• Christian BrownPatch Staff Verified Patch Staff Badge

  • Leesburg, VA

<b>Email: Christian.Brown&#64;patch.com<br> Phone:571-969-9856<br> Hometown: Charles Town, WV<br> Birthday: May 26, 1983</b><br> <b>Bio </b>

Christian Brown -- his friends call him Chris or Christian interchangeably -- only recently moved to Leesburg from Frederick, Md.

He has been a reporter for the past four years, working first for The Journal in Martinsburg, W.Va., from 2006 - 2007, before moving to Frederick to work for The Gazette.

In that time, he has honed his skills as a journalist by covering everything from murder-suicides to elementary school talent shows. He tends to prefer writing about the latter.

He lives alone on the southern side of Leesburg,  but work keeps him busy enough that he doesn&#39;t mind so much. He is thinking about getting a pet fish, though.

He is eager to bring Patch.com into Leesburg, and to serve his new home as a journalist.

He enjoys hiking, martial arts, reading, watching movies ­– especially horror, action, science fiction and comedies – talking ad nauseum about pop culture, basically anything geeky except anime.

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<b>Marital Status</b>: single

<b><br> </b><br> <b>Your Beliefs</b><br> 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 you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.<br> <br> <b>Politics </b><br> I am a registered Democrat. I&#39;d like to think I can be swayed by a good argument to the contrary, but that is the way I tend to vote.

I tend to consider myself a bit of a civil libertarian (note the small &#34;L&#34;), and I feel that personal freedom and responsibility are –perhaps counter-intuitively – the key to making society function as a whole. Until people learn to act responsibly – and I would level that charge as much at Wall Street as I would a drug addict – we will always need a government that is reactive, proactive and unfortunately, more present in our lives than some of us would like it to be.

I do believe in almost all of the social programs at the state and federal level, but I often feel that well-intentioned they may be, they have their failings.

I think that if people want to change society, they need to stay away from the same, tired, ugly rhetoric that we keep hearing from the extremes on both sides. Get out and volunteer, meet people who are out of your social circle and class and try to live life without preconceived notions and prejudices. They are hard to overcome, but life is more enjoyable without them.<br> <br> <b>Religion</b><br> I have never been religious, and I wasn&#39;t raised that way. I guess I am an agnostic, but I lean toward a humanistic atheism. I think people have a lot more potential than they give themselves credit for, and if there is a supreme being, I believe he, she or it would rather people just be good people than practice religion.

That said, I have met many people, my grandparents included foremost among them, who have shown me how powerful religion and spiritual belief can be for those who practice them, and I have a tremendous respect for those who feel a call to do good deeds, no matter their reason for doing so.<br> <b><br> Local Hot-Button Issues</b><br> I am still relatively new to the community, but as with everywhere I have lived, I believe development and managing growth are the key issues to Leesburg&#39;s present and future. Conversely, preserving its past – the wonderful historic buildings and battlefields nearby – is also important to many in the area. <br> In my hometown, I was very stringently opposed to anything new that was built, although in reality, I shopped at the Charles Town Wal-Mart and hit the new slots at the Charles Town Races when I was old enough.

My idealism of the past has changed as I have grown older. As long as there are new people, there will need to be new homes, restaurants, schools, social services etc. The trick – and if anyone knew this, he or she would be quite rich in wisdom, fame and money – is how exactly to balance new needs against the environmental and historic resources that occupy the land already. If I ever find the answer to that, I&#39;ll let you know. But don&#39;t hold your breath.

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