THE BASICS
E-mail: penny.arevalo@patch.com Phone: (949) 633-3638 Twitter: @SanJuanCPatch Facebook: www.facebook.com/SanJuanCapistranoPatch Birthplace: Panorama City, CA Birthday: Jan. 25 BIO I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and came of age about the time Moon Unit Zappa's "Valley Girl" hit the radio waves. Yes, it was all true. I did say "totally," like, all the time. I was one of those annoying types who was involved and did everything in high school, including working on the student newspaper. That's when I realized I wanted to be a journalist, when the assistant principal wouldn't answer my questions about parking permit fees. Why did we need them if the lots were never patrolled, and where did that money go anyway? I had a job at the college newspaper before I had housing. I rose through the ranks, first at UC Santa Barbara and then becoming the editor-in-chief of the UCLA Daily Bruin. I graduated UCLA with a BA in communications studies and began my journalism career at two daily newspapers in Ventura County. I eventually ended up at the Daily Journal, a Los Angeles-based, statewide newspaper for lawyers, first as a reporter and later as the business editor. Not long after having my first child, I started freelancing. Journalism is a great career to work around motherhood. I freelanced for the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg News, BabyTalk magazine, San Diego Magazine, various Daily Journal publications (including California Lawyer magazine) and Corporate Legal Times (it was more interesting than it sounds, promise! I covered the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals). I started freelancing for Patch before we launched the San Juan Capistrano Patch site, and my beat has consistently been covering Capistrano Unified School District, which has kept me pretty busy. As recently as November, I was a regular contributor to legal websites owned by Lexis-Nexis, including consumer-friendly Lawyers.com My husband, Mynor, and I have been married 21 years and have three fabulous (most of the time!) teens. They all go to CUSD schools. Among the three of them, they participate in or benefit from: the Two-Way Immersion program, AP classes, English-language development classes, special education and high school sports. My husband is a mortgage banker and occasionally writes a blog here. He is also a part-time running coach (employed by Marriott International). Thanks to the economy, we no longer hold any positions in any company stock. I have a side job selling body wraps that shrink. We live on a historic property. Hablo español. I'm doing my best to expose anything you might find as relevant! When we knew my husband was getting transferred to Orange County, I instinctively knew we would choose San Juan Capistrano for our home. It was most like our Ventura County home where we spent the first 11 years of our marriage. We have been very active in church, the Shoreline Church of San Clemente. We also helped launch Branches, a church that now meets in Dana Point Harbor. It first met in our home. Beyond church service, one of our favorite charities is Kidsave International, which introduces older orphans to potential adoptive parents. We can never thank them enough for introducing us to our son. BELIEFS At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for our editors to inject these beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that our beliefs are on the record will force us to be ever mindful to write, report, and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you, the user, ever think we failed in this mission, we wholeheartedly invite you to let us know. With this in mind, I believe in reporting truth over all else. I'm a First Amendment absolutist. I love the marketplace of ideas, and as an "old-school, hard-news journalist" at heart, I find a lot of the new media biased and unbalanced. My goal is to make SJC Patch a place where people of all opinions come together to hash out the issues and discuss the well being of our beautiful community. Preaching to the choir is boring. Politics I've been conservative for years, but didn't register Republican until the last presidential election (yes, this frequently makes me the odd-man-out in a room full of journalists). If I had to choose one conservative thinker whom I most admire, it's Dennis Prager hands down. I've been a fan of his since college. Local Hot-Button Issues It's been fun to meet so many people in the community and explain that I'm not new to San Juan. You don't have to show me the ropes. I'm not a dewy-eyed reporter trying to figure out the heart and soul of San Juan Capistrano. I get it. We love the historic nature of our area and want to preserve it. We love our open space and our equestrian lifestyle. We love living close enough to the beach to bike there. We love our children and get them involved in a gazillion different activities. We love our neighbors, and we purposely picked San Juan Capistrano, with its shacks to mansions and a history that predates country-hood, as our home. We fight anything that threatens any of these important components of our identity. When something is important to you, it's important to Patch.