Running for Your Life: Letters and Penmanship

When it comes to disrupting the disrupters, think outside the box, as in outside the pocket computer, tablet, laptop, Alexa, Oculus, Portal+ …

Write a letter. Not an e-mail, a letter, what Lord Byron called,

“The only device combining solitude with good company.”

Not to your “friend” or Congress-friend, but to a loved one: your mom, your BFF, a pal having a hard time of it.

Don’t wait for a reply. Just write another letter.

Buy some correspondence that appeals to you, some first-class, global stamps.

The legibility of your unpracticed script may be on the ugly side in the beginning, but give yourself time. It will improve. And you’ll be so much the better for it.

My advice? Get thee to an artist supply shop and test some pens.

They are not all created equal. Ballpoint can be smudgy; fountain, precious; craftsman, too arty.

I was touched by what I saw in “The Banished Immortal: The Life of Li Bai,” by Ha Jin, about the eponymous hero of this unreadable novel. It seems that some calligraphy has been discovered and attributed to the eighth century poet.

The calligraphy – his penmanship – is seen as a treasure trove for those looking to define the character of this ancient legend to the Chinese.

Sure, Western folks have handwriting analysis, that is associated with voodoo pseudosciences like the horoscope, but Chinese calligraphy study is seen as the real deal.

Find that pen that says your “John Henry” and get down to putting your special words on paper. Yes, the old-fashioned way.

Next: Running for Your Life: Faulkner Fix