Email: shannon.antinori@patch.com
Phone:  815-258-5327 Hometown: I've been a Romeoville resident for six years; I grew up in Joliet. Birthday: Aug. 22 I grew up in Joliet, where I attended Catholic schools, graduating from Joliet Catholic Academy in 1997. I knew I wanted to be a writer at a young age, and never dreamed of doing anything else. My love of writing was born when a grade-school teacher encouraged me to try my hand at fiction. I took her advice, but quickly gave up make-believe stories for the real thing. I got involved with my high school newspaper before enrolling at the University of St. Francis with a double major in journalism and English. I graduated with honors in 2002 and landed my first newspaper job within six months. I spent eight years at The Enterprise newspaper in Plainfield, where I developed my passion for community journalism. When a coworker pointed me in the direction of Patch.com, I jumped at the chance to be part of the future of local news. My Beliefs At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. We also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. In the spirit of simple honesty, we encourage editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license to inject our beliefs into stories or dictate coverage according to them. Rather, we hope the knowledge our beliefs are on the record will cause us to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair and balanced manner. If you ever see evidence we failed in this mission, please let us know. Politics I firmly believe journalists should not allow our political views to color the way we report the news. But we're also human, and we can't help having our own opinions on the issues. My beliefs tend toward the liberal, and I vote mostly Democrat — although I have been known to vote for Republican candidates whose views are more in line with my own. Religion I was raised Catholic, but have to admit that I've fallen out of the habit of attending church in recent years. It's my goal to become more involved in my faith. While I still identify as a Catholic, I was raised to repect the beliefs of others, and I believe there's truth in many different faiths.