Begin the Begin

I've never understood the media's relentless mockery of the blogger culture, but I do find some humor in the mainstream's uneasy appropriation of the form (to the extent that one sportswriter has taken to calling his blog a "perpetual Web column").

That unease, I think, comes from the happy (to me) fact that the proliferation of information has essentially democratized expertise. Certainly insider information is always going to play a part of any sort of non-fiction writing -- whether it's sportswriting, op-eds, even movie reviews. But the sheer amount of stuff available has made everyone's thoughts on sports, movies, music, politics, literature -- in other words, the things that matter -- clearer, sharper, and, ultimately, better.

But for better or worse, the web has also networked people in a very real way, and that's why I wanted to start this blog. It's why my friends and I have been talking about starting this for the better part of a year, and why we want to recruit others to write with us. We don't just want to write to express our thoughts, but to engage in a meaningful dialogue with all the other plebes like us, whether through sycophantic approval or snarky derision.

As for what Neon Hustle is going to focus on, writing-wise, that's not really set in stone at this point. Which is for the best, I think. A matrix of perspectives is certainly interesting, but if you let those perspectives roam where they will, it has the potential to be much more revealing and fun.

At least, that's the hope.