2011 writ large

This is the season for newspapers to run articles on the top 10 news stories of the year.  Well, stories that a group of editors think are the top stories.


But we live in a populist era.  No elite editors for the pages of mexpatriate.  We let the people have their say.


Blogger (the server that hosts my blog) gives me a bit of help with that task.  If we count page hits as popularity. 


And why not?  It makes as much sense as fear and greed as a measure of populism.


So, here they are.  The top eight pages of the people for 2011.  Starting with the most popular.

• she cleans up right purdy (October 14) -- A tale of how quickly my Mexican neighbors cleaned up from the slight wind and greater flooding damage of hurricane Jova.  Some American readers took umbrage at the tone of comments that implied Mexicans are tied less to their material goods than are Canadians or Americans.  One of those posts that took an unintended turn.
  
  
  
• laundress to the stars (October 17) -- Another Jova post.  This one about a small idea with far wider consequences.  My land lady, Christine, volunteered to pick up mud-soaked clothes from homes that had been flooded.  And to then spray off the mud and launder the clothes.  Selflessness at its best.
  
  
  
• reporting for duty (October 12) -- My first post-Jova post.  I wandered around the neighborhood verifying that the wind had not been as much problem as the rain.  And managed to slip and tear open my right leg -- a fact I did not bother reporting at the time.  Some things are best left unreported.  (And, yes, I can appreciate the irony of that last sentence.)
  
  
  
• a few pre-storm tidbits (October 11) -- The day before the storm hit, I walked around Melaque to see how well prepared the village was.  My neighbors were convinced the hurricane would not hit our bay, but the Mexican government brought in enough resources to fight back an invasion.  As it turned out, my neighbors were correct, but having all of the disaster assets at hand got the place up and running in hours.
  
  
  
• two worlds -- one me (October 25) -- My musings on how people in Canada and The States reacted to the storm.  To a person, they seemed to think it was far worse than those of us who experienced it.  And that may be why my friends and family react far more emotionally than I do about crime stories in Mexico.
  
  
  
• harvey the croc (September 20) -- The only pre-Jova post that made the hit list.  I found my small crocodile on the walkway around the laguna.  She was more surprised than I was.  But it was a reminder that I live in a wild place.  Somehow I worked Jimmie Stewart into the tale.
  
  
  
• the croc is back (November 8) -- Another crocodile post.  After cleaning out my inlet portion of the laguna, the small crocodile returned to start sunning on her perch.  Before I left in late November, two crocodiles had taken up night residence.
  
  
  
• in the swim (October 1) -- Another non-Jova post.  This one was about the swim meet across the bay from Barra de Navidad to Melaque.  Who can resist young people in swim suits?

You might notice something about those posts.  All but one were written in a 6-week period.  The graph at the top of the page shows the effect that Jova had on the readership of this blog.  Lots of people were interested in that storm.


But I also skewed the numbers.  I started posting some of the posts on my Facebook page.  However, the biggest impact came when I included those posts on our local electronic message board (TomZap) in Melaque.  I used the same techniqiue network executives used during sweeps week.  And I got to meet a lot of new people that way.


But it is an odd skewing of my year.  Where I visited the butterfly sanctuary, Morelia, Pátzcuaro, Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, and Mexico City; took a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Rome; entertained Salvation Army guests from California; helped out with the Indian school; watched our inter-denominational congregation build a new worship palapa; spent time with new and old acquaintances; and simply enjoyed my life in my little fishing village by the sea.


Another great year waiting to be topped by the one that began today.