Merab Favorite , Patch Staff

Hello Patch readers. My name is Merab-Michal Favorite.

I graduated with her B.A. in journalism at the University of South Florida. Before taking a few years off to crew on a yacht through the Caribbean. Before that, I attended Manatee Community College (now SCF) and Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville.

I grew up on Snead Island, which is located in Palmetto. Before there was a county park (Emerson Point Park) on the island, the Native American mounds served as my playground. As a child, I would hide in the woods surrounding the park as well as swim and play at the mouth of the Manatee River.

In addition to working for Patch, I recently completed two pictoral histories of local towns, one of Palmetto and one of Bradenton, which are available through Arcadia Publishing. So, if you like history and want to know more about the area, just ask.

I love anything to do with the bay, so you will probably see me paddle boarding, boating, sailing or camping on one of the local keys. My all time favorite thing on the planet is to be completely disconnected from the rest of the world -- 100 miles offshore and under sail at night.

Some of my favorite places to visit are Greer (Beercan) Island, Skeet’s Key and Starfish Co. in Manatee County and Burns Court Cinema and Epicure in Sarasota.

As part of my beat, I would like to do a profile of an elected official every week and I was wondering, what would you, as readers, like to know about the people running your city? Please comment on this article and let me know.

Do you have a news tip? Please drop me a line.

I can be reached at merab.favorite@patch.com or 941-730-8766.

Be sure to stay connected via Facebook and Twitter, too.

Looking forward to seeing you around town!