Catching Up But Still Behind

Friends, followers, and visitors!

It’s been a week since I published a post.  My, time does fly.  It’s not that I can’t think of anything to write.  In fact, there are about 10 different posts I want to write.  Several are results of trials.  There is an award I need to accept, (thanks, Ilene), and I can’t leave politics out of what is on my mind.

Yesterday, I managed to catch-up on 5 days of blogs that I follow, but there are over 400 Word Press notifications of blog posts in my in-box.  I might not be able to catch-up on those, but try to start fresh this week.  Please forgive me if you’ve not seen me on your blog recently.

2017 Year In Review For We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident

Word Press no longer produces annual reports, but they have given bloggers access to statistical information.  If you blog on Word Press and want to see your statistics, sign into your account and go to https://wordpress.com/stats/year.

A Zillion Thanks

There are no words to express my gratitude to followers and participants.  According to 2017 statistics as of December 26, 2017, 1139 of this blog’s followers are Word Press bloggers.  We have a fantastic and diverse blogging community.  They, as well as followers who are not bloggers,  are my motivation.

A Slow Year For Writing

This year has been one where I’ve not written as many posts as in the past.  That’s due to more than a handful of reasons, and has caused me to consider how I will continue in 2018.

Since the presidential election, the political atmosphere in America is suffocating, with things happening on almost a daily basis. I try to keep up, but every week it looks like another name is added to the list of those with connections to Russia, or another person in the Trump administration leaving the building.  There is no way of being on blogs and/or Twitter without reading about Trump.  Quite frankly, I’m sick of it.   I see Trump as a dictator and danger to America, our constitution, and equality for all.  In the coming year, I might reblog more posts about politics.

From The Beginning Until Now

This blog began because in February 2012, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year old, was walking home in Sanford, Florida when he was killed.  That brought me to the internet and made me aware of a world of hate and racial animus that I thought had dissolved into the archives of history.  I followed the trial of George Zimmerman, and I’ve kept the focus of following trials for over 5 years now.

On this blog, a search by category returned 80 posts under “trials.”  Since 2012, media sources have changed.  Trials are not live streamed like they were years ago.  News sources might make some videos available on their website, but not on Youtube where they can be embedded in blog posts.  The best I’ve been able to do under such circumstances is seek trial information on Twitter and post that in the comment section until the jury or judge (if a bench trial), reaches a verdict.

I’ve Been Cited In Two Professional Publications And Other Stuff About Blogging

Thanks so much to all followers new and old.  There has been such an increase in subscribed followers lately that I’ve not had time to keep up visiting their blogs.  Please forgive me.  Rather than clicking like and moving on,  I prefer reading posts and if there is something I would like to say, to leave comments.  Time does not always allow me to leave comments.  I’m hoping to set aside at least one hour on the weekends to visit and catch-up on the blogs I follow.  Here’s hoping that it works.

Now for a couple of things ….

It’s a humbling experience to discover that things you have written have been cited in professional publications.

In October 2016, blogger Supabutterfly wrote a post honoring me.  I was already humbled and honored by his handle.  For those who might not know, in July 2014, I made a decision to use the option that a Word Press account would be needed to submit comments to this blog.    It was because since mid-2013, I was bombarded with harassing comments submitted through proxy IP addresses.  For over 6 months, I blacklisted the IP addresses, but one proxy IP address service might have hundreds of proxy IP addresses.  It was a never-ending battle.

There were people who had participated on this blog since it opened in August 2012.  They opened Word Press accounts and many of them incorporated the word “butterfly” into their new handles.   One did not consider himself a butterfly so chose a handle that includes “moth.”  What they did was honorable and a blessing to me. None of them had to go through opening a Word Press account to continue posting comments here, but they did and I am forever grateful.