That’s me onstage at the third annual Y’all Connect Presented by Alabama Power. I get to take my blogging skills from the last 10 years and share them with others.

I’m fortunate.

This post is another fortunate gift, as it’s the 5,000th post for Wade on Birmingham. I wrote many of them, and friends and colleagues wrote some of the best ones.

By the numbers …

• It took 561 days to reach 1,000 posts.
• Another 722 days to reach 2,000 posts.
• Another 594 days to reach 3,000 posts.
• Another 880 days to reach 4,000 posts.
• And then another 802 days to reach this 5,000th post.

I haven’t been idle since No. 4,000. I launched my blogging and social media conference. I’ve traveled around the Southeast to talk about communications topics. I was even on the the radio Saturday.

A quick rundown of the state of the blogs …

• Wade on Birmingham — Back in December, I wrote my most popular post ever on this site. How popular? First time in 10 years that the surge in traffic crashed the site for a few hours.

• Wade Kwon.com — Aside from all of my 60,000 tweets, a few essays when time permits. Plus a surge of year-end activity to compile a few best-of lists.

• Birmingham Blogging Academy — Still going strong after 6 years. Thanks to all my clients and readers and fans!

• Project Bulk — Completed in 2014, with a super healthy body fat percentage around 15 or 16 percent.

• Y’all Connect — As mentioned above, now looking ahead to 2016. Plenty of new videos from this year’s event just hit the site.

To my readers: Thank you for your kindness, your feedback and your critiques! On to the next 5,000 …

(And in October, we’ll officially mark 10 years for this site!)

Wade Kwon is a Birmingham native and publisher of Wade on Birmingham.

Photo: Violet Carson (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for July 5, 2015:

• The 5,000th post for Wade on Birmingham!
• Y’all Connect: Our annual 10-day video sale
• Slavery and Freedom in New York City, by Eric Foner @cwrmooc
• “Roadtrip Nation” special stops in Birmingham
• In lieu of another blog post, 2015 edition
• Farm to Fable: Deception, fraud in the farm-to-table movement, by @_TroyJohnson
• Don’t Be Afraid of the Clowns, by Leigh Cowart @voraciousbrain
• On Starbucks’ controversial #RaceTogether campaign, by @AustinCarr (RT @Cassidy_Davis)
• Obergefell v. Hodges, a 5-4 ruling making gay marriage legal across US [PDF]
• 10 celebrity memoirs to devour this summer

More posts from Wade this week:

• Happy Independence Day!
• Emmylou Harris returns to White House for PBS concert
• The Birmingham channel: Rolling along

The latest #sundayread tweets

#sundayread Tweets

• More #sundayread recommendations from me

Odometer rolls
and the 12th free sandwich and
palindromic times.

• • •

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Video: “Fireworks,” directed by Victor Hugo Duran

Happy birthday, America!

P.S. I sat in on “Biz Talk with Roy Williams” this week, and our hourlong pre-taped show airs at 3 p.m. today on WAGG (610 AM) and streams live online.

A scene from the short film “Fireworks”

America smokes
pot, marries anyone and
plays so much soccer.

• • •

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Bang! Pop! Rat-a-tat-
tat! Up and down the street boom
the sounds of freedom.

• • •

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Time to figure out
who we’re mad at and who we’re
really afraid of.

• • •

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Video: “In Performance at the White House”
celebrates “The Gospel Tradition.”

The PBS music series “In Performance at the White House” has a familiar face in its latest episode. Birmingham’s Emmylou Harris returned to perform for the salute to “The Gospel Tradition.”

Joined onstage by duet partner Rodney Crowell and Carolina Chocolate Drops’ Rhiannon Giddens, the trio performs the old-time hymn “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”

See the performance at 29:32.

The concert took place April 14 and debuted Friday on PBS. Harris performed in 2010 at the White House as part of the Gershwin Prize ceremony for Paul McCartney.

From left, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell and
Rhiannon Giddens

Lose 10 pounds, join a
book club, eat healthier, watch
“Game of Thrones,” try meth.

• • •

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Video: “Roadtrip Nation” special, “Why Not Us?”
[Birmingham at 35:36]

PBS series “Roadtrip Nation” changed its format for 2015. The reality documentary show typically follows three college-age participants traveling across the country in a green RV to interview interesting people.

The goal is to discover how they ended up where they are in their career, providing inspiration for those seeking the path forward.

This year’s trip covered the same distance in a far shorter period, but still managing to squeeze in a stop in Birmingham.

The four roadtrippers shared one trait: Each one was the first in their family to attend college. And their journey was not shown in a dozen half-hour episodes that usually comprise a full season, but a 1-hour special titled “Why Not Us?”

The team stopped to interview Odessa Woolfolk, founding president of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (found at 35:36 in the video). Also featured in the clip is Barry McNealy, a tour guide and high school social studies teacher.

See the interview and its impact on the “Roadtrip Nation” crew.

“Why Not Us?” will re-air on APT 10.2 World Channel at 6 p.m. Sunday, 4 a.m. Monday, 5 p.m. July 7 and 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. July 8.

• More with roadtripper Jasmine Johnson | More on Odessa Woolfolk

“Why Not Us?” features (clockwise from top left)
Johnathan Allen, Jennifer Rogers, Jasmine Johnson
and Felipe Hernandez.

The start looks like fun,
and the end looks perfect but
far off. Keep going.

• • •

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A look at Birmingham in videos …

Jazmine Sullivan performs “Forever Don’t Last” April 8 at Iron City on Southside. From Vevo.

•

Birmingham N-Scale Modular Club shows off an N-scale layout in Helena. From Route29a.

•

Trucker BigRigSteve rolls southward in his 2012 Peterbilt 386 on I-65 near Birmingham. From BigRigTravels.

•

Special June 12 meeting of the Birmingham Board of Education. From SomewhereITN.

•

Sarah and Jeff Mills’ Doggie Daycare wedding downtown (our vertical video of the week). From Just Happy Hounds.

•

Promo for “HighLife” TV show. From High Life.

•

Atlanta AC/DC tribute band Sin City performs “Riff Raff” earlier this month at the Tilted Kilt in Inverness (our other vertical video of the week). From Henry Perry.

•

An elephant dining out at the Birmingham Zoo. From An Innovative Pursuit.

•

Trailer for “For a Few Zombies More,” the sequel to “Hide and Creep.” Shot in Birmingham. From Chance Shirley.

•

Music video for “Psalm 19” by the Corner Room at Cahaba Park Church. From the Corner Room.

•

Birmingham rock band Massimo Eddy performs “Pickpocket” at the Nick on Southside. From Neurodegenerate.

•

Photojournalist Kerry Robinson’s news demo reel. From Kerry Robinson.

•

Music video for “Escape Plan” from Birmingham band Nowhere Squares. From Nowhere Squares.

•

Jack Royer reports on food relief efforts at the Christian Service Mission for Magic City Miracle, a day of service projects. From Jack Royer.

•

• • •

Send us links to your videos. | More videos on the Birmingham channel.

The fault lies not in
our stars but in ourselves, that
we are underlings.

• • •

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Photo: Robert Couse-Baker (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for June 28, 2015:

• Promote an event with a real Web presence
• Public radio needs more weekend hits, and fast, by Michael Arnold @radioarnold
• Book reviewing has lost its serrated edge, by Frances Wilson (via @BooksLIVESA)
• Flashback: Social Media Day 2012: Birmingham tweetup at J. Clyde
• Personal finance expert @Ramit Sethi answers questions on Reddit
• The Definitive History of Personal Style Blogs, by @CaseyMLewis
• Y’all Connect: Winners from our 2015 conference and survey
• Sail Away: The Oral History of Yacht Rock, by @lordandrewtoal
• The future of loneliness, by Olivia Laing @olivialanguage (RT @lermann)
• Flashback: The @WadeOnTweets 1,000 follower prize blowout!
• The Most Daring Cliffhanger in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” History by @AaronCouch
• Anti-Intellectualism Is Killing America, by @ahadave (via @dianabill @amtant1972)
• Between Kickstarter’s frauds and phenoms live long-delayed projects by @CaseyJohnston
• 20 Things You Might Not Know About “Office Space,” by Roger Cormier @yayroger

More posts from Wade this week:

• Y’all Connect: Video: Y’all Connect 2015 starts off with … math
• The Birmingham channel: High hopes

The latest #sundayread tweets

#sundayread Tweets

• More #sundayread recommendations from me

No court, no law can
stop the force of love as it
spreads from heart to heart.

• • •

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