The Fading Art

Tags

handwriting, incowrimo, letter writers alliance, letters, new york times, postcrossing

Loved this article by Catherine Field in the New York Times. I share the author’s fears of what this generation’s legacy will be. Handwriting is no longer taught in schools. Young people claim they cannot read cursive. So I share the fears but I’m also optimistic. With websites such as Letter Writing Alliance, InCoWriMo and PostCrossing more and more people are turning to “old-fashioned” methods of communicating. I searched for “penpals” on Google and over 1.5 million results were returned.

A good handwritten letter is a creative act, and not just because it is a visual and tactile pleasure. It is a deliberate act of exposure, a form of vulnerability, because handwriting opens a window on the soul in a way that cyber communication can never do. You savor their arrival and later take care to place them in a box for safe keeping.

Our souls crave human connections, not wifi connections. I have faith in humans so handwriting will be around long after I’m gone. At least I hope so.

Paint If Empty or Tired

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brainpickings.org, handwriting, joan didion, journal, maria popova, mary gordon, new york times, notebooks, writers, writing

I started out tonight with an entirely different post in mind. Last week I received a notebook at work as a token of appreciation for Administrative Assistants Day. I am not what you might think of as an Administrative Assistant; I frequently refer to myself as an editor and that is how I am known in my group at work. My official title is Report Production Coordinator which involves quite a bit of word processing. Anyway however you want to describe it we editors were invited to join in on the Administrative Assistants Day fun, with a lunch and the presenting of a present; the afore-mentioned notebook. This is the fifth notebook I have received while working for my company; the others were presented as thank-yous or gifts for something or other. So I wanted to show you pictures of these notebooks but then I realized I forgot one of them at work (I actually do use one or two of them, at work). So that’s a post for another day.

In my despair at it being almost bedtime and my topic thwarted, I started reading this post from brainpickings.org. called Famous Advice on Writing: The Collected Wisdom of Great Writers. That was over an hour ago. So many great jumping off points in this article: Mary Gordon on the Joy of Notebooks and How Writing By Hand Catalyzes Creativity (omg was there ever a more perfect article for me?!?), Joan Didion on Keeping a Notebook, and The Daily Routines of Famous Writers, just to name a few. This hopscotching through articles could go on for some time. I want to write everything down in my journal but that would take weeks. Months maybe. And my apologies if I’ve already touched on some of these articles previously on here. There are over 600 posts now and I find my memory failing. I seem to recognize certain quotes but not others. So be indulgent with me if I repeat myself.

I hope you have as much fun as I did reading these amazing and inspiring articles. And then go write in your journal and just see what comes. You’ll be happily surprised, I guarantee it.

[T]he point of my keeping a notebook has never been, nor is it now, to have an accurate factual record of what I have been doing or thinking. That would be a different impulse entirely, an instinct for reality which I sometimes envy but do not possess. – Joan Didion

 

 

Saying Thank You

Tags

letters, new york times, notes, stationery, writing

Loved this article on thank-you notes. I remember looking forward to writing my thank-you notes for my wedding, eight years ago now. Last week I wrote a thank-you note to a local hotel for hosting my work colleagues and myself at a wonderful afternoon tea. And just this past Saturday I wrote a thank-you note to the staff of a local restaurant, who found my cell phone when I forgot it at one of their tables. Saying thank you is important. Writing it is a lasting sentiment that people will remember.

Same Time Next Year

Tags

new york times, planners

Thanks to Notebook Stories for this:

A beautiful love letter to a faithful friend who keeps the author on time stylishly.

Image from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/fashion/a-yearly-date-with-the-planner.html?_r=2&

Helen Keller’s Journal

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helen keller, journal, new york times

The story of Helen Keller is amazing and inspirational. But the story of her teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy, and her companion, Polly Thomson, is equally as inspiring. The bond the three shared is testament to the indomitable spirit of Helen Keller and her determination to do what everyone else could do so effortlessly. After Anne’s death in October of 1936 Helen and Polly continued their work with the American Association for the Blind, and Helen’s journal from November 1936 to April 1937 chronicles her journey through grief to ultimate acceptance and resolution to continue the work they started.

Here is a review of Helen Keller’s Journal as it appeared in the New York Times in 1938. The book itself is out of print but according to Amazon is available second hand. You might also have some luck finding it in your local library.

Image from amazon.com

Old Notebook Reveals the Truth Behind Antibiotic

Tags

new york times, notebooks

Incredible story from the New York Times about the discovery of streptomycin through lost notebooks, and a cautionary tale of the dangers of messing with your students. Enjoy!

Image from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/science/notebooks-shed-light-on-an-antibiotic-discovery-and-a-mentors-betrayal.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Walt Whitman’s Notebook

Tags

new york times, notebooks, writing

This is a great article from the New York Times about Walt Whitman’s notebook and an imaginary conversation he imagined with Abraham Lincoln. I love looking at old notebooks and this one doesn’t disappoint.