by vivrant thang on retrospective

I’m really excited by how far this blog has come in the three months I’ve been posting regularly. At first since I didn’t share the URL with a lot of people, I was a bit surprised when I got my first comment so soon after I started writing. I thought I’d be talking to myself for quite a while…and I was okay with that. I wanted to find my way a bit and decide just what I was here to do. Knowing that people were reading made me move a little quicker!

I don’t post daily or several times a day like other folks so this is just my 50th post. Since I’m moving right along with one of my blog resolutions, which is to increase readership and comments, I thought I’d do sort of a retrospective for new readers. I don’t know about you, but I appreciate when a blogger does that because as a person that subscribes to over 150 feeds, which I obviously don’t always keep up with, I need a round-up on occasion. So I intend to do this every 50 posts.

Over these past couple of weeks, some great things have happened as a result of a few posts in particular.

• Just today, I discovered that CNN has linked to my rant post about the Banita Jacks case under their From The Blogs section. Lawd, take me now. It appears to be powered by some news aggregator but I’m thrilled that it found my post out of all the blogs that I hope are talking about this. I don’t know if it will change soon so check it out!
• If that wasn’t enough, last week I wrote a post about a HOT party I had the pleasure to attend. Super Producer 9th Wonder and DJ Cuzzin B actually took the time to comment and then 9th Wonder linked to my post from his Myspace blog. If that wasn’t enough, they also added a link to my blog from the True School website, which is also linked from 9th Wonder’s main website. All of this because I simply wrote about what I love: rocking to REAL music. I didn’t expect anyone to find it, much less comment on it. I just had to share it.
• Shortly after all that, I discovered that my post about “Getting Back” with Little Brother was used on the Facebook page for their upcoming concert in London at The Jazz Cafe. (aside: I wish I lived in London. They have some HOT shows coming up there *gasp and swoon*). There were several excellent posts which I referenced in my own, but they used mine.

Here are some other posts I’ve written that I’d like to spotlight:

The Daily News

• She’s In a Better Place (rape and murder of 10-month-old Da’Niyah Jackson)
• Unpretty (death of Dr. Donda West)
• Why? My Thoughts on the Michael Vick Case
• Self-Destruction (thoughts on TI and Michael Vick)
• I Am Not My Hair

Concert Reviews

• From Erro to Prince: I Gets Around!
• The ERRO Concert Experience
• Let’s Rock with Chrisette Michele
• There’s Something About Keite Young
• Love It: Bilal Concert Reviews and Videos
• Let’s Rock: Highlights from the Van Hunt Concert

Here are the posts that have been among your favorites, according to the stats:

• My Favorite Things: Top 50 R&B/Soul Songs
• Other Woman
• My Favorite Things: Top 10 Songs of 2007
• No More Drama
• Young, Gifted, and Black!

I’m also really proud of the blog campaign I participated in last month for World AIDS day. You can see all of the posts here.

For the newbies wanting to know more about Vivrant Thing, check the “Who’s That Girl?” page and the All About Me section.

So there you have it…the highlights thus far. I’d love to hear your comments on some of these past posts if you missed them the first time around.

I have a lot in store for the next 50 posts. So hang tight and enjoy the ride!