National Handwriting Day

 

Today, 23. January, is National Handwriting Day. Grab a pen, pencil, or crayon. Write a note to yourself, take a memo, write out your grocery list or a to do list. Write a letter to your mother, your senator, your spouse or significant other. Write in your journal. Use your own handwriting and celebrate written communication.

T Stands for Hic Sunt Dracones and Ted Geisel - Part 2

I mentioned in passing I had traveled to the Wilds of Western Massachusetts. To a Bostonian, this is the edge of the world. On a map, it would say Hic Sunt Dracones. Here There Be Dragons. This attitude comes from the simple fact that Boston is not nicknamed the Hub because the city is laid out in a spoke and wheel pattern. It's because Boston is the Hub of the Universe. Bostonians only need a brief walk or  a short subway ride (if the trolleys are on time and don't derail!) to art, history, sports, music, theater, universities. We don't really need to leave the city to find entertainment or education.

Bostonians also measure distance in terms of time. How long will it take me to get from here to there? !0 minute, 20 minutes, but if it's an hour or more, that moves into the realm of an expedition requiring snacks and a change of clothes.

As I am now used to (well, sort of) living in the Land of Hic Sunt Dracones, I bravely drove an hour West of where I live.

My friend, Al (now living beyond the end of the Earth in Portland, Oregon) was visiting her family homestead in Springfield, Massachusetts. She was house and fur baby sitting for her brother. She invited me for a play date at The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum and Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden.

Ted Geisel is better known to the world as Dr. Seuss, celebrated writer and illustrator. We started our visit at the museum with lunch at The Blake House Café. Rather than show you pictures of my half eaten lunch as I was too busy catching up with Al to take a picture, there is an image of a cup in the many photographs I took. That will be my drink reference.

Can you find it here or there? Can you find it any where?

Last week, we visited the area of the museum geared towards children. This week, we'll go upstairs to see Ted's studio and his amazing art work.

Memorabilia from Ted's days as a Boy Scout. Bow ties are cool.

He used Prismacolor pencils!

I wanted to rummage through his nibs to see what brands he used and maybe put one or two into a Nib Relocation Program. 😉

I thought the painting looked like cats.

A cat, of course.

These squiggles looked like flourishes or Lazy Eights from penmanship class. I loved doing those. (Still do.)

A note of encouragement: "When you fear you've been left in a Cave in Ga-zool, with your bottom bereft on an unfriendly stool.. ...Please know that I love you! I've been to Ga-Zool!"

Another cat.

"With or without eyedrops, writing and drawing is an unpleasant experience which I find myself avoiding. I am thinking of taking up paper hanging or mushroom farming as a new profession."

Commemorative stamp issued in 2004 at a first class postal rate of 37 cents. (The current rate is 55 cents.)

"Dear Fellow Toiler in the Vineyards of Ink...May your New Year be a great one." I want Toiler in the Vineyards of Ink to be my new title. I bet the Internal Revenue Service (U.S. tax agency) would love that one.

In Andy Fish's Pitch class, he had talked about using a to do list as a daily practice to be more productive.  What you don't accomplish one day you roll over to the next. I was amused by Ted's to do list and his revelation about his list.

"Your things to do pad is great! After writing down the same things to do 6 days in succession and running the sheets through my computer I discovered: 1. I hadn't cleaned the back closet. 2. I hadn't written to Katherine Findeisen. I now know that I probably never will and this knowledge gives me an enormous sense of satisfaction for which I thank you. Love, Ted"

We took the Oh, the Places You'll Go Elevator to the basement where there was an activity room for children. There were no children in sight and the staff was bored so they asked if we

wanted to make monster Father's Day cards. At 63 years old, I make a helluva  kindergartner.

Did you find the cup?

And Al had a little prezzie for me. She always brings me something. She's thoughtful like that.

A roll of ABC tape Just like the penmanship exemplar above the blackboard in school and some Stash Tea. From the package: "Portland Blend Black Tea in celebration of our rich history in all things tea, we've given a nod to Stash's own hometown, Portland, Oregon, the City of Roses. Rich black teas are blended with chocolaty cocoa nibs, the flavor of fresh raspberries, and visually accented with pretty blue cornflower and rose petals."

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page. 

Hidden Treasure

A visit to Red's for tea and some antique surprises to show me. One of her family members found some antique items and thought Red might like to have them as part of her genealogy research. As an aside, Red can trace her family to the Mayflower. Her family was given a land grant from the King in the late 1690s. The family farm is just a mile down the road from me and still being farmed by members of Red's family.

Red was given two ledgers a large one and a smaller one. Inside the smaller one, was 

this Five Cent Fractional Currency Note. Yeah, I never heard of paper coins either. According to information I found at Antiquemoney.com fractional currency or postage notes were printed to counter the coin hoarding that was happening at the time of the Civil War.  The paper coins were issued between 1862 and 1876. 

The Five Cent Fractional Note Red had was found inside the small ledger. George Washington is pictured on the note which is extremely worn and in poor condition so is more of a cool thing to have than something of value.

Red was also given a larger ledger with a suede cover. The cover was lovely to pet.

Inside, the lovely penmanship seemed to indicate this ledger was used in a general store. We were able to read items from some of the founding families (most related to Red's family) of my little town. The ledger was dated August 15, 1818. Items were sold on credit and then marked paid. A couple of the notations:

I didn't notice until I got home that I didn't do a very good job of taking the photo as cost information in the right margin is cut off. 

Capt. Asa Walker 

gallon rum   80

2 yards cotton stripe 90

paid

Amounts appear to be cents

Capt. William Warren

2 quarts rum

3 can't make out quantity Hylon tea

3 pair silk shoes

3 lbs brown sugar.

The ledger was only filled about halfway and then stopped. There's no information at the front of the ledger as to the name of the proprietor or store. Why wasn't the ledger filled? Did the proprietor decide to use another notation system? Did the store go out of business? Questions that we will never know the answers to.

Red is going to ask the local historical society if they would like the items. 

National Handwriting Day

Today, 23. January, is National Handwriting Day. Grab a pen, pencil, or crayon. Write a note to yourself, take a memo, write out your grocery list or a to do list. Write a letter to your mother, your senator, your spouse or significant other. Write in your journal. Use your own handwriting and celebrate written communinication.

Index Card A Day - 29 - 31

Challenge Prompt: Iced Cream

Challenge Prompt: Telephone

Challenge Prompt: Trivia

My Influence Map

Found the idea for this creative exercise from my colleague and influencer, Andy Fish. An influence map is a bit like a vision board, but instead of showing where you are going, it shows where you came from, and what or who inspires the art you make.

You can fill your map with anything you want, books, movies, artwork. Whatever your little heart desires. I made my own layout using Paint Shop Pro. I wanted to limit the number of images I used because there would be too many, and the image would be so huge it would take days to download. Each image I used represents more than one influencer.

The influence map isn't limited to artists. You can use it to show what inspired you to become a(n) [insert your profession here].  You can find the influence map template here. If you don't have a program that allows you to manipulate photo images, you can use free, online, image sites to make a collage. Try Photovisi or Fotor.

Have you ever made an influence map?

Wordless Wednesday

National Handwriting Day - John Hancock's Birthday

I'm Sorry

From the song I'm Sorry by The Platters.

I know the heartaches you've been through,
I know I've had heartaches, too.
There's nothing more I can do
But to say to you I'm sorry

Can You Read This?

A few weeks ago, The Young One and I visited The Strange Life of Objects: The Art of Annette Lemieux  currently on exhibit at WAM. One of the pieces was a large installation of words from Holocaust survivors. The piece was printed on a deep red canvas in beige and black. The words and colors create a visceral impact.

I turned to see how The Young One interpreted this piece. I could see her taking it in, but realized she was struggling to read it since it was printed in a script font.  She admitted it takes her much longer to read script than print. That fact shocked me as I take the ability to read script for granted.

Not long after, I had a spirited discussion with a group of young people whether penmanship should be taught in school. These were all teens and twenty-somethings. My take, of course, was penmanship should be taught in schools, and not just during third grade and then forgotten. How can one attain skill if the skill is not practiced? My real concern was how would historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence be read and interpreted if one couldn't read script? There was a who cares attitude from many of these young people, and many were math majors and claimed they had no use to read script. They could print just fine and they were convinced printing was faster than writing script.

It saddened me to hear their remarks. They wouldn't be able to read historical documents like the Declaration or even mathematical treatises like Isaac Newton's work (ok, they would have to be able to understand Latin, too) and interpret for themselves the meaning of the word? I suppose it falls into the same category as many of us having to rely on someone else's translation of Egyptian or Mayan glyphs.

But worse, they wouldn't be able to read letters or diaries written by their parents and grandparents. Their own family histories would be lost. I'm beginning to feel like one of the book people from Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451. I'm the keeper of lost arts, and worried I won't be able to find a young person to hand down the legacy before I'm gone.

So, of course, I'm curious. Do you think penmanship should be taught in schools? Do you think it should be given as much time in the curriculum as math or language arts for elementary and middle school students? Is it important or am I worried over nothing?