I was taught cursive writing when I was six years old and just starting in school (of course, this was back in the days when we carved letters into clay tablets—mid to late 1930s).

A couple of years later, a fan of the "Tom Mix" radio show (for those who've never heard of him, he was a cowboy by trade) and I sent my cereal box-top in and received by return mail my "Tom Mix pen and pencil set." It was a mechanical pencil and genuine fountain pen. Cheap, but fully functional.

From about the age of eight, I was doing a lot of my writing (a halfway decent looking cursive style—and readable by adults and others, with the fountain pen.

Later, I wrote a great deal with a fountain pen. By now, I had a Sheafer pen. Among other things, I wrote an entire 5,000 word short story for a high school creative writing class in cursive script, which my teacher liked so well, she submitted it (my hand-written copy) to the Atlantic Monthly high school short story contest, where it received an honorable mention.

My handwriting was quite distinctive—and quite readable.

When I worked for Boeing as a Production Illustrator (draftsman), they required all writing to be in "Boeing standard lettering"—block letters one-eighth of an inch high.

Within recent years, I've done so much writing either on typewriters or on the computer, that I'm way out of practice with cursive, and my handwriting has really deteriorated—which I deeply regret.

When I watch kids these days on those rare occasions when they are writing something with a pen (ball point) or pencil, I wonder who in blazes taught them how to hold the implement!?? I was taught to hold a pen or pencil this way, where I could control the point (CLICKY). I did a lot of drawing and sketching when I was a kid (still do), and holding a pencil correctly is essential for line control.

These days, I see kids—and not just kids anymore—holding a pen or pencil this way:   CLICKY.

Maybe okay for stabbing something, but hardly for anything that requires any kind of precision.

Don Firth