Manifesto

Hello. We are The New Curmudgeons. Our mission is simple: Write. We harbor no illusions about our presence here.  We know our words amount to merely a few additional peeps in the overcrowded digital multiverse that is the World Wide Web. Maybe an eye or two will glance at our essays, political rants, film critiques, or whatever we might produce. Or maybe not. Perhaps we won’t be able to yell above the din of cyberspace or compete with its more glorious (and, in all likelihood, scantily clad) offerings.

But that’s not the point. This site is a labor of love. You see, some months ago we became aware that we were no longer doing any real writing. We had each, in our own ways, previously spent quiet time turning thoughts -- sometimes our own, sometimes others' -- into prose. But we found we were no longer writing creatively, neither for our jobs nor on our own. Which meant, ultimately, we weren't doing any deep thinking.

In an age of so much information, where just a few clicks can connect you to anything, from the secrets of the Bhagavad Gita to what Snookie had for breakfast, writing fosters clarity. It forces confrontation with this muddled mess of facts constantly refreshed by news flashes, instant text updates, and live-blogged pre-event coverage. Information is cheap, reflection is not.

Therefore, here we are, ready to write, ready to think. By joining forces, we hope to both inspire--if not pressure--each other to continue returning to the keyboard. Topic is of little importance. We may cover politics, culture, literature, mere books, more politics, technology, economics, pet peeves, happy aggravations, still more politics, and so on. If it engages us, we will engage with it. We are not narrowly targeted, Google PageRank-checking, SEO-calculating, Twitterastic, Facebookotic blogsters. That's just not our way.

We are here to write. As well as we can. That's it.