Community Corner

We Interrupt This Patch Site for a Birthday Greeting

We are one year wiser. Before we get on to our next story, let's take a quick look back.

I never really knew how much I loved this town.

I also never knew how easy it would be for the towns to love me back.

If there's been one thing I'm most thankful for at the end of my first year as editor of your daily online community news site, it's the way this job has forced me to jump head-first into everything Rochester. I've learned about the people and about the politics. I've learned what inspires city leaders and what motivates volunteers. 

Find out what's happening in Rochester-Rochester Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Thank you for being part of my education.

It's been a busy year. Here's a look back:

Find out what's happening in Rochester-Rochester Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Patch-say-what?

  • Number of Patch sites in Michigan when Rochester Patch launched on Oct. 22, 2010: 1 (Plymouth Patch)
  • Number of Michigan Patch sites now: 29 (among almost 900 across the country)
  • Question I'm most often asked when I say I'm with Rochester Patch: "How do you spell that?"
  • Greatest greeting I've ever received while out and about: "So you're the girl who tells us what to do every day?"

The assignments

  • The most fun I never thought I'd have on a Patch assignment: covering the district and regional in Lake Orion
  • My wildest ride: Aboard a after one of the worst snowstorms this year. The highlight came when the snowplow delivered me back home and my daughter, out playing on a snowbank, waved matter-of-factly and said to her neighbor friend, "Oh, that's just my mom in a snowplow."
  • My toughest ride: o around Rochester.
  • Most unlikely debate: the one between the self-proclaimed
  • Most commented-on story: , a preview of a legislative update to the Rochester Board of Education
  • Number of times we've mentioned "cupcake" in a Patch story: 53

The people

  • Person who always returns my calls (or answers them on the first ring): Debbi Hartman, the community relations director at Rochester Community Schools
  • Person who never answers the phone or returns my calls: Hmmm. We'll keep her identity secret for one more year (and assume she has a good excuse).
  • Person who always makes me smile when I run into him around town: Pat McKay (he's the director of the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm)
  • Person whose name I'm proud to say I've never misspelled: Rochester City Manager Jaymes Vettraino
  • Person I probably never would have met if not for Patch: , the Rochester Hills City councilman who passed away earlier this month
  • People whose stories have inspired me the most: . . . . .
  • The most enlightening group I've ever hung with on a Friday morning: The at Classic Lanes. These men wouldn't leave me alone and they were a riot.

The future

  • Big story I'm most excited to work on: The upcoming GOP national debate on the campus of Oakland University
  • Little story I'm most excited to make a big deal about: the one I'm writing about the 65-year-old Rochester grandma who is also a college freshman
  • Building I look forward to chronicling as this town builds it: the at the
  • Tour I can't wait to go on: the behind-the-scenes beer-brewing tour at

Thanks to all the writers and bloggers; the readers who comment and the readers who hold their comments back; and to all who have shared their photos and stories with us.

Now, on to Year No. 2.


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