handwriting

We live in an age where everything is a click. A click here. A click there. A swipe. A scroll. Another click. 

We live in an age where everything is fast. We have all of the information that we would like at our finger tips. We like it. We share it. We become obsessed with posing with the right people at events. We live in an age of performance. An age where everyone is connected digitally, but often not really connected. How many times have we seen someone from our Facebook world of friends, who does not even say hi in the real world, in real life. How many times have we ourselves done this.

I grew up in the pre-digital age. When we would meet our friends, we would plan ahead and just meet them at the appointed time - rather than text throughout the day, constantly changing times. We did not have call display, so when the phone rang, we would answer it-- without prescreening our calls. We spoke with each other when we visited, and did not spend the whole time on our devices.

Don't get me wrong. There are great possibilities in the digital age. I wrote 100 Days of Cree on Facebook: I use social media to share our language, and to get different meanings of words, and to capture the richness of dialectical diversity.However, I do think that it also that it can take us away from real interactions- real face to face interactions.

I am old school. I like the older ways of interaction and I like handwriting. I like visiting people face to face. I like talking Cree with people, and I also like writing hand-written notes. Hand written letters, the texture, the flow of the writing. The distinct font that each of us creates while writing. Each font, each style, marks us in the world. Marks us like a finger print. Marks us like DNA. To me, when I write with my Pelikan Fountain pen, I mark the paper with my personality. Through my marks, I mark my personality. I feel that my characters come to life through my marks and my distinct way of seeing the world. For me, handwriting helps me imagine the worlds I create. Handing helps me trace my personality and my imagination through fields of possibilities.

I will always write with my fountain pen. It is not for everyone, but it works for me.