Those three come from dramatically different moods, oddly enough. The first two are ethnographic, the third one analytical—I didn't choose them that way, but those approaches tend to produce my best work. The third piece led directly to my Columbine book, though I had been conceiving that project for years.

"Don't ask, don't tell, don't fall in love" won a GLAAD Media Award. And it may be the only title I ever wrote for a magazine story. The line came as I contemplated what the piece was about. The policy wasn't keeping these guys out of the service, or even putting a dent in their sex lives. But it was destroying all hope of having a boyfriend.