The calendar has flipped and 2016 is now over, with a New Year ahead I always reflect on the achievements of the past year with a focus on the present and how I can continue to improve in all aspects of my life.
I am incredibly grateful for the support and encouragement provided by my readers and for your continued committed and dedicated time in reading as well as sharing my work with others. I am truly blessed and completely humbled and honored to have reached some new audiences in different parts of the world.
I have been recognized for my work in the area of sports writing, news writing, and for my work in Catholic media. My contributions have been well received and well circulated, for which I am very grateful.
This past year also marked the publication of a collection of my poetry on Amazon. I am still awestruck by the support and the kind feedback that collection of creative work has garnered.
Last year, on Frank’s Forum I put together a Year In Review and it was really successful in connecting with new readers and committed readers of my writing work as well. I have reprised this concept for 2016 but with a format change to highlight the months to make it easier to follow.
January
The start of 2016 brought with it the first of many (which I am so completely blessed) well received articles for the Catholic media. This piece, on Our Lady Untier of Knots was shared over 2,000 times between Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other social media sites:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/3323/our-lady-untier-of-knots-a-personal-reflection.html
The month of January also brought with it a continuation of my quest to raise awareness on GMOs in food products with this piece about Campbell’s Soup:
In staying with the theme of environmental issues, this article was very important to me personally – it was produced for Medium about the Flint, Michigan contaminated drinking water tragedy:
https://medium.com/@FMaduri/tragic-decision-flint-drinking-water-disaster-ac5f2e485cdf#.me52jlwy0
February
It is generally a shorter month and one where I was working on many projects in the creative writing area while producing some news writing less frequently.
This article about Super Bowl 50 made it as a front page featured story for Sportsblog.com which has tens of thousands of writers submitting content to the site, so I was incredibly honored that this was selected and distributed globally via Google News:
http://fjmaduri.sportsblog.com/posts/12659956/super-bowl-50–manning–cam—-the-cult-of-personality.html
This article for Medium continued the environmental awareness work that is important to me – it was a piece on the level of plastic pollution and what that means for our ecosystem:
https://medium.com/@FMaduri/plastic-pollution-projections-world-economic-forum-report-7270ec6d0539#.7m3fr1pti
March
I know that many of my devoted readers have read in the past that my poetry is the most passionate work that I do, I am very connected to my poetry and it is very important to me. That being stated, this poem was shared over 750 times via social media platforms:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/3752/poetry-battlefield.html
This sports business article on the new stadium process for the Tampa Bay Rays made it into international distribution to multiple countries through Google News and was so well read that I earned an award from the site for the MLB division which was a great honor and achievement:
http://fjmaduri.sportsblog.com/posts/14699523/tampa-bay-rays–the-new-stadium-quest.html
My push for continued awareness of the GMO issues with our food supply was the topic for this article:
April
One of the most well received poems I have ever been blessed to write:
https://allpoetry.com/poem/12422884–Refugee–by-Frank-J.-Maduri
An important change to rules regarding cable television and providing choices to the consumer:
May
The article below was one that is close to my heart and that I heard from many readers via email how it resonated with them:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/4320/remaining-open-to-the-holy-spirit.html
A big news story in the GMO debate regarding an industry report and the reaction it caused:
June
I have had success in writing articles about mergers and acquisitions and that continued in 2016:
This article for Medium was about the major changes Applebee’s made to their restaurants:
https://medium.com/@FMaduri/big-gamble-applebees-bets-on-menu-reboot-f4ebd7cd08c5#.f2bn0wo64
This article on the NHL expansion to Las Vegas was very well regarded which I am grateful and humbled by:
http://fjmaduri.sportsblog.com/posts/20362375/follow-up–big-gamble–nhl-expands-to-las-vegas.html
July
This article for Medium was on the collapse of the honeybee colonies which is a huge issue in our environment and for our society:
https://medium.com/@FMaduri/colony-collapse-disorder-honeybees-pesticides-1d3c1d1b8769#.41fk1dhzz
This article was very personal to me and it was an honor to produce:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/4783/the-jericho-road-moment.html
August
This was a huge news story – the EpiPen price increase:
https://medium.com/@FMaduri/extreme-need-extreme-greed-big-pharma-the-epipen-price-gauging-debacle-dc43f2c8fa25#.2csqm9c3c
This piece for my blog was a very important one that I gained some very insightful feedback and was circulated to a variety of veterans groups about the military veteran suicide rate:
Twenty Two Tragedies A Day: The Veteran Suicide Rate Spike In America
September
Summer turned into Autumn and I was honored to write this piece for Patch on the development of my local Mall and the residents’ concerns:
http://patch.com/new-jersey/longbranch/monmouth-mall-redevelopment-debacle
This piece was also an honor and a blessing for me to produce and it was also distributed globally which was a huge blessing for me:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/5207/reflections-on-the-passion–victory-and-salvation.html
October
The month of October came with the news that Sears was rapidly failing. My article on that iconic American retailer was met with some very compelling interactions with readers about the state of the future of retail shopping:
I am very fortunate to have readers who are so loyal and they have provided me feedback in the past that they enjoy the “roundup” type sports articles – so I included this NFL article of that format which was well received and for which I am grateful:
http://fjmaduri.sportsblog.com/posts/27016064/nfl-roundup—–four-weeks-into-2016-season.html
November
This article is on a topic that I feel is going to be integral to our future – water being traded as a commodity:
Over the course of the past few years I have covered the issues facing the San Diego Chargers and their future in that city as well as in the NFL’s race to put a team in Los Angeles. This article was particularly well regarded by others in the sports media:
http://fjmaduri.sportsblog.com/posts/29049372/follow-up–san-diego-chargers-ballot-initiative-for-stadium-funds-fails.html
This article was shared close to 2,000 times across various social media platforms and I am blessed to have my name associated with it:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/5542/the-power-of-prayer-the-holy-rosary-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary.html
December
I was honored to join the website community, Varsity Views, which is owned by USA Today, to produce sports content for their site. This piece did really well and was selected as an editor’s choice:
https://www.varsityviews.com/community/frankjmaduri/charged-up-the-nfl-and-l-a-the-saga-continues/c/58470c9c21c3640400ab6024?bust=y5i
This piece was especially well regarded and was an inspiring story to produce:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/5645/our-lady-of-kibeho–marian-apparitions-in-rwanda–the-chaplet-of-the-seven-sorrows-of-mary.html
Thank you all for your continued support in 2016 and I look forward to continuing to bring forth content in 2017 that will inspire and uplift those in the audience. Happy New Year!