It’s my year-end tradition to highlight the year’s posts that were most read, commented, and liked.
But this year, I’d like to start with my five favorite posts from 2013. This blog is mostly about my hobbies, primarily photography and trips along old roads. But sometimes I write more serious posts about my life experiences or my faith and personal growth. I pour my heart into them. So please, if you missed any of these the first time, click through and read them now.
- Seven things I want my sons to know about making their way – My teenage sons live in a time of unprecedented, albeit nontraditional, opportunity. This post summarizes things I’ve said to them this year about how to capitalize on that opportunity.
- Schools driven by standardized tests take all joy out of learning – Measuring school performance by standardized tests has ruined them, squeezing out everything that can make a kid love to learn.
- The mechanics of forgiveness – Why we should always forgive, and some things I’ve learned about how to do it.
- Forgiveness isn’t reconciliation – Why we sometimes shouldn’t be reconciled with those we’ve forgiven, and how to tell when to reconcile and when not to.
- It’ll be stronger than it was before it broke – A story about mending broken relationships.
These five posts got the most visits this year.
- What’s a guy who still shoots film supposed to do? – This post has ended up being a top-10 result when people search Google to find whether their favorite drug store still processes film. It gets 10 to 20 visits a day.
- 1966 Ford Custom 500 – This was my favorite car at this year’s Mecum Spring Classic muscle-car auction.
- Schools driven by standardized tests take all joy out of learning – Hooray! One of my heartfelt posts made the top five!
- Death of a radio station – Reflections on my college radio experience as that station stops broadcasting over the air and only streams on the Internet.
- Film photography has never been less expensive – Adjusted for inflation, film photography has never been such a bargain.
These five posts gathered the most comments from you.
- What’s a guy who still shoots film supposed to do? – I asked your advice about processing my own film at home. You gave it. I still haven’t taken it.
- 46 – You wished me well on my 46th birthday.
- Good night, Gracie – You offered your condolences when my dear dog passed away. It’s been a month now, and I’m shocked by how hard it’s been to deal with this loss.
- Death of a radio station – Several people who worked at my college’s radio station, which went Internet-only this year, found my post and offered their perspective.
- More photographer than camera collector – My thoughts about photography with old cameras resonated with my like-minded readers.
You clicked “Like” most often on these five posts.
- Chuch cornerstones – I photograph church cornerstones whenever I come upon them. I’m glad you like them, too.
- Captured: Snow-covered dog – A photo of my dog Gracie after snow fell off the roof and onto her back. It charmed many of you.
- What’s a guy who shoots film supposed to do? – Look! This post scored the hat trick, appearing in all three lists.
- A Kodak Brownie Hawkeye and expired film on the Mother Road – When my sons and I traveled Route 66 this spring, I took this old camera along. You liked the results.
- More film on Instagram – I upload my film photos to Instagram and apply filters to them. It’s great fun. You must think so, too, given by how many “Likes” this post got.
Finally, just for giggles, here are the five most popular posts of all time (going on 7 years!) on Down the Road:
- Defending good grammar, sort of – I reran this post a couple weeks ago. The original was Freshly Pressed and got more than 5,000 visits in one day.
- Vintage TV: The CBS Late Movie – Do it: search for “The CBS Late Movie” and watch this post appear in the top ten results.
- Cameras – This is the home page for my camera collection, listing all the cameras I’ve written about.
- Kodak Junior Six-16 Series II – This post about a folding camera is another top-ten search result.
- Minolta Hi-Matic 7 – This post about a rangefinder camera is another top-ten search result.