National Journal
After he wrote about interviewing presidents with his son Tyler, Ron Fournier heard from lots from people whose kids also have Asperger's syndrome. But he was surprised by how many people who reacted were "Parents seizing on the story as a reminder to strike a work-life balance."

"I read every word of your story," wrote Rich Matthews, a former colleague of mine at the Associated Press. "And the whole time I said to myself, "Am I a good dad?" How do my kids feel when they are looking me in the eye talking to me and I'm reading 'an important' e-mail on the Blackberry?"

Reached by phone, Fournier says the story "easily was the hardest article I’ll ever write, and one of the reasons was I’m not used to writing in the first person." But it "wasn’t the voice but the subject matter" that gave him the most trouble.

The piece, Fournier says, was his wife's idea, and he'd originally conceived it as a book proposal. The best way to get a book agent, he thought, was to write a magazine article. He first turned in the piece to Adam B. Kushner, then the magazine's deputy editor, a couple months ago, Fournier says. (more...)