January 14, 2007

This blog is 3 years old today.

Here's what I said 2 years ago:
One year old!

The day has finally come. This blog is one year old today. It's been pretty cool. I remember starting off in utter obscurity, thinking I'd better take care what I write, because I've got to assume that, eventually, some people who know me are going to find this. And now the Sitemeter is up over 900,000. Thanks to all the readers for coming by!
One year ago... minimalism was in:
Two years old today...

This blog is.
Going all the way back to the beginning, January 14, 2004, to the first post, at 10:36 a.m.:
This blog is called Marginalia, because I'm writing from Madison, Wisconsin, and Marginalia is a fictionalized name for Madison that I thought up a long time ago when I seriously believed I would write a fictionalized account of my life in Madison, Wisconsin. There is nothing terribly marginal about Madison, really, but I do like writing in the margins of books, something I once caused a librarian to gasp by saying. Writing in a blog is both less and more permanent than writing in the margin of a book.
But I'm still here somehow, still checking in daily from my remote outpost in Marginalia.

16 comments:

nina said...

You could say that in this period, you have written at least three books' worth of material. That millions have read and discussed publicly and among themselves. Impressive! Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Three years ago! Was the earth still cooling? Had the continents formed yet? (Instapunditia, Kosola, and "Other")

Happy B-day B-log! There should be cake...or at least blogging about cake!

MadisonMan said...

I'm curious, since the blog was birthed two days after your own natal day -- is there a relationship between the two? Did you decide on your birthday to start blogging?

Tim said...

Congratulations, and happy blog-birthday!

Ann Althouse said...

Thanks, Nina. Yeah, those would be three massive tomes, actually. But I would have had to put so much effort into structuring things, and I would have had to figure out some big idea to stick to. Compared to that, blogging is exquisite liberation.

Madison Man: Being a true blogger to the core, I started blogging about 5 minutes after I decided to do it. I had been reading blogs and wanting to blog for a long time before I started. I actually thought it was too late, that all the territory had been claimed and the most I could hope for was an invitation to join a group blog that had started back in the days when it was original to start a blog. I finally realized I had every right to start my own blog after I saw that my colleague Gordon Smith had a blog, and then Nina announced that she too had a blog.

As to the closeness to my birthday... I don't like that. But perhaps having a birthday gets you thinking about whether there is something new you could be doing. And since my birthday is close to New Year's, which also stimulates these thoughts, I tend to feel a lot of that. Not that I've started all that many new things over the years.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Ann great work and getting better all the time. 3 Years and did not miss a day is freaking impressive.

But fiction named "Marginalia"?? Suggest you stick to non-fiction. Or get a good editor who would scrap that and re-brand.

Unknown said...

Congratulations. You and the Skipper have the same blog birthday.

MadisonMan said...

Ann, I do think on each birthday if there's some different direction I want to go and I think it's natural, as you age, to consider where you're going. Well, it is for me.

Thinking about it is about as far as I go, however. Call me Cautious.

Sasha Amorosa said...

I lost my beloved Tía Bonita, this day two years ago, to pulmonary fibrosis. Reading your blog has enabled me to embrace life again.

T.Hanks Ann.

Beth said...

Congrats on both anniversaries, Ann; I missed the birthday thread so please accept my belated wishes for more and better.

Ruth Anne Adams said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
vbspurs said...

Congrats, Ann!

My blog, Sundries, was two yesterday, so Althouse is the big sister.

And to ST Steiner, belated condolences and happy you could find kindred spirits to cheer you here.

Cheers,
Victoria

Anonymous said...

Happy Anniversary! Thanks for creating such a comfortable place to pull up a chair and join in the conversation.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Althouse Blog! My Blog (Valley of the Shadow) was birthed April 13 from going to Blogger from this very Blog. Keep on infuriating both sides. Ann, we can disagree on many things, but to paraphrase Volitaire, I will defend your rights to say it. Many of your new Leftist commenters would try to censor you. Keep on posting and writing! Images from Madison and John Roberts on the same day makes you interesting

sonicfrog said...

Happy Blogiversary!!!

I celebrated my Blogiversary on the first.

Kev said...

Happy belated blogiversary! (I've been out of town with limited Internet access and happy to get back to Dallas before the really bad ice came in.)