Beth Lawton, Patch Staff

I owe my passion for writing and journalism to one very tough high school English teacher -- the kind every student dreads having as a teacher but comes to appreciate later in life. 

My interest in community journalism, more specifically, started while I was an undergrad at Washington University in St. Louis. After college, I worked for a print-based community newspaper group in northern St. Louis County, Mo., but quickly I came to realized that online journalism is really the future of community news, and I went to grad school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University with this in mind. 

I've worked on the online side of print publications, for stand-alone news websites and for start-ups in the several Midwest states before my husband and I took advantage of an opportunity to live in the U.S. Virgin Islands for a year.  Upon returning (which a much-diminished tolerance for cold weather), I spent a few years at the Newspaper Association of America in Arlington, Va. studying how newspapers are using digital media to reach out to new audiences.

My husband and I, and our beagle-lab mix, Chloe, live in a fixer-upper in Alexandria, Va. When I'm not working (for Patch.com or on the house), I enjoy biking, hiking and running, gardening, and exploring new areas and restaurants. I like being outdoors and I love living in this area of Northern Virginia. 

I am excited to join the Patch.com family and help bring online community journalism to your neighborhood. 

<b>Your Beliefs</b><br>At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.<br><br><b>Politics </b><br>How would you describe your political beliefs? I&#39;m socially very liberal, and a little bit more economically conservative.

Are you registered with a certain party? Democratic party.<br><br><b>Religion</b><br>How religious would you consider yourself? (casual, observant, devout, non religious)  I&#39;m generally non-religious, though I was raised Catholic and still enjoy participating in major holidays.<br><b><br>Local Hot-Button Issues</b><br>What do you think are the most important issues facing the community?  Traffic/transportation and education are two major issues facing many communities in Northern Virginia.

Where do you stand on each of these issues?  We all know traffic can be really bad in Northern Virginia. I usually drive a hybrid vehicle, and I take advantage of public transportation when it&#39;s convenient to do so. I used to occasionally bike to work and I don&#39;t mind walking places.

On education: I don&#39;t have children (yet), but I do want them to attend good local, public schools.