Jon Tevlin

It's hard to believe that a man who quit his first journalism job to lead tourists around the country could go on to become a metro columnist at a major daily newspaper. But that's Star Tribune columnist Jon Tevlin.

From starting at small dailies in weird towns to getting a break from New York Times columnist David Carr, Jon has had a unique journey in the news business. He talks about his friend the murderer, overcoming obstacles to get hired at the Strib, what you learn at alt-weeklies and magazines that you can't pick up elsewhere and how he kicks people in the nuts who don't return his phone calls -- a lovely conversation.