The question that used to throw me was why anyone would leave The New York Times, as I did, after only six years at the famed newspaper. And after years of muttering and wincing through reunions and family gatherings, while trying yet again to explain what exactly it is that I do for a living, out popped, “I have a fully funded curiosity.” I do, and getting from the Times to here is a leap that I’ve never regretted.