Quite interesting artice on how quickly computers - and worse, computer lingo - have replaced ordinary handwriting in letters in the United States."One of the most remarkable findings came from presenter, Karin Harman-James, whose research proved that writing by hand activates parts of the brain associated with language development, while keyboarding does not.
Photo : The elegant script of a civil war soldier writing his fiance.
[My note : The Photo did not show up here but is worth looking at as an example of old style handwriting. Unless one's family has archives of these, which I have pored over in amazement at the beauty and care put into the writing on old style thin parchment type of paper, as the author points out, it is difficult to even remember.
She argues that few in the youngest generation today can even decipher ordinary cursive handwriting. Let alone this
much-prized flowery style of old.]
I suppose that the practical, scientific approach is the only one that yields results in the modern world. But for me, the aesthetics argument is stronger. In a world becoming increasingly ugly and more vulgar by the day, a fine cursive hand offers relief. Handwriting reveals not only a person’s personality and character, but the culture of a people.
A beautifully crafted handwritten letter is a work of art, a kind of music on paper."