Comments on: Writing Letters… by Hand http://www.meryl.net/2006/06/writing-letters-by-hand/ Content on writing, tech, business, marketing, web design. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:43:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Carlos Tondo http://www.meryl.net/2006/06/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-239755 Carlos Tondo Wed, 02 May 2007 22:30:04 +0000 http://meryl.net/2006/06/27/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-239755 <p>Dear Meryl My wife Julia and I, brazilians, used to live in Florida for some years. We got the beginning of the e-mail fascination. Back to Brazil we started to help poor girls of our city. One ideia that came up was to get an e-mail letter to a loved one, from the busy people of the world, transcript it to a handwritten letter and MAIL it to them. It is working slowly and making people happy. Interesting to read your article. Thanks and have a great day! Carlos & Julia</p> Dear Meryl
My wife Julia and I, brazilians, used to live in Florida for some years. We got the beginning of the e-mail fascination.
Back to Brazil we started to help poor girls of our city. One ideia that came up was to get an e-mail letter to a loved one, from the busy people of the world, transcript it to a handwritten letter and MAIL it to them. It is working slowly
and making people happy.
Interesting to read your article.
Thanks and have a great day!
Carlos & Julia

]]> By: Mick Davies http://www.meryl.net/2006/06/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-61471 Mick Davies Sun, 07 Jan 2007 09:04:09 +0000 http://meryl.net/2006/06/27/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-61471 <p>I have kept a handwritten journal for over twenty years, while in boot camp I wrote regularly to my then fiancé, and as a child the handwritten postcards (there was no other kind then) that my Nana received from her lifelong friends were a fascination. Only recently have I attempted to share my own private practice and revive it among my close friends whom all, save one, live on the other side of the country. A set of picture postcards of personal photographs on archival paper sent to all as holiday gifts will hopefully be the means for them to begin a return to the carefully considered handwritten word. Even as I was preparing to send the postcard set out for the holidays one dear friend e-mailed me to say she missed old-fashioned letter writing and wished to continue to stay in touch "by hand".</p> <p>As children grow up with computers in schools, at home, in libraries, and elsewhere it is up to those of use who remember a time before word processors and e-mail to hand down a tradition that is being taken for granted and silently dying. The last generations to be born before the personal computer were not prepared to face the possible demise of handwritten correspondence because such a possibility is only now being recognized; perhaps too late but hopefully not. The handwritten word is not something any society can afford to lose. It is the lowest common denominator for any civilization. Even as we surrounded ourselves with technology it is our ability to communicate with the written word, not typed or processed, but written that insures our ability to do more than simply survive. When all else has faded, decayed, or been destroyed it will be civilization's ability to communicate with the written word that will insure its ability to thrive.</p> <p>It is nothing short of magic that with only ink, paper, and able mind we can create something out of nothing; and in our ability to create we glimpse the power of our Gods in ourselves. For now, we need only instill in our young charges a desire to see their words flow from their impressionable minds onto paper using their only their hands, a pen, and an inkwell.</p> I have kept a handwritten journal for over twenty years, while in boot camp I wrote regularly to my then fiancé, and as a child the handwritten postcards (there was no other kind then) that my Nana received from her lifelong friends were a fascination. Only recently have I attempted to share my own private practice and revive it among my close friends whom all, save one, live on the other side of the country. A set of picture postcards of personal photographs on archival paper sent to all as holiday gifts will hopefully be the means for them to begin a return to the carefully considered handwritten word. Even as I was preparing to send the postcard set out for the holidays one dear friend e-mailed me to say she missed old-fashioned letter writing and wished to continue to stay in touch “by hand”.

As children grow up with computers in schools, at home, in libraries, and elsewhere it is up to those of use who remember a time before word processors and e-mail to hand down a tradition that is being taken for granted and silently dying. The last generations to be born before the personal computer were not prepared to face the possible demise of handwritten correspondence because such a possibility is only now being recognized; perhaps too late but hopefully not. The handwritten word is not something any society can afford to lose. It is the lowest common denominator for any civilization. Even as we surrounded ourselves with technology it is our ability to communicate with the written word, not typed or processed, but written that insures our ability to do more than simply survive. When all else has faded, decayed, or been destroyed it will be civilization’s ability to communicate with the written word that will insure its ability to thrive.

It is nothing short of magic that with only ink, paper, and able mind we can create something out of nothing; and in our ability to create we glimpse the power of our Gods in ourselves. For now, we need only instill in our young charges a desire to see their words flow from their impressionable minds onto paper using their only their hands, a pen, and an inkwell.

]]> By: Meryl.net » Blog Archive » Cursive Writing Losing Hands http://www.meryl.net/2006/06/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-15788 Meryl.net » Blog Archive » Cursive Writing Losing Hands Wed, 18 Oct 2006 13:50:48 +0000 http://meryl.net/2006/06/27/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-15788 <p>[...] Since letter writing is becoming a rarity thanks to email, computers, and instant messaging, cursive writing also suffers from lack of use. The Dallas Morning News (here are the readers’ letters to the editor regarding the topic) reports that cursive writing practice has lost its importance. Students still learn cursive in third grade and are required to follow the rules for writing each letter correctly, but they’re not spending as much time in perfecting the writing as in the past — just enough to know it. [...]</p> [...] Since letter writing is becoming a rarity thanks to email, computers, and instant messaging, cursive writing also suffers from lack of use. The Dallas Morning News (here are the readers’ letters to the editor regarding the topic) reports that cursive writing practice has lost its importance. Students still learn cursive in third grade and are required to follow the rules for writing each letter correctly, but they’re not spending as much time in perfecting the writing as in the past — just enough to know it. [...]

]]> By: Chris Harrison http://www.meryl.net/2006/06/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-6938 Chris Harrison Tue, 15 Aug 2006 07:37:25 +0000 http://meryl.net/2006/06/27/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-6938 <p>Talking To Strangers loves hand-written letters, and is working to promote and embrace it! Please visit our blog!</p> <p>http://talking-2-strangers.blogspot.com/</p> Talking To Strangers loves hand-written letters, and is working to promote and embrace it! Please visit our blog!

http://talking-2-strangers.blogspot.com/

]]> By: Meryl http://www.meryl.net/2006/06/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-4496 Meryl Sat, 08 Jul 2006 21:30:03 +0000 http://meryl.net/2006/06/27/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-4496 <p>Here's another <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060708/FEATURES/607080333" rel="nofollow">article</a> on the dying art of letter writing.</p> Here’s another article on the dying art of letter writing.

]]> By: Meryl http://www.meryl.net/2006/06/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-3785 Meryl Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:21:36 +0000 http://meryl.net/2006/06/27/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-3785 <p>You're right, Roxann. I looked up "pall" in the dictionary and I can see it fits. I misinterpreted the meaning of "pall."</p> <p>-blush-</p> You’re right, Roxann. I looked up “pall” in the dictionary and I can see it fits. I misinterpreted the meaning of “pall.”

-blush-

]]> By: Roxann Smith http://www.meryl.net/2006/06/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-3784 Roxann Smith Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:16:44 +0000 http://meryl.net/2006/06/27/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-3784 <p>Am I missing something? I thought "Pen Pall" was deliberate.</p> Am I missing something? I thought “Pen Pall” was deliberate.

]]> By: H.A. Page http://www.meryl.net/2006/06/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-3326 H.A. Page Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:38:24 +0000 http://meryl.net/2006/06/27/writing-letters-by-hand/#comment-3326 <p>I love this post! My mother writes me letters but she types them. She wrote me something by hand and I'll stash it for a keepsake.</p> <p>I love handwritten notes. There is something about pausing to think about what to write ahead of time, rather than typing and erasing....</p> <p>And -- it is much better than store-bought greetings. Uck.</p> <p>I'll refer to this post in my writings...</p> <p>Cheers.</p> I love this post! My mother writes me letters but she types them. She wrote me something by hand and I’ll stash it for a keepsake.

I love handwritten notes. There is something about pausing to think about what to write ahead of time, rather than typing and erasing….

And — it is much better than store-bought greetings. Uck.

I’ll refer to this post in my writings…

Cheers.

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