This
“holiday” was started in 1977 by people who manufacture pens and
pencils—people who don't want the enormous popularity of texting
and e-mail to run them entirely out of business. They made a plea for
people to write letters to one another on, you know, paper. They said
that others would find notes of thanks and congratulations, wishes
for birthdays and anniversaries, and newsy catch-ups all the more
special if they were handwritten. Using pencils and pens.
Please
keep buying our product, basically.
Are
they right?
Actually,
I have to admit that a handwritten note delivered in person or by
mail is so darn UNUSUAL, these days, it does feel special to me. How
about to you?
Legibility
and Calligraphy
It
is not, in my mind, “important” to learn to write cursive
properly, legibly and quickly. Even in the past, when there weren't
many alternatives to handwritten messages, and when people practiced
their handwriting a lot, cursive writing is not super easy to read.
Even when I was growing up (oh, soooo long ago), it was generally
easier to read printing—and people can print just about as quickly
as they can write in cursive.
(Of
course, it IS important to develop one bit of cursive, and that is
your signature. Some people even want others to be able to decipher
their signature.)
But
even though I don't think it is important to write cursive, it can be
fun to learn and use it! I find it especially fun to get a good
calligraphy pen—perhaps a felt-tipped marker with the right
“chisel” shape—and try out a bunch of beautiful scripts. Check
out this and this other articles for
lessons and some inspiration.
Write
to your grandma!
Or
write a letter to some other special person today.
Learn
about handwriting analysis here.
Get
a small notebook and start collecting autographs—signatures—of
everyone you meet. It might be interesting to analyze their
handwriting (see above)--or you could just hang onto the book hoping
one of your friends becomes famous!
Get
a blank book and use your most special calligraphy to copy
meaningful quotes or short poems on its pages.
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| Many different script fonts are available on the computer! |
Also
on this date:
Anniversary
of the partitioning of Poland
