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Umberto Eco on Handwriting

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Maybe he just likes the taste of ink on his fingers, or maybe he’s concerned that we won’t be seeing too many works like Jung’s Red Book any more, but Umberto Eco tells us that handwriting is good for the soul:

Why should we regret the passing of good handwriting? The capacity to write well and quickly on a keyboard encourages rapid thought, and often (not always) the spell-checker will underline a misspelling.

Eco’s own handwriting seems a little less than soulful, if we are to judge by this specimen:

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His concern, however, is real: most kids – what with computers (when they use them) and text messages – can no longer write by hand, except in laboured capital letters.

And of course, we do know that computers don’t help you think.  That’s best done w/ a sheet of blank paper and a fountain pen. My own love for ink pens stems from a different sort of “creativity” – I enjoy creating doodles out of the ink I spill.

But unlike Eco, I think ballpoint pens do have a purpose, especially during those endless business meetings:

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The Republican Response: Barney Fife Deputizes Bobby Jindal

After watching the brilliant Republican response by Bobby Jindal, here’s what my wife came up with:

Some husbands admit that their wives are smarter than they are, but this proves my wife is also way funnier than me. Her sense of humor is on display at globeschooling.com >>
UPDATE
HBR: Don’t “Bobby Jindal” Your Next Big Speech
WAPO: How Bad Was Jindal?
NYTimes: Governor Jindal, Rising GOP Star, Plummets After Speech
AP: Republicans, Democrats criticize Jindal’s speech

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Irving Rothman: The Barber In Modern Jewish Culture

Dr. Rothman‘s book The Barber In Modern Jewish Culture: A Genre of People, Places, and Things, With Illustrations is already out of in print.
Here’s Dr. Rothman on YouTube:

Back in 1988 I did a little bit of research on “barbers in literature” for Dr. Rothman. I really enjoyed his classes – his Eighteenth Century Lit starring Samuel Johnson, and his Nobel Prize Winners in Lit class starring (for me) Garcia Marquez.
Back in the 80s it wasn’t uncommon to see Donald Barthelme, Rosellen Brown, Ntozake Shange, and Edward Hirsch all walking around on campus. Those were the days of Homer Noodleman…