of the heart. I’m also a big lover of Sinéad O’Connor. I read her autobiography, and I’ve been listening to her ever since she was about 18. I think she has the most wonderful voice and fascinating character.
MH: What do you like to do in your spare time?
DS: I’m a big reader. If I can get away with it, I’ll read a couple hours most days. I love both fiction and non-fiction. Journalists can learn a lot about writing well from carefully analyzing great fiction. Every year since the early ‘80s, I’ve declared a book of the year, and in the year that just passed, I declared Montreal Stories by Mavis Gallant as my book of the year. Mavis was a Montreal writer and for most of her adult life, she lived in Paris, and she’s just a wonderful fiction writer. Right now, I’m on a big kick with a Chilean novelist named Roberto Bolaño.
MH: If you could have any kind of superpower, what would it be?
DS: I think it would be to always, no matter the circumstance, approach everyone with an open heart. Journalism is a wonderful thing to do since it’s fun to know the truth about a bunch of things, but it can also be a challenging thing to do. You learn that the way the world operates is not sweetness and light all the time and that can grind you down. I’ve always suggested to journalism students to not become cynical but to become critically minded.
MH: Do you have any favourite journalists in particular?
DS: Martha Gellhorn and Joan Didion would be two of the brightest lights in my personal constellation. I’ve learned a lot about them and from them by reading their books. I also had the pleasure of interviewing Didion, both on the phone and in New York. I liked her even more after those interviews.
MH: Do you have any advice for young journalists in the program here at King’s?
DS: Some students think that as they become a journalist, their ethics will suffer and they will have to compromise and be less principled. Having that attitude and misconception is a bad idea because journalism will make you more human. Keep focusing to make sure you are not becoming cynical and that you continue to recognize that journalism is a crucial part of a functioning democracy and that we are ultimately public servants. In doing professional journalism, it enriches you as a person and makes you more human overall.
