Handwriting

Handwriting

Lamenting the Loss of the Handwritten Word.

Our son recently completed his mid-year exams at school. On the eve of his English and History exam, he came to me in search of a humble pen. With all the fancy technologies the schools promote nowadays and laptops packed in school bags along with the school lunch each day, I was surprised to think our child was without the most basic of learning tools. ‘But what have you been writing with at school?’ I questioned as I rummaged around my own desk in search of a suitable pen to give him. To which he replied that he used a pencil for Mathematics and everything else was pretty much typed on his laptop.

It shouldn’t really have surprised me. Our kid’s school handed them individual i-Pads to use halfway through primary school and if I go back before that I remember when the kindergarten proudly purchased a couple of electronic devices for the class to share. Presentations for our children have often been in the form of PowerPoint slideshows and the last time I really saw their handwriting was when they were making story books back in junior primary days before the i-Pads took over their lives. I remember one mum proudly telling me how quickly her child got her homework done because she could just speak into her device and the computer would turn it into a written document for her.

It bothers me. And I question why it bothers me. Part of me wonders if I am just being old-fashioned and showing my age by clinging to the way I learned and not embracing the technology as I perhaps should. But then I question why our children don’t write as well as they perhaps could or why spelling seems to be more of a challenge or why with all the jolly phonics apps and reading eggs apps or whatever the latest app is, that apparently our literacy abilities are not the best in the world. Are our children missing something because they aren’t writing by hand?

I’m an advocate for everything done by hand. I love all things hand-sewn, hand-thrown, hand-knitted, hand-made and definitely handwritten. Of course everything I do is mostly painted or drawn by hand and while software has a place in my work, particularly for reproductions and client work, there is something unique in the originals and works that are created with our hands. And I feel it is the same for pieces that we write by hand as our brain works to form the individual letters and words and sentences there is a more direct connection between what we are thinking and expressing on the page. I still have trouble typing thoughts directly into the computer and feel the need to write on paper first; it’s s the place where I can organize my ideas and make little notes in the margins as I think of things and scribble out sentences but leave them there for just in case I change my mind. I am also very much a visual learner and it helps me to remember things when I have written them down in my own writing rather than just reading something that is typed.

Last weekend I had a pop-up stall at Gathered Design market. One of the lovely people who visited my stall was admiring the Earth Greetings writing pads with my art on them. She said it reminded her of beautiful letter sets that she used to have when she was younger and we both chatted about how there is nothing quite like receiving a handwritten letter or card in the post. There is something special about holding a letter from far away that you know someone has taken the time to write. When I lived in Japan , it was always a highlight to receive mail from home and I often stayed up late to write long letters about what I had been up to. These were the days when the internet was still in it’s early years and you would have to go down the road to find the local internet provider to book a 30 minute session on a computer or visit an internet cafe!

We are encouraging our children to write or draw as much as they can by hand and I always take the time to write short messages of thanks to people who purchase my work online. It is my hope that we can keep the art of handwriting alive. Many times I hear people tell me that they don’t have neat writing or that they can’t even draw a stick figure. I always disagree. Everyone can draw. it is more about the mindful process than the end result and the important part is that everyone’s marks or letters on the page will be different to the next person’s and that’s what makes us human and that’s what makes it special.

‘The Art of Simple Living’ by Japanese Zen Monk Shunmyo Masuno describes it best in his 8th daily practice when he suggests we ‘put pen to paper with care’ because ‘your true self can be seen in your handwriting’ and it allows us to express ourselves mindfully.

For the record, I did write this piece by hand as a draft. Oh and I did find our son a couple of pens he could use for his exam!