A Better Pencil

I don't want to sound incredulously surprised, but I have really enjoyed the assigned books for this class. It's hard to know where to begin with my thoughts on A Better Pencil, but the first thing that came to mind while reading the first few chapters revolved around the art of penmanship. I have to admit, I have a bit of a stationary fetish, or at least I did when I had time to sit down and hand write notes. I've lived here in the NW since 2002, having left all my family and closest friends behind in Austin, TX. Although my primary form of communication has always been the phone, a long time high school friend and I began snail mail correspondence almost immediately after I moved here. As life (marriage, babies, divorce, everyday stuff) would have it, we've had to stop writing and have moved to Facebook, but I miss the days of sitting down to with pen and pretty paper to write out my "how are yous" and funny little anecdotes. What a pleasure it was to open the mailbox and see her familiar handwriting on the envelope!

Nowadays things are different. Today when I open my mailbox I find bills and junk mail advertisments. Long lost are the handwritten letters that would bring the inevitable smile to my face and heart. (le sigh) I have often wondered what will become of the practice (and art) of penmanship. I remember elementary school days practicing "handwriting" both print and cursive; writing and repeating letter after letter and being graded on how well or poorly my handwriting was. When I was in high school book reports and research papers were always handwritten although using a typewriter or the ever astounding word processor were options but never required. Do they even teach handwriting to children today? Will my son know what it means to bring home 1st or 2nd grade homework that revolves around practicing his penmanship? Or will he be required to learn to type properly on a computer keyboard? At the very least I know he'll learn to write with a trusty No. 2 pencil or pen. I'm counting on it since I have vowed to have his first legible written name tranposed with permanent ink onto my skin.

I know I'm only skimming the surface on what Dennis Baron has written about in A Better Pencil, but the depth of his research and observations about writing throughout the course of time is not one to be taken lightly. Technology, as we have learned, has changed the course of writing. Did writing make people dumb, as Plato suggested? Hardly. Has the typewriter and computer altered the course of written word? Yes. However, as Dennis Baron pointed out, although the technology, ranging from clay tablets to pencils to typewriters to computers has changed the way "writing" is done, "...when the newness of the latest writing upgrade wears off, the content, as always, will have to make it on its own." (pg 15) This could not be more true.