Happy Birthday, TMD!

Today is the two year blogiversary of Tundra Medicine Dreams! It amazes me to think that I have been writing this blog for two full years; it just doesn't seem that long. This makes the 234th post, which is about one every three days. Just recently the 100,000th reader visited.

Of all the posts I've written, the one that enduringly gets the most visitors--through Google searches--is the one on huffing. The search strings vary a bit, from "how do I get high on Axe deodorant?" to "how can I tell if my child is huffing?" Probably the second most popular is the post on breastfeeding, landed on invariably from a search on "oldest breastfed child." Interesting how much people want to know that (my answer: the oldest I have personally found was seven years old). Coming in third would be the post on diet and obesity among the Yupik Eskimo people.

Controversy has not had a high profile here, and subsequently I have not garnered a lot of comments. Most posts get only three or four. The big winner was the one time I hosted Grand Rounds, in September of 2006, which got 32 comments--most of which were "thanks for including my post." That was also my all-time high number of visitors in a single day, nearly 700 as I recall. Second place in the comment division went to the post on a village funeral with 18 comments. Even though I feel like an old-time blogger after two years, I still get a thrill when people take the time to leave a comment.

I started this blog out of a desire to share with people the breathtaking and sometimes subtle beauty of the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta, and the stirring and generous warmth of the Yupik people. It has been an enriching experience for me, and one that has brought me much joy. To those who have become regular readers of Tundra Medicine Dreams, thank you for sharing this journey with me. And to those who have left comments, quyana cak nek!