Before becoming editor of Maplewood Patch in July of 2012, Carolyn spent a year as a contributor and guest editor at several different Essex County Patch sites. 

A former Staff Writer for the Press of Atlantic City, I have more than five years of fulltime experience covering local and regional news and sports. Born and raised in southern New Jersey - even attending college there - Red Bank and this part of the state is relatively new to me. I'm going to use this to my advantage and learn everything about the area that I can. The coverage I provide will be interesting and comprehensive. There's a story in everything, and I'm going to find it.

Joseph M. Gerace is Patch's Editor in Wyckoff and Franklin Lakes, N.J. He has covered state politics in Albany, N.Y., copy edited the Daily Freeman in Kingston, N.Y., and served as a freelance editor and reporter with amNewYork, New York City's highest circulation daily newspaper.

Email: RKAbma@gmail.com
Twitter: RebKA14

Rebecca K. Abma is a writer and mother living in Northwest Bergen County. She is the former editor of Franklin Lakes Patch, having launched the site as aol's 700th Patch site on Dec. 26, 2010.

Madhavi Saifee is a Regional Publisher for Patch in Northern NJ.  She is excited to join the Patch team and comes with indepth experience in the online news industry.  

email:   rebecca@Patch.com

phone:  973-908-1209

Rebecca has spent most of her career in and around music, having held licensing positions at eMusic, The Orchard, Sony Music, and Universal Music.  She loves taking long drives with her husband while they use the car stereo to critique all kinds of music, both new and old.  She is a die-hard Devils fan who has traveled around the world, and now lives two blocks from the New Jersey hospital where she was born.   These days she’s trying to do her best to balance motherhood with the hockey season and rock concert schedules, and can’t wait until her son is old enough to go to both!

Warren Westura brings more than 30 years of photography experience. He's 
been published by New Jersey Newsphotos, the *New York Times*, American 
Profile, Madison Square Garden, the* Daily Record, *the *Bergen Record*, 
Starbucks and the Associated Press. Contact him at photographybywestura.com.

One Good Book Leads to Another

It happens to me a lot. Because of a love of reading and an insatiable curiosity, one book will often lead me, coax me, or send me headlong towards another.

For example, in The Namesake, there is simply no getting away from Nikolai Gogol, or from his book The Overcoat. I want to know everything. I have to experience the connection for myself. A character in The Hours affectionately calls another “Mrs Dalloway”, the title character, of course, in Virginia Woolfe’s novel. Next thing I know, Mrs. Dalloway is on her way home with me.

Historical fiction can often open doors I never even knew were there. In school, I always hated history. Dates...facts...boredom. Put those same events into a novel, and you have my attention. As an adult, Irving Stone’s Those Who Love started it all for me. I had to know more about John and Abigail Adams and the life they led. I took out books on period costume and architecture and read what I could (within reason; there’s a lot out there!) about John himself. When My Dearest Friend came out, I felt like John and Abigail were old familiar friends.

I have sailed the world in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin novels. My experience of them has been enriched by travel diaries, atlases, books on British naval history, medical emergencies at sea, navigation, period weaponry, even a book on the history of laudanum. Do I read every word? Of course not, but my curiosity is usually satisfied, and my world expanded.

The theme of this month’s book display at Main Library is Book Couples. The books are meant to be borrowed and enjoyed together. The connections may be readily apparent, but not always. Maybe you’ve already read one half of the couple; take them both home and you may find yourself paging through it again as you read its mate. I highly recommend it for devoted readers, the insatiably curious, or those just looking for a couple of good books to enjoy together.

Judie Hurtado is a Certified Kids Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master Practitioner and a Health and Wellness Writer. She teaches a kids yoga class geared to yoginis age 3-7 years old most Wednesday afternoons at Shakti Yoga in Maplewood. 

You can read more about Judie at her website judiehurtado.com. She blogs about her yoga adventures at judiesjuice.wordpress.com. 

You can reach her at judie.hurtado@gmail.com.

Namaste. 

Marcy Thompson has been producing theatrical events for the past 10 years; first in Brooklyn as the head of the Hyperbolic Entertainment Conglomerate, LLC, and now as the co-founder of Studio B in Maplewood, New Jersey (part of the HK Community Fund). Her mission at Studio B is to provide a showcase for the vibrant artistic community in the Maplewood/South Orange area. Ms. Thompson recently served as the Director of Cultural Affairs for the Township of Maplewood, New Jersey where she founded the Maplewood Arts Council. She has worked extensively as a speechwriter, as well as a choreographer. Ms. Thompson has a master’s degree in Performance Studies from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She has been a member of the Essex County Arts Advisory Board since 2010.

Before becoming South Orange Patch editor, Marcia Worth spent a year writing and guest-editing a number of local Patch sites. 

John Allen Mollenhauer, NET, is the founder of NutrientRich.com, a website and support system that helps people make the Switch to Nutrient Rich Superfood Eating, for the 7 Healthy Success Results Every BODY Wants. The site helps you eat clean, detoxify your body and optimize your energy and metabolism, drop the weight of the past, get incredibly healthy, and look younger than ever, longer!

Phil Meyer is Professor Emeritus in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was inducted into the North Carolina Hall of Fame in Journalism in the spring of 2008.  He joined the Journalism School in 1981 and served as Knight Chair in Journalism Professor from 1993-2008.  Prior to joining the school, he held a number of reporter and research positions at various media outlets. 

He has won numerous awards including the 2005 Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award for Research About Journalism (with Scott Maier). He was named a Fellow of Society of Professional Journalists in 2005. In 2004, the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication gave him its Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award. And in 2000 he received the American Association for Public Opinion Research Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement.

Meyer is the author of several books including The Vanishing Newspaper:  Saving Journalism in the Information Age and Precision Journalism:  A Reporter’s Introduction to Social Science Methods.  Journalism Quarterly in 2000 listed this book as one of the 35 significant books of the 20th century in journalism and mass communication; and the American Association for Public Opinion Research, observing its 50th anniversary in 1996, listed it as one of 50 significant books on public opinion research.

He received his B.S. in technical journalism from Kansas State University and his M.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina.

Steven Berlin Johnson is a pioneer in the web world, as a co-founder of FEED, Plastic.com, and Outside.in, which was acquired by Patch in March of 2011. He also co-created Findings.com, which launched in late 2011. Steven was the 2009 Hearst New Media Professional-in-Residence at The Journalism School at Columbia University, and served for several years as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU’s Journalism School. He is a bestselling author of seven books, and won acclaim and a Newhouse School Mirror Award for his 2010 Time Magazine cover story, "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live." 

Speaking of Steven's editorial prowess, check out this video based on Steven's book, Where Good Ideas Come From, which was named one of the best books of 2010 by The Economist.

Brian was Editor-in-Chief of Time Out New York magazine before coming to Patch. Before that he worked for a variety of publications both online and off, including Details magazine, New York Magazine, and the old, dearly departed Sidewalk.com. He has written for numerous publications, from the New York Times magazine to Harper's Bazaar. He graduated from Bowdoin College and got an MFA in creative writing at Columbia University so he could put his novel in a drawer with distinction. He lives in Manhattan with his beautiful wife, adorable son, angelic daughter and the world's most dog-like cat. He’s proud as hell of what the Patch team has built.

Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and in Washington, D.C.

Previously, Paulson served as the editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today.  He is now a columnist on USA Today’s board of contributors, writing about First Amendment issues and the news media.

Throughout his career, Paulson has drawn on his background as both a journalist and lawyer, serving as the editor or managing editor of newspapers in five different states.

He also is past-president of the American Society of News Editors, the nation’s largest organization of news media leaders.

Paulson also was the host of the Emmy-honored television program “Speaking Freely,” seen in more than 60 PBS markets nationwide over five seasons, and the author of "Freedom Sings," a multimedia stage show celebrating the First Amendment that continues to tour the nation's campuses.  

He was an early advocate of making newspaper content available online, launching online newspapers in both Florida and New York in 1993.

For 12 years, Paulson was a regular guest lecturer at the American Press Institute, speaking to more than 5,000 journalists about First Amendment issues. He was honored with the API Lifetime Service Award. In 2010 and 2011, he served as chair of the PBS Editorial Standards Review Committee.

In 2007, Paulson was named fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists, “the highest honor SPJ bestows upon a journalist for extraordinary contributions to the profession.” In 2008, he  received the Robert S. Abbott Memorial Award for Meritorious Service in Mass Communications from the Southern Regional Press Institute. He has also been elected to the Illini Publishing Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois.

He is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law and the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He also has served as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University Law School. In 2008, he received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from American University.