We love our comments. It is a chance to actually talk with our audiences. To get to know them better. And to hone our own rhetorical skills.
In my case, to learn new things from people who know more than I do about a lot of interesting things. Such as, where to get the best pizza in Zihuatanejo.
Mexpatriate has a little tradition of reviewing the last year's posts by popularity. What is not traditional is the method we use to determine what was popular.
This year, it will be by comments. And your comments this past year have resulted in an interesting mix of posts. (I should note that some of my favorite posts have engendered some of the fewest comments. The result speaks for itself.
So, in reverse order, here are the ten most popular posts -- by comments for 2013. Or rather the top eleven. The eleventh was too good to ignore.
#11 -- some things go better with coke (30 April). The post had everything that titillates Mexpatriate. An exotic food item. Suspense. And creepy insects. A cautionary tale about what happens when you leave boxed items to themselves here in the tropics.
#10 -- portrait of the artist as a hairy guy (7 October). I thought I had convinced all of you that I had grown my hair as long as it was going to get during my visit to San Miguel de Allende. But, as we learned in Baja, there are too many good photo opportunities to get a haircut before its time.
#9 -- unusual mexican foods (25 August). That was my challenge to you. To come up with your most exotic Mexican food -- after I had thrown down the gauntlet of corn fungus and ant eggs. You did not disappoint.
#8 -- i miss bill clinton (16 October). Mexpatriate does not often wander off into the political swamps. But I could not avoid it during the government shutdown battle over the implementation of Obamacare. The whole thing made me miss Bill Clinton's ability to turn lemons into cigars. Some of you seemed to miss the tongue embedded in my cheek.
#7 -- a light unto my pests (19 December). Bug bites are a recurring event here on Mexico's Happy Coast. But my battle with creatures that go snap in the night took on new proportions when I returned from my trip north. I never did get a satisfactory answer to what was using me as a midnight buffet. The crisis has passed. Until the next time.
#6 -- dada on rice (9 October). "Mexican." "Chinese." "Buffet." An opportunity to use your dadaist poetic skills while defending or trashing Chinese food in Mexico. I found a passably good buffet in Manzanillo. There are many doubting Thomases.
#5 -- what's with this? (2 October). There I was in the parking lot of a San Miguel de Allende shopping center shooting clouds with my new camera. Until I was told to stop using my camera by a security guard. Apparently, shopping centers are as shy as Miley Cyrus. Several of you passed along similar experiences in Mexico. I still don't get it. But I love the clouds in the shot. We suffer political oppression for our art.
#4 -- steve -- sometimes in mexico (3 November). This was one of my Seinfeld-style posts. It wasn't really about anything. But it was a great springboard to talk about my idea of hiking across England. A number of you, knowing me too well, suggested I could spend my time better with Gary Denness and Mrs. P. And you are correct.
#3 -- learning to do without (6 December). Life is filled with many reminders of what should be important to us. In this case, a burglary in my Mexican house gave me an opportunity to actually road test my life philosophy. And it gave all of us an opportunity to be a little bit more generous with one another.
#2 -- cutting up my diner's card (29 December). Mexpatriate is blessed with readers that are polite enough to dine with the Vanderbilts. Leaving out the partisans who commented on my Bill Clinton piece, this post offered the most combative ground of the year. Ease and time-saved advocates drew the line between the slow food and quality crowd. Battles like this always bring out the libertarian in me. I am not going to tell you what to eat. I am simply going to enjoy what I find tasty.
And the topic that caused the largest number of you to start tapping in that little comment box?
#1 -- comments on strike (25 January). How is that for irony? I had posted that the number of comments had decreased recently. The post must have been ether in the carburetor. The comments flowed. And then ebbed. As you can see on the dates of the posts with the most comments. Of the top 10, the next one was not until August.
So, what do I gather from this little stroll into the cul-de-sac called Nostalgia? Not much. Other than I concur with Kim. We writers thoroughly enjoy chatting with each of you.
Tell us what you like. Tell us what you don't like. Tell us what we could do better. And we will probably keep on doing what we have been. But it will be our pleasure to know you better.
After all, what good is the liberty of comment if we cannot all enjoy it together?
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