Steve is an accomplished professional writer with a comprehensive background in media and journalism, including more than 25 years as a reporter and editor for several high-end publications and journals.
He reflects:
“If not for Peter Accardi, some things might’ve been different. Pasted to the wall behind his seat was Peter’s homemade sign that read, ‘You’re foolish to be objective.’ That was a mantra one wouldn’t expect from the editor-in-chief of a liberal university newspaper.
“But I reflected on it now and again during my decades of work and found that I had often strayed from the ‘just the facts, ma’am’ formula of reporting and writing. Being pedantic was much more fun.
“My focus while at Northeastern was on honing my ‘craft’ (George Frazier, a Boston Globe columnist, told me that journalism was not a profession, it was a craft) at the Boston Globe. Mostly I made coffee runs and wrote obits and an occasional record review. As a co-op student, I thought that would help me slide into a staff job there after graduation. It didn’t.
“So in 1974 I was offered a job with Rupert Murdoch’s fledgling weekly, the National Star. I moved to New York City with great reservations but have lived here ever since. The Murdoch job lasted six months, but the segue — at Newsday on Long Island — became a long-running event. I was general assignment editor, music editor, travel writer, tech columnist. Talk about honing your craft.
“There were other stops along the way, including a stint at Advertising Age covering the auto industry. Lately, I’ve been entertaining my passion for that subject as a regular/irregular freelance contributor to the Wheels page of The New York Times. Not much objectivity there.
“I was married in the ’80s to the lovely Marta, whom I met on a night bus in London. Two daughters emerged. Sometimes I visit one of them, Isobel, who lives in London. I stay off the buses.”
Steve Williams graduated from Northeastern University in 1971 with a degree in Liberal Arts.