What a Wonderful World

Last Wednesday, this little blog was discovered by its 500^th unique visitor. I am equally awed and humbled by this fact. When I started this site, I wasn’t even sure why I had ventured into the blogosphere. But now, it has become my touchstone, and I thank those of you (Bernie, post-doc, Sierra, the Contessa, AM, Repressed Librarian, and Mama Says) who visit and comment often, and those of you who have simply passed through.


What really amazes me is the geographic diversity of readers. According to ClustrMaps, I’ve realized visitors from 4 continents, 16 countries, 5 Canadian provinces and 33 U.S. states, plus the District of Coumbia. The countries (full list at bottom of this post) are as disparate as Australia, Kazakhstan (Hi Nora!), Latvia, Malaysia, Canada, and the Netherlands. Even the multitude of U.S. states shocks me. And who knew I need to work harder to reach readers in the Dakotas. All of this is just one month’s worth of data collection.

Blogging really has become a powerful, far-reaching aid to sharing one’s point of view. I am pleased to see more and more political candidates - thanks to Vermont’s own Howard Dean starting the trend – using websites, and more specifically blogs, to project their message. This seems like such a pure form of communication to me. The candidate can post their position on a range of topics for the public to review, without it being misconstrued through a journalist’s lens. There is a opportunity to allow your supporters (and challengers) to comment and for you to respond. I have been pleased to see Vermont’s legislative candidates, such a Bernie Sanders, embracing blogging, even if the posts are sometimes completed by a staffer.

But I digress. I archived my ClustrMap and started a new map on August 23^rd, and much to my amazement, 6 readers from Europe and Australia have resurfaced. Also on the 23^rd, I was successful in the acquisition of the lapsed site maplemama.com, which currently redirects you to this blog. I do hope to roll out a whole new look for MapleMama soon to celebrate the new site name. But until then, my humblest of thanks to you, dear readers, for your indulgence, wit, generosity, and kindness.

Geographical List

Asia: China, India, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and Russia (just north of Mongolia)

Australia

Europe: Austria (at border w/Slovakia), Czech Republic, France, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom

North America: Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec) and the United States (AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VT, WA, WI, WV)