Drew Brown is many things, but perhaps best known as a political journalist who farm teamed with The Scope and The Overcast, before going to work with Vice up in Canada.

Tell Us Something About You Maybe No One Knows

When I was 19, I ran a jokey blog about Newfoundland politics under the pseudonym Richard Raleigh. It was terrible, but it got me my first paid writing gig, and it caused Ivan Morgan at the old print edition of The Independent to have a meltdown in the paper about it. He assumed I used a fake name because I was a coward, but really it was because I knew no one would take a 19 year old seriously about politics. Social media here used to be like the Wild West. It was great.

Tell Us a Tic of Yours That May Bother Your Boss Or Partner.

I am physiologically incapable of responding to an email or a text in a timely fashion. Honestly, surprised I still have friends/ family/a job.

If Reincarnation is Real, and It’s Up to You, You’ll Come Back as What, and Why?

Definitely a bear. They are big fuzzy pillars of strength that just wander around eating all the time and wrecking lesser animals. And then they sleep for 5 months. Bears are God’s most noble creature.

Share a Vacation Destination You’ve Enjoyed and Recommend.

The Canadian Rockies. They’re breathtaking – seeing the mountains for the first time, like the sea, really puts the size of your human life into perspective.

Why Do You Do What You Do for a Living?

I ask myself this question a lot. If I figure it out I’ll let you know.

What Would You Maybe Rather Be Doing for a Living?

I always wanted to go to divinity school. Maybe someday.

What’s a Go to Meal or Snack for You?

Pickled eggs. Good hit of protein, and if you get a good brine going, when you bite into that yolk – man. But they are best consumed alone, in shame.

Last Netflix Binge? Would You Recommend It?

My wife and I have been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer since January. We just finished season 5. Everybody should watch this show.

What Can Be Done Right Now to Make the World a Better Place?

As the great American poet John Petrucci once said, “Living comes much easier once we admit we’re dying.”

Best & Worst Thing about Living in NL?

Best: the people
Worst: the people

What Qualities Do You Admire Most in a Romantic Partner?

I like women who are smart, pretty, funny, genuinely nice, stylish, and chubby. It’s worked out pretty well for me.

Name Someone You Deem Admirable, and Why?

Gerry Porter, man. Sharpest wit and gentlest soul in St. John’s, and appreciated all my Enver Hoxha jokes. A real mensch. I still think about him a lot.

Share an Experience That Changed Your View on the World.

It was the summer of 2008. I had just started taking antidepressants and was freshly out of a bad relationship and reading a lot of Marxist philosophy. There was a lot of stuff going on. But I was on a bus going down Bonaventure Avenue and suddenly, like, I felt the scales drop from my eyes. I had this sudden realization – or maybe revelation, I don’t know – that actually, people should live their own lives on their own terms, and that all the barriers in our way are self-imposed. Like, social norms are human products, as are the degrading and exploitative economic conditions they justify and which most of us are trapped in. I dunno. That was the day I realized the true depth of human dignity and that a better world was possible, I guess. It was a strange experience where my outlook on life completely changed. I try not to forget it.