Death Knell

For, like, the second or third time, the death knell of cursive has been sounded. The so-called faster, more fluid way to write is being replaced in elementary school curriculums by (gasp) typing and computer literacy.

As I made abundantly clear in an earlier post, I am not a fan of cursive. Learning it didn’t help me write (my handwriting is still a “child-like scrawl”) and it never made me any faster. Plus all that instruction never let me decipher cursive writing any better. The m’s and n’s look the same! And if someone forgets the dot over the i, forget being able to figure out if it’s an e or an o. And is it a d or is it a c and an l? You’d think context would be able to help me figure this out, but I’d have to be able to understand the rest of the sentence first.

And the nerve, replacing it with typing. It’s not like I can type sixty words a minute on a slow day and actually understand what’s on the page.

Damn these new-fangled ways of communication! There’s no way a text or an email can be filled with as much thought and consideration as a letter just because it’s faster. Soon those beautiful, curved letters forming coherent sentences will be replaced by txt spk and no 1 wll b abl 2 undrstnd ech othr NEmre. Except the people who take the time to understand text speak. For the rest of you, that sentence is just an unbreakable cipher, isn’t it?

Seriously, I don’t even know if that’s real text speak. I’m actually one of those people who spells out everything. But still, I get the gist of it a lot more than I understand cursive.

So, in summation, good riddance, cursive, and the hand cramps you gave me. I’ll stick with the carpal tunnel from spending all day at the computer, thank you.

Two Year Blogiversary

Two years ago today, in hopes of getting more involved with the writing community, I took up blogging. And promptly proved I had no idea what I was doing. Maybe this is all in my head, but I think I’ve learned quite a bit over the years (yes! It’s plural now!) and while I’m no blog maven, I’m comfortable with the system. Here’s what I’ve picked up, in case someone who’s just started out stumbles into my blog and is as clueless as I was.

The top five things I learned about blogging:

1. Each and every post has to offer something. I often fall into this trap, usually posting long opinions about something that may be interesting to read, but don’t really give much except what I think. While it’s good to illustrate points with stories, if you want to interest people you have to engage with them. Sometimes this means teaching a lesson. Others it means sharing information or tips on a subject.

2. Just because you’re on the internet doesn’t mean communication isn’t a two-way street. If you want to make friends, you have to interact with people. Respond to their comments, visit their blogs/webpages.

3. There will always be people out there who disagree with you and are jerks about it. These may be people who wouldn’t say boo in real life but have no trouble belittling you when they’re enveloped in the supposed anonymity of the internet. It’s why most sites come with a “block” button.

4. It’s important to write posts that are both concise and well-written. Face it, the internet lowers attention spans, and if the writing isn’t interesting right off, people will probably jump on to the next post in their reader. Which is probably why my etymology posts don’t get more hits.

5. If you want an insta-hit post, put up cat pictures. In that vein…

Tell me that's not the cutest thing ever and I'll know you're lying.

She collapsed under the weight of her own stomach.

Cuuuuuuute!

Incommunicado

We, as human beings, are the sum of a variety of internal and external factors, and a great universal truth is that the sum is different for each person. This means, try as we might, we can never truly see the world through someone else’s eyes. We can come close—you might say that all writing is an attempt—but we are limited by our selves in the same way we are expanded by them. No one else will be truly like us. But we will never truly be like someone else. We are us.

This is not a terrible thing! In fact, it is wonderful. With constant change, there is constant possibilities. And to keep us from being isolated in are uniqueness, we are given several tools to allow us to bond with other humans. We can sympathize, love, and, perhaps the most important, communicate.

Because we all see things so differently, we can’t always predict how someone will react. Some might love a gift of flowers. Others might call it a waste of money. Still others will take offense at receiving a gift that is going to wither and die in front of them. But if you do not communicate your preference, you will continue to receive your weekly bouquet. It might be easy to expect someone to “just know” what you like. Easy and wrong.

Writing, indeed all communication, is a gift we must utilize. Engage in dialogue, discuss, question and debate, either in person or online. Remember it must be two sided, no talking over or dismissing, otherwise it is not true communication. It is merely yelling.

Without communication, we will be trapped within ourselves—within our selves—forever alone.