By Hand

From my sketchbook

Handwriting is in the news this week. The National Archives are seeking people who can read cursive to help with the process of deciphering documents from the Revolutionary War time period. Guess what? AI is not very good at this task, but humans are. With fewer and fewer schools teaching penmanship as it was known when I was in elementary school, we stand to lose something very special and unique to human beings.

My right hand at work making art prints

For the fifteen years that I taught science at the high school level, I implored my students to handwrite their notes. When we write, neural pathways in the brain are formed and strengthened. We can better remember the things that we write. Writing things down is a way to make future generations able to access our history. For some of us we have seen the development of data recording systems change rapidly during our life times. The advancement of data storage associated with computers, for example, went from punch cards, to floppy discs, to CDs, to DVDs, to thumb drives, and now to the cloud. Who knows what the future technology will be or if we will have access to the equipment to access our current modes of data storage? We don’t talk about it often, but our digital age is threatened perhaps by the fall of society, but also by solar storms that can disrupt our entire electrical grids.

We know about ancient societies because of their writings whether they were made on clay tablets, papyrus, or paper. These documents were stored and passed down from generation to generation. Recently, I read Karen Bloom Gevirtz’s The Apothecary’s Wife, a study in how medicine became a commodity. What struck me the most was her description of the housewife’s recipe book and the importance of its contents. These books contained not only directions for making food stuffs, but gardening tips, foraging directions, preservation techniques, fermentation techniques, and how to treat ailments with herbal medicines. These books were handed down from mother to daughter to granddaughter. Women would share recipes with one another, jotting down who gave it to them, or you could see the handwriting of a different individual in the book who placed their knowledge into the book of a friend or relative.

Inktober 2024 prompt - Journal

Lately, the advice has been to find ways to cut grocery costs, but still eat well. Hence, I’ve been borrowing cookbooks from the library. They are a great source of information, but let’s face it not all of the recipes may appeal to you, or may be too time consuming for you, so you don’t need the whole book. That’s when it is time to establish your householder recipe book. Grab a cheap notebook and start copying down the recipes that appeal to you. I’ve been testing out a couple recipes at a time, and if I like them, I write them down, but I also make notes about the results. For example, the baking time needs to be adjusted, or the amount of liquid, or a substitution that I made because I didn’t have a particular ingredient on hand. Now it is personalized and a reference for the future.

Maybe cooking isn’t your thing, write down instructions on how to do other things. Learn how to do things by hand. Mend clothes so you don’t have to spend on new ones if your budget is too tight. How to grow your own food. Repair items around the house. In our uncertain world you may not be able to access the internet always and it’s good to have that information handy. Websites disappear. Posts may not be what them seem.

Mixed media/collage

I write stuff down. Age is creeping up on me, but I also think that my brain is simply overwhelmed with all the content that it is bombarded with so I write myself notes to remember stuff. I keep a paper planner and a wall calendar to stay organized. I write down lists of things to do, phone calls to make, and projects to complete. I have a separate journal to the record the events of my life, thoughts, emotions, things I want to remember and reflect upon in the future. I’ve also begun to make note of what is happening in the world, so that I have evidence of events that might be eliminated from the historical record. My hope is that by writing on paper with a pen, the record of my life, and the events that are happening around me, will last longer than this digital blog will.

I encourage you to take some time to write something down whether it be a note to self, a love note for someone special in your life, or a to-do list. Engage in something that only humans do, just one of those things that make us special.

Have a good week!

Maryanne