María Amelia López Soliño

The oldest blogger on the Internet has died at age 97. María began blogging in December 23, 2006 on her 95th birthday. “My grandson, who is very stingy, gave me a blog,” she reported. The website is here—and it’s a marvel. The Google Blogger site acquired 1,056 followers and, since its inception, has drawn 1.7 million visitors from five continents. I would suggest that you look at her very first entry, found here, where the words that I’ve just quoted appear in Spanish, and the second, here; both show what she looked like as a young lady. The entries also hint at the reasons why her site became so popular.

Is it true that hi-tech pursuits are the domain of youth? Yes in a sense, no in another. They’re certainly the domain of the young in spirit. The old in body sometimes need a nudge, María by her grandson, for instance; in my case it was John Magee with his amusing Patioboat and his wife (and my daughter) Monique, who drew my attention to it and, with a hint or two, urged that this project be launched.

One final note. The blogosphere provides an absolutely amazing and heretofore totally inaccessible view of wonderful people all over the world seen, as it were, from the inside. Bill Valicella makes much the same comment on Maverick Philosopher where I first learned of María’s existence—and passing.