Zay N. Smith started the QT column after reporting that ranged from serving as night bartender and writer for the Sun-Times Mirage Tavern investigation to travels with datelines ranging from Bamiyan, Afghanistan, to Siem Reap, Cambodia, as well as Las Vegas.

The winner of a sufficient number of awards to keep him happy, Smith covered the first two pilgrimages of Pope John Paul II to Poland and was the first to write of superteacher Marva Collins and Chicago's Westside Prep School.

Smith, who was born in Chicago, is a graduate of Lawrence University, attended graduate school at the University of Iowa and has taught from time to time at Northwestern University. He has two teenaged sons, one a trombone player and the other a second baseman.