Happy Birthday to Catonsville Patch!

It's hard to believe it's been a year since Catonsville Patch went live, less than three months after I was by Patch to run the hyperlocal news site. On October 8, 2010, we had a quick story and photos from Catonsville High School's Homecoming as our lead story, less than three hours after the event ended.

A few months later, we covered the Baltimore-area man who was caught trying to set a bomb off at the on Baltimore National Pike. We celebrated with this touching piece by one of our . We were there when a in Catonsville opened and also there when it .

We've covered , , , and an . If we weren't at the scene of something we'd link out to the competition's story. We've taken some of what's going on around town and we were all over the .

But we've also been a place where you can discuss things important to your community, whether it is , or .

Patch has also been the place where you have shared your with everyone, found a , or shared an event.

I've also about how the site is just as much yours as it is mine.

If you've read about my you know that I've been doing journalism for a while. What I love about this job is the partnership with the community that it involves. For journalism to succeed in this fast-pased Internet world, it has to involve connecting more with the stakeholders in the community.

Well, a year after our site launched I am even more excited and optimistic about the future of Patch. And I truly love being the editor of the Catonsville site.

Thank you for showing me around town, sharing your stories and constantly peppering me with ideas. I look forward to another year living in this community together!