It's Not About Me, It's About You

Hello and welcome to Patch Chat. This is a new weekly feature we are going to do every week that will serve as a dialogue between me (the editor) and you (the reader).

Tuesday actually marks the four-month anniversary of the site. At Patch, time does fly and it seems like forever ago that I was rushing from the Homecoming Pep Rally at Catonsville High School with a notebook full of quotes to post just before the site went live at 3 p.m.

I’ve been in journalism since my freshman year of high school. Working with Patch is by far the most exciting job I’ve had in my career.

There are several things that make the model of Patch different in the journalism world, and that's part of what I like about the company; we’re always changing and growing.

If you are a regular reader of the site, you’ll know that we update it several times a day. We are also on Facebook and Twitter. You may also see many other people’s names on the site besides mine.

In addition to the writing that I do, I also oversee a team of reporters, photographers and writers who live and work in Catonsville. That has been one of the best things about this job--hiring people who live right here in Catonsville to do some amazing work.

This also gets to my core philosophy when I think about my role as editor of Catonsville Patch: It’s not about me.

I edit the site, manage the site and am responsible for the body of work on the site. But it’s really about you. It’s about what stories you want to read, what photos you want to look at, what events you have going on and what businesses you’re spending your money on. That's why we created a site that is very open to users and that is also why we employ so many contributors from Catonsville.

One of the biggest things that makes Patch different from other media outlets is that we designed a site that engages with the community. It’s very open. Not only can you comment on stories, but you can add your own photos.

For example, let's say you were you at the on Saturday night? Did you take a great photo of your senior prom date 30 years later? Add it to the insightful column that Cheryl Dunigan wrote on the event.

Earlier today, a reader posted some Really love a Catonsville eatery? Let us know why by writing your own assessment and posting it for your friends and family on our site; the whole community will benefit from your good taste.

You can also just shout on the homepage if you happen to drive by an accident or there is a story you want me to look into.

A huge part of my job is connecting with people in Catonsville in ways beyond the stories I write. The site isn’t just about me delivering news to you, it’s about you sharing what’s going on in your corner of Catonsville.

So poke around, try some things and feel free to drop me a phone call or an email if you have any questions. Here's a story we did a few months back explaining all of the things .

Thanks as always for reading!