In an age of
YouTube,
Facebook,
WordPress, Twitter, and the universe knows what else; we are are inundated with many means of electronic communication, and we are no longer limited to sitting in front of a hulking desktop computer in order to access these many many means. 😉 Rather these days people have laptops of all varieties,
iPads, cellphones, and all sorts of other gizmos–I really am not hip to it all, so I cannot list everything here, but trust me… it seems like there is a lot out there.
Truly, I am not complaining. I am a fan of technology in many ways. There may be some who will remember me from my computer camp days at Stanford, when I was teaching computer programming to pre-teens who are (oh my word…) in their 20s. So, what’s my point?
The point is that I miss the days of simpler communication. I miss the days when a face-to-face conversation could be held without the barrier and the barrage of constant text messaging or Google-searching or Twittering or whatever else. I miss the simplicity of even a telephone conversation without call-waiting and its constant beep. Actually, what I truly miss is letter writing.
I am not quite sure what happened. (Okay, perhaps it was the advent of email, or MSWord, or something… who knows.) Somehow, however, it seems that many of us have lost touch with the beautiful art form of letter writing in favour of the faster methods of communications: email, Skype, sms/text, calling, etc. It is not simply just that many of us have lost touch with letter writing. It seems that many of us have lost our love of (if any ever existed) the actual art of penmanship. In my opinion, it is a sad commentary when The New York Times has to publish an article on how to improve one’s penmanship and declares the downfall of American handwriting.
I suppose I am wondering what has happened… or rather, why has this happened…
I remember as a child and even as an adolescent examining my handwriting, examining the handwriting of my family members, and other people’s. I looked for aspects that I liked and disliked, a stroke here or a loop there. Even today, I continue to be highly aware of my handwriting and it is important to me, especially when writing a note or a letter to someone else. I am prone often to re-writing several times in effort to exact my penmanship to my liking (no, this isn’t perfectionism). This extends itself to my personal writing, such as journaling. My style of writing often matches my mood and I will go back and reflect upon not only what I have written but how I have written.
I suppose one could say I have always had an interest in graphology or what is commonly known as handwriting analysis. I suppose one could also say that I am a product of an old-fashioned British colonial system, where I went to Catholic school and had numerous nuns staring over my shoulder to ensure decent handwriting! 😉
No… The truth is simply that I like the actual act of writing, the feel of pen against paper, of ink flowing into form of letters then words.
There is a beauty and an art to the process of penmanship, of letter writing, of which I believe it is important to go in search….
Until next time!
Best,
D.
P.S. Oh, apparently it is going to snow in Rome this weekend (again)… 😉
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