Dear Reader, Have you ever read- The Girl with the Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier? Hollywood made it into a movie. I generally prefer the book. Don’t you? I have listened to and love the audiobook. All the Dutch words are correctly pronounced and with their appropriate accents. Imagine my surprise after recently revisiting […]
Addie and Rebecca
Addie and Rebecca were pen pals during the mid-19th century. They were free black women who navigated the turbulent times during America’s Reconstruction Era. Addie Brown, born in 1841, was orphaned early in life and as a result she joined the working class as a domestic servant. Five years older, Rebecca Primus was born in […]
Song of Songs
Dear Reader- Margaret Shepherd’s calligraphy show, “Song of Songs” just opened at Yale’s Divinity School last week. The back story of this event is a curious one, so I thought I’d share it with you…And, in this season of Valentines, it’s easy to talk about some love poetry! In the Spring of 2010, Adam Schwartz […]
Penmanship revisited
Hello Reader, Valentine’s Day always signals a good reason to put your pen to paper. And having your message clear and legible will help the recipient know who is playing Cupid. Did you know? In former times, when a man was wooing a young lady, the quality of his penmanship determined whether he even had […]
Expressing sorrow
Yesterday, I wrote a condolence card to a friend. No matter how many of them I write, each one challenges me with an inadequate feeling. What can I say to offer comfort at such a time of grief? Yet words of sympathy are necessary to write especially now- when so many are dying unexpectedly, due […]
“Betty Bonkers working on jet lag”
My favorite younger sister, Andrea, died on February 22, 2019. It was sudden and unexpected with dubious circumstances. She had just come back from a dream vacation to Hawaii. Her last text to me said, “Betty Bonkers working on jet lag.” Next, I heard Andrea was dead. So many parts of this jigsaw puzzle will […]
“the Ghost of an idea…”
Charles Dickens began writing A Christmas Carol in October 1843. At that time, he was suffering from “a hideous cold,” and was in the midst of a financial crisis. After five years of economic success, Dickens had overextended his finances, his newer books were not selling as had been anticipated, and he was forced […]
9 billion phone checks a day*
Ever wonder how much time you spend checking your phone on a daily basis? And how much does that all add up to in hours and minutes? In a recent survey of 8,000 people, the “Average daily screentime usage” was 3 hours. Most people spend between 1-4 hours on their phones. If you spend a […]
Writing History
On the surface, writing by hand in a diary is a solitary experience…jotting down whatever is noteworthy from the day. If the entries are dated, a timeline emerges with days, weeks, seasons unfolding into a record of one’s personal living history. Upon closer inspection, a diary is more than a collection of musings, it is […]
Pen to Paper, 1st visit
I had not imagined how intimate it would be to read the handwritten letters of 60+ artists. Many names were familiar to me from my art school background. Those who where new, quickly became familiar through the personality of their handwriting. There is something so immediate and personal about handwritten letters. Pen to Paper is […]