The Peace and Unity of Ink
A couple of months ago, I saw a story on a social media platform about a father going out of his way to buy just the right pack of pens for his son to use at school. We all know just how negative social media can quickly get, but as I read through the comments on this story, there was not one negative, sarcastic, or otherwise ugly comment. Many people were praising the father for going the extra mile for his son and for going along with the son “geeking out” over these particular pens. Many people joined in on geeking out over their favorite pens. I scrolled and read way past my bedtime and checked out some of the pens people were mentioning.
I also love pens, pencils, notebooks, paper, and many other things that count as office or school supplies. I was telling some friends the other day that I did not buy a single thing on the end-of-the-summer school supply special displays this year—quite an accomplishment! I have become better at remembering that I already have plenty at home. Then last week my daughter sent me an article where a person listed their favorite pens for writing, drawing, and either/or. I carefully read each description and decided the author was my pen soul-sister, so I decided to track down the pens she reviewed. Since my daughter and daughter-in-law also enjoy pens, notebooks, and writing, I decided to order three of each pen I was able to find.
The pens have started arriving. I am retrieving one for myself and stashing the other two of each type for Christmas. I will be sewing a special pouch of some type for the pen collection for my girls. So far I am writing with them, but will be back to sketching and drawing soon with some of them. They tend toward fine-pointed and all have black ink.
My handwriting is nothing to write home about, and does not improve at all with a good pen. I just find writing with a pen or pencil on paper to be a much different and much richer experience than typing on a keyboard. I have said many times that if I write something down I will remember it. If I am trying to work something out in my brain, writing it out and/or diagramming it will get me to a solution faster than anything else I can do. Using a pen that feels good on the paper, and using paper that feels good under the pen and to my hand helps, too. The teacher in me knows this is because I am involving more of my senses in the process. More and more I am seeing science to support this type of brain-body connection. Another aspect is that if I am very uncomfortable with a topic, I do better typing it than handwriting it. I think typing provides a level of separation between me and “it,” whatever it may be.
Today I went to my son’s house and he brought out his new favorite pen for me to try. It made too thick a line for my taste and the ink was a little too liquid, but it did feel very smooth on the paper. He tried one of my new pens and deemed it a little too scratchy due to the fine point. Different strokes for different folks!
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