A longtime journalist and magazine editor, Rod has done time at The Associated Press, The Texas Observer, Time Inc.'s Cooking Light, D Magazine, Rocky Mountain News, San Antonio Express-News, and the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance. He is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, PEN America, and has served on the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle. He taught in the English department at the University of Texas and Southern Methodist University and was a cofounder of the first system-wide veteran service program at the Texas A&M University System. He is working on a new novel and a film project based in Juárez.