Email christines@patch.com

Phone 631-276-1679

Welcome video: http://patch.com/A-v3q

Hometown Levittown, NY

Current City East Setauket, NY

Birthday August 14

Bio

I was a vivacious eighth grader, just 12 years old, when I wrote my first newspaper article for The Levittown Tribune. I immediately loved the feeling of seeing my byline in print, and from then on made it my goal to be a reporter.

Years later, when I was attending Hofstra University as a journalism major, I read a book called Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol. It was not an assignment for a journalism class, but rather for an anthropology class, and I realized that becoming a journalist felt right for reasons other than the thrill of getting a simple byline. The book chronicled the disparities in the public education system in New York and New Jersey, and after reading it I began to aspire to tell stories that would inform people about the world around them.

I finished my B.A. at Hofstra in just three years, graduating in 2002 near the top of my class as the journalism department's Student of the Year and a member of the Lambda Pi Eta Communication Honor Society. I studied under two-time Pulitzer winning journalist Bob Greene, who liked to bring bulging trash bags into the classroom and as an exercise in investigative reporting would ask the class to dig through the trash to find out exactly whose trash he had taken!

I served a semester as the Editor in Chief of The Chronicle at Hofstra University, and interned on the news desk at Newsday. I worked two ten-month stints on the sports desk at Newsday, followed by a brief foray into marketing and public relations and a retail career with a certain nationally-known chain of coffee shops. I returned to the field of journalism in 2007 as a production editor at the American Institute of Physics before joining Patch.com in June of 2010.

Your Beliefs

Politics

I'm a registered Democrat, but I believe in voting to support specific issues and policies rather than party loyalties. I would describe myself an independent thinker.

Religion

I am Catholic, but I do not describe myself as strictly religious. I am able to appreciate all forms of religion, as my family is multiculturally diverse with several different religious affiliations among us.

Local Hot-Button Issues

I personally believe that curbing the "Brain Drain" trend is essential to the economic sustainability of Long Island. The high cost of living and lack of legal affordable housing have caused many young people to leave the area, thus draining the region's workforce of young, educated talent. I believe that Long Island residents, politicians, and businesses must work together to find a solution. As Three Village showed an increase in the average age of its residents with the latest Census results, I believe the Brain Drain trend is an issue that will impact this area.