Word of the Day: MILESTONE [Part 2 of 2]

[ATTENTION, READERS!  My friend Bridget and her family are now out of their home, but have been getting some last-minute help with a temporary living arrangement.  They still want to get back to home in New Jersey, and are far from their ideal situation.  I have started a GoFundMe account for them.  I invite you to read their story here, and if you can help, please do!] 

Last week, I posted Part 1 of this two-part Word of the Day: Milestone posting.  It was to mark this blog surpassing 5,000 pageviews.  (No small feat, and thank you, dear readers, again.)  Today, another milestone has been reached.  This marks my 100th post to this blog.  It has taken over
2 1/2 years to reach this point -- starting on June 19, 2012 -- and it's hard to believe.  I never intended this to be a daily or weekly blog; I would comment on something that grabbed my attention and when I had something to share.  At the beginning, I kicked around the idea of reaching 100 posts and about when that might happen.  Once a month would take over eight years ... twice a month would take over four years ... and so on.
Here it is, roughly two years and eight months later, and today marks 100 posts.

My first post, titled Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right, addressed a situation of a Texas elementary school teacher allegedly trying to teach a bully a lesson by having the other children in the class line up and punching him.  The teacher was convicted, but her conviction was overturned.  She is currently awaiting a new trial.

Throughout this blog's inaugural year, postings have included such topics as sexual abuse, U.S. immigration issues, the idea of fame (in a reality show context), massacres at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, as well as the film Thrive: What on Earth Will It Take?  

Early in 2013, I highlighted the finale of a five-year-long sci-fi television series that I followed week in and week out, Fringe.  The year continued with posts regarding the Boston Marathon bombing, the whittling away at voting rights for minorities, the powerful impact of young Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, the Trayvon Martin shooting/George Zimmerman trial, the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination, and the deaths of former South African President Nelson Mandela and actor Peter O'Toole.

Just last year, 2014, "The Day We Fight Back" movement against mass surveillance was an early focus here, later followed by hydraulic fracturing or "fracking", and the uprisings in Venezuela, Ukraine, and Uganda.  In addition to my breaking my elbow last Summer, I covered the death of Brittany Maynard and how it brought the death with dignity movement back to the national conversation.  In terms of media, I highlighted the documentary films The Fog of War, Who Killed the Electric Car? and its sequel Revenge of the Electric Car, as well as the books Your Self-Sabotaging Inner Bully: Standing Up to It Once and for All! and Inner Blocks to Losing Weight by my good friend Dr. Sidney Rosen, Ph.D.  The year wrapped with my longest series to date, a seven-part series titled To Protect and To Serve, which addressed the killings of Michael Brown (Ferguson, MO), eleven-year-old Tamir Rice (Cleveland, OH), and Eric Garner (Staten Island, N.Y.) and their impact.

If you follow this blog closely, you will remember that I also introduced you to Anthony Howell, a National Guardsman who was stationed in Albuquerque, N.M., and who had gone missing at the time.  Thanks to my readers, he was located in about a week-and-a-half's time. 

This year, I revisited Anthony, but now his family was involved.  A serious auto accident in December changed the lives of Anthony, and his parents, Bridget and Bobby.  I will continue to update you on his and his family's situation, and would encourage you to help if you can. 

We are only two months into 2015 and I have already commented on issues such as the murders at the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and in Paris by terrorists, how claimed-to-be religious terrorists both represent and don't represent the religion they lift up, and the heated debate about vaccinations with the return of measles on a large scale.

If all of that is any sign, 2015 will have no shortage of issues that will appear here.  Just look at all that is going on here in the United States and around the world right now! 

I started this blog as a sheer hobby and it still has elements of a hobby to it, but it has become a great opportunity to lend my voice (granted, to an already-existing cacophony of voices) to the issues of our times.  I have enjoyed doing this from 2012 to this year, and am looking forward to continuing in 2015.  (Perhaps 2017 will hold my 200th post.)  As always, I hope to comment on things that you will find interesting enough to keep coming back.  Thanks for the first 100!

Terry