Meet Los Gatos Patch's First Bloggers

It's a special day at Los Gatos Patch!

Today we officially rolled out our blogging module, which will allow local voices to speak to you directly on a variety of interesting issues. We hope you like what they have to say and engage in conversation with them to further enlighten us with different points of view and extra information.

Our bloggers are different than our columnists in that they aren't paid and they own the rights to their posts and other assets they contribute with their submissions, even if they're published on Patch. Editors don't edit bloggers and bloggers don't take assignments from editors.

The blogging module is different than the news module. Los Gatos Patch will showcase both just like its parent online publication the Huffington Post. 

If you want to go straight to the blogs and skip the news, click on the news tab at the top-left of the home page, then choose the last item on the drop-down menu, "Local Voices." 

Most of you already know our bloggers. They are important voices in our community. They are town residents who have deep connections. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to them for blogging on the Patch platform. We encourage you to visit their sites or correspond with them through Facebook and Twitter, where they'll be sharing their posts as well. 

Alastair Dallas

Alastair Dallas has lived in Los Gatos for more than 20 years, where he and his wife, local architect Peggy Dallas, took three children through local schools. Alastair joined the Kiwanis Club of Los Gatos in 1996, published Los Gatos Observed in 1999, and served on the Los Gatos Community Services Commission for six years. In May 2006, he created the Los Gatos Observer, an online news source. Visit his blog at http://allthingslosgatos.com.

Judi Snyder

A native Californian and retired librarian, I’m now blessed with the time to follow my bliss and that means I can write, do watercolors, and fashion my hand-dyed silk creations to my heart’s content. Not to mention travel, serve as recording secretary for the Los Gatos Art Association and just sit and ponder the beautiful world around me. Life is a rich brew of friends, family, art, and nature and I’m just soaking it in. Visit her Web site by clicking here.

Emma Watson

Some interesting facts about me ... I am almost fluent in French. I am currently in the process of teaching myself how to play the piano. I'm a vegetarian, and I love my animals. I have a basset hound named Woody. I have wanted to go to UCLA since I was 10 years old. I want to be an English major. I am still close to the friends I made back in kindergarten and have made many more since then. Also, my name is Emma Watson, so I always get a lot of "Harry Potter" and "Hermione" comments.

Mary Pope-Handy

Silicon Valley native, Los Gatos resident and Realtor, blogger, family gal, local story collector (esp ghost stories!) and  world traveller when time & budget permit.

Amanda Orrin

Having traveled and lived all around the country, Amanda can safely say that Silicon Valley is the most beautiful place in the country, if not on earth. A bonafide Android addict, Amanda is connected 25 hours a day and has enlisted her three year old son Adam to assist with tweets. When this duet isn’t tweeting or texting, they are busy bonding with Adam’s little brother and their awesome daddy. During the daylight Amanda can be found at the offices of the Jewish Federation where she works as their Marketing Director. Evenings and weekends are spent hanging with “Bob,” the family’s trusty jogging stroller and enjoying friends and family.