Though I didn’t always remember to use it, I did it enough that it became a habit that sticks with me still.
It looks like this:Īs a boy I thought that was just the neatest, so quaint and ancient, just like my gamma, and I tried always to use it whenever I wrote longhand. This was a variation of the Palmer cursive script which was only allowed when the “t” fell at the end of a word. I especially remember one particular letter I learned from watching my Gamma Jo write: the “ Palmer final t”. But for letter-writing, nothing beats a good cursive hand, and I think I learned this from my Mom, and from her mom. (Check out Lona’s info-graphic blogs and you’ll see she learned from him too!).
I remember learning how to do block lettering from my Dad, who did engineering stuff for a living, and who could (and still can) reproduce that blocky engineering font to perfection. It’s suitably outdated: I’m told the Common Core academic standards for English language education include age-appropriate standards for mastery of keyboards and digital equipment even in grades 1-3, but they don’t any more include any standards for cursive handwriting. Long-hand, now that’s something that’s really old-fashioned, just the ticket for me. And at least I was still writing letters longhand.Ĭursive handwriting. Sometimes you have to let your feelings sway your intellect, sometimes not. It was great, until it started skipping and blotching and I couldn’t fix it by cleaning it, so I gave it up and got a Pilot gel pen. So I cleaned one up, got some ink, and tried using it for my new-found letter writing passion.
And using one certainly felt old-fashioned, like the proper way to write a letter. (The pocket protector, of course, was the necessary nerd/geek fashion accessory for scientists and engineers in my youth there’s a webseum of pocket protectors here, if you’re interested.)īut despite the headaches of fountain pens, when they worked as designed, they produced a clean elegant line, and it felt good in the hand to write with one. Intellectually I remembered why fountain pens fell into disuse once ball-points appeared: they needing continual cleaning, they skipped and blotched, and if you used one for long your shirt would fall victim to the dreaded “black spot”, unless you used a pocket protector. Kathleen found a box of old fountain pens at the thrift store for a dollar. Many things I did as a kid that I like doing now fall into that category, but even more than that, I like doing things that I considered old-fashioned as a kid–the stuff I saw (or imagined) my grandparents doing. I don’t really feel old, but I do, apparently, feel old-fashioned. *īut the other thing I realized was that I liked letter writing precisely because it was old fashioned.
It’s no wonder that mail deliveries since 2000 have plummeted to levels not seen since the 1970s. With email, messaging, and a phone in every pocket, people just don’t need to write letters any more. When I started it seemed like the most natural thing in the world–some of them have left home for the first time to live on campus, and all of them are far away.īut I very quickly realized that a letter was a very old-fashioned way to communicate. I’ve taken to writing letters to my grandchildren. I’ve never blogged before, so I thought maybe I should start out by writing about why I’m trying blogging.
I also retired recently and am in the process of figuring out who and what I am now that I’m no longer a federal bureaucrat. Thanks to my big sis Lona for letting me “guest post” on her blog. – In which Dorn writes on writing a blog.