Menlo Park Patch Welcome Video

I'm Vanessa Castañeda, editor of Menlo Park Patch. 

I'm stoked about the launch of the site, and hope you will be too. What do you think about the site? Are you a fan of any particular story?  Do you know someone affected by a story that I should talk to?  

Okay, so that was a lot of questions. Let me tell you about myself and what I want Menlo Park Patch to do before I start pinging you with questions.

I'm originally from the Austin, Texas area, but I moved to the bay last year to get my masters in communication from Stanford University. I've won awards for my journalism from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists.  

My news philosophy is simple: Ask more questions, and dig deeper into the public documents that illuminate the story. 

What I want to do with Menlo Park Patch is foster the growth of an online community that's an accurate reflection of the physical community.   I really want to focus on philanthropy, technology, and business issues that are so important here in Silicon Valley. 

This place is so rad.  I mean, where else can you take your laptop to a park, plug in your air card to modify a spreadsheet in the cloud, and not have anyone look at you like you're weird?

I know this is going to take a bit of time, and a lot of energy.  That's why I can't do it without you.

When you see my silver macbook with the Patch sticker on it, come over and say hi.  And if you think I should do a news story on something, tell me.  I welcome your ideas.