blogiversary

This Is It! The Top Post of the Year!

~ jackewilson ~ 4 Comments

This is it! We’ve come to the end of the Blogiversary Extravaganza, in which I’ve counted down the top posts of the year. Object, object, object, object. Ho-hum. I even had to throw in a few honorable mentions just to keep things interesting. (Hello, Soho Press, John Lennon’s Writing Wisdom, and the irrepressible Charlotte Brontë, dumping her hopeless suitor!)

This countdown has been fun, people! I’ve indulged myself by smothering myself in glory. And you were right there with me! Although you haven’t enjoyed it nearly as much as you have the countdown to the absolute worst posts of the year. Ah, people. I don’t know what to say. What is it about humans that love disaster so much? Must it be that way? Does it have to be the case that recalling the posts that blew up in my face has been more popular than traipsing back through the hits? Something wrong about that. Twisted. Perverse. (And I would do the exact same thing, of course.)

But now it’s time. The top post of the year. I hinted that it might be The Burger Car (still one of the most popular endings), or The Monster (which prompted perhaps the best comment of the year), or maybe The Spitwad (underappreciated but well loved in a sneaky way). The Sweater caught fire for a while and made a late run. The Mugs did their slice-of-life thing. Fell short anyway. Of course. They are The Mugs. That is their nature.

Only one Object could be at the top. And this one earned its way there. That’s right… the story about the time I shared an office with Jerry Seinfeld… the real Jerry Seinfeld… and if you remember the story you’ll know what that means…

Continue reading →

Avert Your Eyes! Worst Post of the Year #2

~ jackewilson ~ 17 Comments

Color me stumped. I have no idea why this one was ignored by you, the readers. Sure, it might not be to everyone’s taste. But the second lowest post of the entire YEAR? Huh? Why? There’s some good content in this post! And there it sits, unloved, unwanted. The Internet has passed it by, again and again and again.

I just don’t get it.

Unlike the mealymouthed case against the case for CodeX, or the agonizingly misguided pen reviews, this one is – dare I say it! – not all that different from most of my other posts!

Is it because of the screaming headline? Maybe I pushed too far? Okay, fine, perhaps substandard haiku in America does not exactly rise to the level of a “national nightmare.” The point is arguable! Reasonable people may differ!

Or was it the tone and the timing? Maybe because on December 20, the height of the holiday season, people did not want to read a screed against “Captain Good-at-Counting” and “Suzie Number-Game.” What can I say? I thought they might!

And they did not. You, reader, did not care one bit.

You not-cared enough to make this the second least popular post on the site. Of the entire year!

Except…now that I check the stats, I see one thing. One ray of hope. Sure, the post barely garnered any traffic. But it did get a like. Exactly one like. From reader Jeff S., who’s been there from the blog’s earliest days, supporting and commenting. I haven’t done a check on this, but I have a feeling there are many posts in the archive with one like from Jeff S. Maybe that’s why I kept going! Jeff S. liked it – which made me think there must be others who would eventually turn up too. He was the first guest at the party, smiling and waiting as I unfolded the card table and strung up the decorations and set out the bowls of chips. Thank you, Jeff S.! I hope you’re still having fun now that the place has gotten a little more crowded!

So here’s the post, in all its dismal ineptitude. Avert your eyes, people!

The Jacke Wilson Blogiversary Countdown 

Least-Popular Post #2

National Nightmare Alert: Why Haiku Fails in America

Why, why, why did this fail? I’m happy to hear your theories in the comments, readers. Do you hate haiku? Hate haters of haiku? But I love haiku! I want it to be better! Am I alone in thinking there’s a problem? Am I alone in caring?

Was it the last line – “Let’s let go”? Too subtle? Too demanding? It’s practically my philosophy of life!

Oh, the misery of a post about haiku that has no audience. If a blog post fails in the forest…and there are no observers…

Winner! Top Post of the Year #4!

~ jackewilson ~ 1 Comment

We’re counting down the top posts of the year here at the Jacke Blog. (As well as the worst.) It’s probably not a surprise for those of you following the Jacke Blog that so far the Objects are taking home the prizes. I’ve been very grateful at the response to these – the Blog really started to take off when I started posting them. And the comments and feedback have been so positive they have flooded my heart with joy. Thank you, Wonderful Readers!

What are the Objects? Stories. That’s it. Sometimes a little supernatural. Sometimes closely related to my own life. Sometimes not. Fiction, more or less.

Stories about being a boy in Wisconsin, and a college student in Chicago, and a vagabond, and a teacher, and a pursuer of literature, and an admirer of people who can do things, and an itinerant worker, and a wayward but ardent father, and a dutiful grandson.,,

All those things. And many more.

And of course, the popular post about the time I invented a quasi-religion through a simple act of refusal.

Top Post of 2013-2014 #4

A History of Jacke in 100 Objects #18 – The Monopoly Game Piece

 

Blogiversary Week – The Ecstasy of an Object

~ jackewilson ~ 1 Comment

Okay! It’s One-Year Anniversary Week here at the Jacke Blog, and we’re counting down the most and least popular posts of the year, as voted upon by you the readers (via your page views these past twelve months).

This morning we started things off with a wayward post about renaming the ebook.  I concluded that I should have renamed the post. Or not written the thing at all. A miserable little creature.

But this is more exciting! The countdown to the most popular! And here we are at number 5.

Jacke Wilson’s Blogiversary Celebration

Most Popular Posts of 2013-2014 #5

A History of Jacke in 100 Objects #15 – The Coffepot

This is the story of a young man who was an excellent speller. He won seven spelling bees in a row, dominating the competition year after year after year. And then, in the eighth grade, with a trip to regionals (and state! and nationals!) on the line, this champion lost for the first time in his life, shocking the town.

How could this happen? How did he stumble?

Readers, I have some tough news to deliver. A difficult set of truths.

The Eighth Grade Spelling Bee of Cadbridge, Wisconsin, in the Year of Our Lord 1984, was fixed. Completely rigged. The boy, the potential champion, lost on purpose. For reasons that remained murky for years, he threw the bee.

I know because I was that boy.

It was the worst thing I ever did. But not for the reasons you might expect. Keep reading…

Ah yes. The story of attempting to throw a spelling bee, with a couple of surprise twists. A tough one to write. An easy one (hopefully) to read. Enjoy my misery, people!

I’m not surprised to see this one here. People remember those spelling bees, and they remember the feeling of  being an adolescent longing to fit in, and they remember teachers like the one in the story.

I’ve gotten a lot of feedback on this one, including an email from an eighth grade classmate, who himself is now the principal of a school. “I could still kick your ass for doing that,” he said.  If only I’d known that at the time! I was in a strange place called Puberty, where chemicals race through your body and your brain is hyperaware, hyperfocused, and often hypermisguided.

But I’m glad the story came through and resonated with readers. At least there’s that.

Congratulations, Coffepot! You’re the fifth most popular post of the year!