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Benoit Denizet-Lewis is our kinda guy. Not only is the 29 year-old New York Times Magazine contributing writer willing to talk to us, but he's the only writer for that magazine we can imagine writing:

"I also loved fraternity parties—my friends and I spent many weekend nights stumbling from one fraternity kegger to the next. And as much as I liked to mock fraternity guys, I desperately wanted to belong to something."

(Okay, maybe we can see Matthew Klam saying something like that, too...)

And, with his baby face and hipster head-wear, he's probably the only Times Magazine writer who's been asked, "Dude, you're the reporter dude, right?," as he was on his latest assignment.

Since at least two thirds of Gawker's editorial staff thinks Denizet-Lewis is a "hottie," we emailed him a few questions about this weekend's Times Magazine cover story, Ban of Brothers, all about "dry" fraternities. He was nice enough to answer them even though he's currently on the West Coast.

Matt: Talk a little bit about your method. The things you've written about (Black men "on the down low," teenagers' sex lives—both stories available in PDF, here—and now fraternities) exist in completely closed worlds. How do you penetrate them (so to speak), and how do you get the quotes and scenes without losing your subjects' trust?

Benoit: My "method," if I have one, is really about hanging out as much as possible with the people I'm writing about, but always knowing when to give them some space before they get annoyed with me. I'm pretty good, I think, at knowing when to back off. My goal is also to get the subjects I'm writing about to forget that I'm a reporter. Because once they do that, they drop the bullshit facade. I think that my age, 29 (and the fact that people guess me to be anywhere between 19 and 25) helps, especially when I'm writing about young people. When I'm dealing with older subjects, it can get a little weird at times, with them asking me what college newspaper I write for. With that said, my age really is an advantage there, too, because they often underestimate me.

I'm also very willing to open about my own life with subjects I'm writing about, which often makes them feel comfortable opening up to me. I don't see the "hanging out" process as one where they talk and talk and talk, and I just sit there nodding.

Matt: This seems to be your most personal piece for The Times Magazine so far. You talk about your dad's fraternity experience and your own. Late in the piece, you actually come out as a gay former fraternity member. Your experience didn't seem as bad as a lot of people might expect. Can you talk a bit about the homoeroticism of fraternity life?

Benoit: Let's just say I wasn't the only gay member of my chapter at Northwestern. I was the only one that came out, but there were several others. And then there was also my best friend in the house, who was straight, but very much wanted to be bisexual, because he thought, and I can't blame him, that being bisexual would give him twice as many options, and he liked options. I could write a whole book about the homoeroticism of fraternities. But I will say that pretty much every gay former frat boy I've ever met (and I've met plenty) has a story or two about having drunken sex with a fraternity brother.

Matt: Compared to your 'down low' and teen sex pieces, this is almost an anti-scare piece. Those pieces seemed designed to scare the hell out of people (Black women, parents), but this one, besides the requisite stats and photos that make fraternities look like they're stuck in some sort of 'Animal House' time warp, your outlook is surprisingly rosy. Was that a conscious decision? Because there have been reports of fraternity deaths as recently as today.

Benoit: I've never written a piece because I wanted to scare the hell out of people. That still might come, but I haven't written that piece yet. Interestingly, my cover piece about teens and hooking up scared more people over 35, but just about anyone under that age read it very differently. They were more amused than scared. My down low piece did scare a lot of people, but that wasn't by design. My goal is to interest readers, not scare them.
Benoit Denizet-Lewis [official site]
Ban of Brothers [NYT Magazine]