The "Cursive Obsolescence" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in my lounge chair, looking at the can of "Coke" in front of me on the snack tray.  In big white cursive letters on the bright red can, running vertical on the round can, reads "Coca-Cola".  

The iconic "Coca-Cola" script lettering.

So how many of you reading this blog story today use cursive lettering, such as what is on the can, for your daily notes and writing?  And if you don't use cursive, why?  Did you learn it in elementary school when you were younger as I did?  I must admit my cursive writing is terrible; just ask my wife.  But, we just can't give up on it like many are doing, since cursive writing has been linked to intellectual competence, identity and even morality.  Can you imagine a future that doesn't include pretty writing.  You do realize that's what happened to calligraphy, don't you.  The students in my Graphic Arts I class loved to do Calligraphy.  We practiced and practiced each letter of the alphabet on lined paper I had prepared for them.  

Practice paper used for calligraphy.

After a week of daily 50 minute classes, they each chose a poem or verse and created beautiful masterpieces.  After I retired, that part of the class curriculum was abandoned.  A week or so ago I returned to my old classroom to ask Jim, the new teacher in the room, if he still had the calligraphy sets that I used at one time.  He did, but all the ink had dried in the glass jars and the metal pen tips had rusted since my retirement 19 years ago.  The reason for my visit was to borrow a calligraphy set of pen and ink and add a date to a plaque that had been brought to Grebinger Gallery where I now work part-time matting and framing artwork and photography.  A customer had made a visit to the gallery with a framed collage of priests who had been at their church in the past.  

The job that needed calligraphy.  The block in the center
under the priest needed a retirement date.

One priest's photo had his years of service under it, but was missing his retirement date.  All names and dates had been done in calligraphy and Keith, the owner of the gallery, who happened to be in my class years ago, thought I might be able to add the date for the customer.  Well, rather than buy a new calligraphy pen and ink, Keith had a friend who stopped and was going to finish the date for him.  

Will cursive become obsolete?

The entire event made me think of a short paragraph I recently read in The Saturday Evening Post.  Remember this magazine?  Not available at my local magazine store, but did find it online and subscribed once again to it.  The last issue reprinted a story they had published in April of 1905 which was titled "Good Writing Call for a Pen or Pencil."  The story told the reader to put the typewriter away and put the pen or pencil back to work again.  

The United States of America's Declaration of Independence
used both script as well as "printing" in its presentation.

We have gone through a few generations of technology since 1905, but they all lead back to the pen or pencil.  Is it really time to let go of the sacred script?  It's not that we don't have other ways to communicate.  We still have the good old cursive handwriting.  But is it really the same as the copperplate lettering that was used to present the Declaration of Independence in the United States or even the swirls on the "Coca-Cola" can.  I still think we need to be able to at least sign our name in cursive.  To me it not a real signature if we don't use cursive.  But, I'm one of those who doesn't want to believe that script or cursive, or even true calligraphy, will be obsolete in the near future.  How about you?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy,