Daily Archives: 08/08/2012

(Community Matters) Taking a look at the geographical range of Community Matters readers. Yesterday’s traffic:

Country	Views
United States	680
United Kingdom	94
Canada	46
Germany	37
France	18
Netherlands	17
Australia	16
Italy	10
Norway	10
Denmark	7
Ireland	7
New Zealand	7
Belgium	6

It’s fun to imagine I know who many of the people are from some of the foreign countries. Though, admittedly after nearly 6 years (4,773 posts) of blogging at this site (on top of 2 previously on the AAS site), I realize lots of hits are google searches for specific topics. Using various approaches to estimating unique visitors, appears CM gets receives 3k to 7k unique visitors per week – including periodic private notes from readers in many parts of the country and globe.

Continue reading →

(Community Matters) One shouldn’t underestimate the power of role models, nor the dearth of dreams from the lack thereof.

from Playbook: OLYMPIC RING – Chicago Tribune p. 1, “Gift of Gabby: Gold may net gymnast millions,” by Diane Pucin in London : “Douglas, a 16-year-old from Virginia Beach, Va., who did not come from a life of privilege but from a background in which her single mother has struggled to pay the mortgage on a condominium, will leave London not only with her medals, but also with the opportunity to become a millionaire. … She didn’t win her first major competition until last month … Sheryl Shade, an agent who helped [gymnast] Shawn Johnson parlay her 2008 Olympic performance of three silver medals and a gold on the balance beam into a post-Olympic career, … scooped up Douglas when she became an Olympian. … ‘She appeals to everyone – to the moms who take their little girls to the gym, to the little girls who want to be like her, to the African-American community’. …

“Douglas already has scored a spot on boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, a deal worth about $50,000 … Bela Karolyi, who was head of the 1996 U.S. team that won Olympic gold and who also coached Mary Lou Retton to all-around gold in 1984, said Douglas might have even more impact on the sport. ‘Thousands and thousands of African-American kids are going to go into gymnastics because of her, because they will want to be the new Gabby Douglas,’ Karolyi said. ‘With Mary Lou in 1984, her popularity doubled the number of gymnastics participants in this country.'” http://trib.in/MwIBeX