On Friday afternoon, I got brave and installed a traffic counter on this blog.
And I’m so proud to report that over the span of five 1/2 days, I have had 212 total page views. And 129 of those were even human. And of those, 64 came from different computers, only 2 of which were mine.
Thank you, 62 readers. I realize in the grand scheme of populations, that’s not a lot, but it’s about 52 more than I expected.
I’m seriously beaming with pride. I feel like Irene Haskins.
For any of you who are under the age of 25 or just moved to Columbia, like, yesterday, Irene was a beloved columnist and co-worker at the Tribune until her untimely death last year. Even at 84, she came to work faithfully every morning to write about community members and volunteers and to pen her weekly column and to bug reporters on deadline and occasionally sing faulty lyrics to Barry Manilow songs (“Lola was not a dancer, she was a showgirl!” I informed Irene my first week at the Trib.)
I still have the email Irene sent me a couple of years ago telling me I would be her replacement at the Tribune. And though I retired my news-writing pen, I haven’t totally given up on that notion. I can see myself at 65 submitting self-centered, self-deprecating columns to the Tribune.
Although there was nothing self-deprecating about Irene. I can hear her now: “What?! You put me in your blog? Wow! What’s the title of the blog? ‘Starring Irene?’ Oh, ‘Starring Stephens.’ I see. Who’s Stephen?”
*Five minutes later*
“Hey, Lora, did you see Janese’s blog, ‘Starring Irene?’”
So yesterday I got an email from a student asking me to use this powerful outlet of a blog to tell all 62 of you about the blog her class is working on.
Elana Jones is a freshman in Dr. Terry’s comp class. I don’t know Dr. Terry, but there’s only one Terry in the directory, so I’m assuming she’s referring to Associate Professor James Terry. (Shoot me an email or leave a comment if I’m wrong!)
Anyway, Elana and her Comp classmates have launched a “Comp Blog” that consists of their writings, mostly essays they’ve written for class.
Each student had to try to get the word out about the blog. Elana contacted me asking for a little help on Starring Stephens in hopes that they can add 62 humans and 140 web bots to their blog traffic counter.
Comp Blog made me smile. When I first visited, Elana was doling out very helpful advice about cheating boyfriends.
Rule No. 1 – if he’s cheated on you before, he’s probably going to do it again.
But now here’s a helpful tip I didn’t need in my pre-technology dating days: Apparently young cheating men these days often leave their cell phones in their room because they think their g-friends are going to see text evidence of their wrongdoings. So if your boyfriend says his phone is “charging” in his room too often…well, buddy, we’re on to you.
Comp Blog also includes a helpful guide to a first semester in college by Susie Olubo that literally made me LOL (it totally reminded me of lessons learned from my freshman year), as well as some informative pieces about veganism, counterfeit handbags (spoiler: Don’t buy them) and horse slaughter.
Comp Blog is an excellent idea and a great showcase of our freshmen writings. (Oh–and each time you return to the page, the vintage Stephens photo changes! Brilliant!)
And thanks for reading both of us.
Don’t assume.