About the Site

Unsilent Generation is a site for people who don’t believe that getting old means getting dumb, getting conservative, getting complacent, or getting used to spending your days driving a golf cart to early bird dinner specials. It’s a site for people who know that old age doesn’t have to be a slow shuffle toward the grave, but it also isn’t always the glorious adventure that’s depicted in “senior” lifestyle magazines or commercials for retirement investments.

Founded in 2008 in response to a gap in both the mainstream and alternative media, Unsilent Generation features information and commentary on a variety of timely issues and subjects, from a no-nonsense, progressive point of view. Some of these are issues that we geezers might care about because they especially affect our lives. Some are issues we might care about because we’ve just lived too long to take any more bullshit.

The inspiration for the name of the site is explained in one of my inaugural posts, No Country Club for Old Men. I’m part of what’s been called the Silent Generation, which was born during the Depression (and may well die off during another one) and came of age in the 1950s, a time not so different from the Bush years that we’ve all just lived through. But Unsilent Generation is not meant for any particular generation: It’s for everyone who is old or plans on some day becoming old.

Readers are encouraged to comment on the posts, and are welcome to send ideas, links, and responses to ridgeway.james@gmail.com. I’ll use your stuff if I think it’s any good, or write back to you if I feel like it after I’ve had my nap.

–James Ridgeway

Credits:
Blog design and editing: Jean Casella
Banner photo: Garrison School, Class of 1951
Thanks to Mother Jones for its support of my work on this subject, and for posting selected Unsilent Generation blog entries on the MoJo Blog at MotherJones.com.