Tuesday January 23 is National Handwriting Day (and, not coincidentally, John Hancock’s birthday). This day of celebration and outreach and engagement with handwriting was founded in 1977 by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association. Their motive was, understandably, to promote the use of pens, pencils and paper for writing, and hence their bottom line, but there’s more to it than that. As they put it:
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 and they 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.
Handwriting is part of the writing process for a lot of writers. One of the virtues of writing by hand is that you can write without needing anything other than paper and a pen or pencil. Handwriting also engages different parts of our brains than keyboarding does, helping us to “think differently.” There’s also a distinct pleasure in having our own unique style, whether we print or use cursive. There’s also both physical and aesthetic delight in writing with beautifully made, easy to use pens, pencils and paper.
In celebration of National Handwriting Day, take a minute and send a card or letter to someone you’ve been thinking about, or a thank you note to a friend or a writer you admire. Taking the time to write something personal by hand says that you’re going beyond the rudiments of courtesy.
Are you celebrating National Handwriting Day? Or are you one of those who write by hand regularly? Come tell us in the new Analog Tools subform on Absolute Write.
This is the first day of Banned Books week. It’s a celebration of the right to read. Books are constantly challenged in the context of the right to read them, the right to sell them, the right for teachers and libraries to include specific books in their curricula and libraries. Book challenges and book bans take place far more often than people realize, and often, the books are challenged by adults who haven’t read the books in question, but want to make sure that others can’t.
The First Amendment is generally seen as the primary protection regarding the right to read. The First amendment to the Constitution reads:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Increasingly, as you can see from these top ten lists of challenged books, books are challenged (and subsequently removed from school curricula and library collections) because of concerns about reference to sex, or because they include LGBT characters.
the work is about people and issues others would prefer not to consider. Often, content addresses concerns of groups who have suffered historic and ongoing discrimination.
The challenged books (and they become banned when schools or libraries remove them from shelves) include books like Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.