The term “swan song,” long used in fables and literature, stems from the fact that swans, which are relatively quiet birds, are said to make distinctive, plaintive, musical sounds just before they die.

This “Swan Song” blogpost is not to announce that I am dying (well, not yet!), but rather that my WOW blog is about to die. I know I’ve threatened this before, but now it’s real. I’ll try my best to explain why for you briefly here – then offer an alternative at the end.

 As I know I don’t need to tell you, the cost of living is rising – everywhere, for just about everyone. And that includes this beautiful oasis, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where I retired ten years ago at the age of 70, knowing I couldn’t afford to live in the U.S. on my Social Security income.

The cost of groceries here has been rising steadily. And last month, as just one more example of this cost-of-living rise, my beloved (and forevermore) apartment’s rent was raised considerably. So I’m left to tighten my already tight belt even tighter and to try to trim every trimmable thing.

 One of those things is the cost of maintaining this WOW blog. In the close-to-twelve years that I’ve been writing and publishing these weekly posts, I’ve never monetized my work — and I’m not about to start now. For me, the freedom to write from my heart and soul for readers who have hearts and souls has always meant more to me than money; freedom and a sense of purpose are priceless to me. 

As I wrote in my WOW blog, “Milestones,” in April 2022, marking my then-400^th post:

Writing this weekly blog has been a pleasure, especially because it’s helped me stay in touch with friends far and wide, old and new, and make new friends in the process. It’s been my way of reaching out and embracing like-minded people all over the world and hearing back from them in the comments. It’s been a large part of an ongoing sense for me of a global community.

It’s also been liberating: Since no one pays me, I’m free to write from my heart whatever I feel inspired to write each week, on subjects mostly of interest to older women like myself, under the general heading, “news, views, reviews and interviews worth factoring into your life.”

And what I’ve written has always been free for the taking. There’s never been a subscription fee. It’s never been a commercial enterprise, and that has made me happy. No monetary strings attached. In my experience, money muddies things.

But the cold, numerical fact is that in all the years I’ve offered my WOWs for free, I’ve been faithfully paying my “server” (or is the correct term “host”?) in Taos, NM, where my website and WOW blog were born in 2014, to maintain this online presence for me.

Things had been going fairly smoothly for a long while, website-wise. In recent months, however, I’ve been alarmed to see that my blogposts have been receiving thousands and thousands of views from all over the world (but mostly Asia and the U.S.), only a tiny fraction of which (maybe 5% or so?) representing human beings.

When I asked my server in Taos about this development, I was led to believe there was nothing they could do. They told me:“Yes, they are bots. Likely mostly Artificial Intelligent bots but also probably a bunch of hacker bots and search engine bots as well. It’s part of having a website on the internet.”

Rightly or wrongly, I came away feeling that my server isn’t serving me. They’re serving bots. I don’t write for bots. But that’s the world we’re all living in right now, isn’t it? It’s a world I’m more than baffled by. Perhaps there’s a way to pay my server for an upgrade that would block these uninvited, unwelcome bots; but even if there is one, it would not be in my budget.

I’m sharing this story now as a miniscule example of where all this technology seems to be headed. These nonhumans (bots), it appears, have an insatiable appetite for humans’ words and thoughts. Personally, I’m not interested in feeding them.

It infuriates me that a person who has never resorted to using A.I.s to do her writing for her — because to date A.I.s possess neither hearts nor souls — is seeing A.I. bots gobble up her writing to use as they wish. Which is…? I’d love to know. I feel I must put a stop to this robbery to save what’s left of my sanity in this crazy (to me) techno-world.            

For me, a former caterer and foodie in NYC, writing and publishing my WOW posts has been a lot like cooking: Taking the time to prepare what I’ve hoped would be  body-and-soul-nourishing little meals for others, and inviting these others to come and dine at my small table. Everything has been “cooked” with thought and care. Thoughts as food. This has given me a sense of purpose and great joy.

But today’s post, number 567, has to be my final WOW blogpost, my swan song, for all of the above reasons. It’s been an exciting, educational, enriching, worthwhile, almost-twelve-year journey; and, in the words of Edith Piaf, “Je ne regrette rien” (I regret nothing). 

Thank you all, WOW readers, for coming along on this journey with me. Thank you for reading, commenting, sharing. Thank you for being YOU — my cherished 5%-or-so, who possess hearts and minds and souls. 

 I don’t want to lose touch with you, though! So, if you care to, please email me at https://www.bonnieleeblack@yahoo.com to let me know if you’d still like to hear from me. If you do this, I’ll make a new, private list of “viewers” (which won’t, I trust, include thousands of bots!), and I’ll write an informal, short, personal, emailed newsletter to you all from time to time, as the spirit moves, thoughts bubble up, and my muse dictates. This is my suggested alternative. 

What do you think? Please let me know in a personal email to the above email address. As ever, I’d love to hear from you. 

With many thanks, much love, and all best wishes always, Bonnie

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

P.S.:  I recently had an essay published in a beautiful, new (to San Miguel) magazine called The Eye. The theme of their February issue was “Pilgrimage,” and my essay, “Long Journey Home,” is on page 26: https://theeyehuatulco.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/SMA-February-2026.pdf .

            Also, in recent weeks, in anticipation of terminating my WOW blog, I’ve been busy rereading, cataloguing, and preserving my 567 posts. Here’s one I especially like, from March 8, 2019, celebrating International Women’s Day, which is March 8th every year. I hope you like it too:  https://blog.bonnieleeblack.com/subject-or-object?/ .