Joining La Mesa Patch After Having Admired it From the Other Side

I love La Mesa Patch! I don’t even live in La Mesa—I reside in El Cajon—but during the past year, I have found myself drawn to Patch news coverage countless times. Yes, I may appear to be biased when saying this since my blog posting is appearing in the Patch itself. But, please know that I make this endorsement out of my own volition and without any sort of financial benefit.

One of the first Patch stories that I remember reading was when a co-worker of mine had the scary incident of her husband suffering a this past fall. This was a story that wouldn’t have necessarily made sense to be featured by a news source as big as the Union-Tribune, but it was surely of interest to locals who attended the festival and went home concerned about the well-being of a fellow community member.

On a lighter note, after having stopped in at La Mesa Village’s All Things Bright and British the afternoon after Prince William’s royal wedding, I enjoyed reading a Patch story about the shop that went up later the same day. It was fun to read  that I had missed by half a day.

Even writing tonight, as I look forward to tomorrow’s farmers market, which premieres in its new location, I find myself referencing a . While I’ll be sure to stop by our favorite Baba Foods vendor, I can’t wait to check out the “five new hot-food vendors,” and I’m also curious to see the promised arts and crafts section.

The hometown intimacy of the La Mesa Patch has become most apparent to me just today. Late last night, I noticed a tweet from one of my favorite local tweeters @LaMesaPatch: “Arianna Huffington invites bloggers to join Team Patch (including La Mesa). http://patch.com/A-hkqH.” My first reaction was complete surprise about Huffington’s association with Patch, and so I definitely had to click on the link to read more about the Web venture’s history. After that, I forwarded the tweet to myself and quickly fell asleep.

This morning, I had forgotten all about Patch, Huffington, and her invitation for bloggers, that is, until I found the forwarded link in my inbox. On a whim, I emailed La Mesa Patch editor , and to my pleasure, he responded, kindly welcoming me to blog and promptly providing me instructions to get started. I find it incredible that less than a day after reading a single tweet before bed, I have the opportunity to now share a blog posting with the Patch community.

What I see as an opportunity, others may view more cynically. @LaMesaPatch’s invitation tweet to bloggers was met with a single reply: “She obviously likes free content.” While I have to give credit that this response made me chuckle, I am happy to line up as one of the first free content providers. Blogging is a hobby of mine, a stress reliever, and a creative outlet. I’ve never expected to make money off of blogging. I am simply happy when anyone even bothers to read what I’ve written, and the greatest payment of all is if they have enjoyed it.

My thanks go to Ken Stone for his warm reception today, and also to Arianna Huffington for the initial invitation to provide a platform for local voices. I look forward to sharing my family’s adventures in La Mesa and East County, and I can’t wait to read what other local bloggers add to the conversation, as well. Go Team Patch!