Well, it just happened - the 100,000th visitor to my little outpost of insanity, just about two years after I started this wee "blawg." We're having a small party here - me, Henry Adams and a bottle of bourbon that was the gift of a Kentucky friend who is now a nun. Good times.
Here's what I know about my 100,000th visitor - he or she or them is/are from Rochelle, Illinois, located at: 41.9627, -89.0511. He or she uses a Mac, so obviously is very hip and very cool. If the lucky visitor will send me a note, I'll send you a prize - a free copy of one of my books of your choice. Which may be more a curse than a blessing. I'll deface it with my signature for free, if you want. Congratulations! Or condolences!
[I actually wish 100K had been the 100,001st visitor - no offense to our reader from Rochelle - who happens to be from Hillsborough, New Hampshire. It would have been nice symmetry, since I spent several weeks of most summers of my childhood with my family at a small cabin on Lake Pierce, just outside Hillsborough. Every summer we'd take a tour through Franklin Pierce's Homestead in Hillsborough, the nice house of a mediocre President for whom I harbor nostalgic fondness, nonetheless. I'll send you a runner's up prize, if you drop me a note. It will be only slightly less valuable than the amazing grand prize...].
You can reach me at: pdeneen (AT) gmail.com
As for the meaning of this momentous occasion - I only note that of the two books I've written and one I've edited, I have yet to sell more than 700 copies of any, and there's no telling how many of that small number of devotees has read a word. The academic audience is small, cramped and over-specialized; but ideas arguably can and should receive a wider airing, at least if they are worthy of consideration. I'm gratified and humbled by this readership, and hope that there is something of worth to be found here. I think it's fair to say that you certainly get your money's worth here...
Now, back to that bourbon....
Keep it up, Patrick. Many of us are regulars and just don't know what we would do without a regular dose of "Georgetown Political Theory by Night" after work.
ReplyDeleteBen of Texas
I was the 100th customer in line recently at Chick-Fil-A. Yes. I ate free.
ReplyDeleteProfessor Deneen,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! A quick note-Franklin Pierce, the mediocre President, was a Bowdoin alum and a friend of his classmates Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Conor