Editor's Notebook: A New Series on the Changing American Dream in North Potomac and Darnestown

We're excited to inaugurate a new series for our Patch readers in North Potomac, Darnestown and beyond: "Dispatches: The Changing American Dream."

Every day, the national media is full of stories about how American families, businesses and neighbors are adjusting to these trying times. So many changes are happening so fast that it's dizzying: national debates about unemployment, foreclosures, debt, religion, government and private enterprise all touch on fundamental ways in which we see ourselves and our communities.

At Patch, we want to explore that conversation on a daily basis so we can better understand how our neighbors are adjusting to the challenges and opportunities that surround us.

We don't think there's one American Dream, but a multitude of American Dreams that a multitude of people are working toward.

Looking out across almost 900 Patch sites, we see businesses holding their breath deciding whether to expand, college graduates returning home because they can't find jobs and senior citizens bringing boarders into their homes to help pay their bills. We also see bold new volunteer efforts, inspiring stories of local businesses that succeed because they innovated and people who've taken these trying times as a signal to engage more, not less, in their government.

At the purely local level, we want to know where we, as North Potomac and Darnestown neighbors, fit along these fault lines.

Nationwide, young people are having to move back in with their parents after graduating from college because of the high costs of rent and a lack of job opportunities. Here at home,

Nationally, there is concern about infrastructure and transportation projects, even as public budgets are getting tighter. In the upcounty area of Montgomery County, .

"Dispatches" will be built upon the compelling vignettes and snapshots we unearth across all of our Patch sites.

And, of course, we want your help: Tell us what issues and what stories in North Potomac and Darnestown go to the heart of your American Dream.