Claremontian's New Digs - UPDATED

The Claremontian has moved from Wordpress to the social networking site Ning. You can find the new site here. We've updated the link on the sidebar to the left.

The new and improved (see, Tony Witt, we can do that Madison Avenue stuff too!) Claremontian has a number of improved features. Mostly, it operates like a localized Twitter but with more content. You have to register to become a member. It doesn't cost anything, though. The Claremontian also accepts paid advertisements.

The Claremontian belongs to Claremont resident Richard Mancuso [Mancuso's bio updated from the Claremontian, May 13, 8:40pm]:

Richard Mancuso (Founder):

I am a 15 year old local high school student from Claremont, CA. I am a musician, student, blogger, and social media and technology enthusiast who wanted to start a website where you could find everything about Claremont. I originally started a blog called the Claremontian in December of 2008 where you could find news stories and more; however, it wasn't really what I wanted. I wanted more of a fun social network that would allow you to connect with people who live close by. I also wanted users to be able to post almost any content imaginable. This is just what we did with the new website claremontian.com. Right now the company is small, with just my friend and me running the site, but we will hopefully be adding a couple of others as the site begins to grow. You can find my personal blog here. Add me as a friend on the Claremontian. Follow me on Twitter. Friend me on Facebook. Thanks to all those who are participating in the site and for spreading the word! Check back soon for updates.

The Claremontian is offering a live City Council meeting chat tonight at 6:30pm. You can watch the council's video feed and comment if you like.

And, Claremont's goofiest councilmember, Sam Pedroza, is listed as a featured Claremontian member and has his own blog on the site. Sam apparently wanted to display his wisdom in a more wordy venue than Twitter. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, says the ever-changeable Sam.

Quite a contrast, by the way, to Pedroza's soliloquy at a council meeting last October:

The Grapes of Wrath Meets Twitter

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin contained an article by Joe Blackstock, resident historian, memorializing the 70th anniversary of the publication of John Steinbeck's, The Grapes of Wrath. For a local hook, Blackstock invoked Route 66, the road by which the Okies traveled to California. He does a nice job illuminating the California part of the road through the prism of the Joads. According to Blackstock, it's not entirely clear that Steinbeck had the Joads following the real "Mother Road" all the way through Claremont though, instead taking them west from Barstow, over the Tehachapis, to the Central Valley.

In this faster-paced, high tech day and age, Steinbeck would've had to adopt all the modern media to get his novel out. Brevity is the soul of wit, and nothing makes for brevity more than the 140-character limitation on Twitter messages (tweets). There are even Twitter novels, and here is the Twitter version of The Grapes of Wrath as Steinbeck would no doubt have written it:

The Grapes of Wrath

Times is hard. My sister suckles a starving stranger. I'm so outta here.