Welcome to the Wednesday Coffee Hour here at Street Prophets. This is an open thread where we can talk about what's going on in our worlds.
Everyone is welcome to discuss all topics of conversation and to post photos.
As I was frantically trying to come up with a topic for today's open thread, I came across a short article in my local library's newsletter regarding the art of handwriting. It mentioned that this Friday, January 23, is
National Handwriting Day and it included a link to that web page.
Like some of you, I didn't even know there was such a day. Apparently, it's been going on since 1977 and I haven't been celebrating it all these years because I didn't know it even existed. It was created by the Writing Implement Manufacturers Association. In promoting National Handwriting Day on their website, they say:
Handwriting allows us to be artists and individuals during a time when we often use computers, faxes and e-mail to communicate. Fonts are the same no matter what computer you use or how you use it. Fonts lack a personal touch. Handwriting can add intimacy to a letter and reveal details about the writer's personality. Throughout history, handwritten documents have sparked love affairs, started wars, established peace, freed slaves, created movements and declared independence.
My memories of learning cursive handwriting are a little fuzzy because I don't think I ever used it after I learned it. I have been a lifelong printer. At one point in high school, I do remember asking my art teacher if he would teach us how to write in cursive because he had such beautiful handwriting. When he would write our names on the chalkboard it looked so nice that you hated the thought of it getting erased at the end of the day.
I think I must have decided very early on in my life that my printing was easier to read than my cursive writing - however, I found some old diaries not that long ago that I kept while I was in high school and my printing really wasn't all that legible. God only knows what my cursive handwriting might have looked like back then! Even though computers were commonly used when I was in college, when I took my comprehensive exams in graduate school, we were required to use pen and paper. Although I still managed to fill several blue essay books with my hand printing, I clearly remember thinking that I could have written more and faster if I'd done it on a computer instead of writing by hand. I still remember how much my hand hurt for days afterward too. So, even though cursive handwriting can be beautiful to look at, there is much less pain involved in typing hundreds of pages.
According to BlueJessamine, itâs Booby Wednesday and this is a Public Service Announcement: Self exams can save lives!