Katy McKenna Raymond  
Personal blog of christian writer Katy McKenna Raymond in Kansas City, Missouri

Personal blog of christian
writer & fallible mom
Katy McKenna Raymond
in Kansas City, Missouri


Katy is represented by
Greg Johnson at
WordServe Literary

Read more Katy at
LateBoomer.net

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Fountain (Pen) of Youth

I purchased another fountain pen yesterday, the second one in a month. I've entertained a lifelong intrigue with fluidity, the graceful, effortless motion of hand and heart, the very essence of penmanship produced with a fountain pen.

If you learned to write in cursive with such an instrument, the redeeming virtues of all other pens are lost on you. You handle a fountain pen with a sense of purpose, having had the importance of your undertaking impressed upon you by the likes of Sr. Sheila Ann, Sr. Rose Ellen, and Sr. Kathleen Patrick, in that order. (By the time you reached 8th grade and Sr. Agatha Francis, ballpoint pens were infiltrating even the Catholic schools, and the beautiful penmanship movement was crumbling from within.)

It was the Palmer Method the Sisters of St. Joseph taught us, and I might have found it unacceptable that they all wrote identically, if they hadn't all written perfectly. Indeed, a girl who conquered the techniques of the Palmer Method as well as I did was often found to have a vocation to the sisterhood in the bargain. The two went pen in hand.

I've been a calligrapher since Scotty was a baby, when I took formal lessons and mastered the basics. It proved a wonderful creative venture for me, even helping to supplement our income, until five-year-old Scott spilled an entire bottle of indelible black India ink on the dining room carpet, and the spell was broken.

It is calling me again.

I am now pursuing the art of Spencerian Penmanship, much like the Palmer Method of my childhood, but with the extravagant flourishes I've come to crave.

Sure, I still buy 10 Bics for a buck like everyone else. But it's getting harder and harder to sign my name with such an imposter, without remembering the life's work of the good sisters, and repenting.
Posted by Katy on 12/05/02 at 02:15 PM
Fallible Comments...
  1. ballpoint bens are EVIL.
    -----
    Posted by bethany  on  12/05/02  at  04:35 PM
  2. and so are ballpoint Pens.<br>
    Posted by bethany  on  12/05/02  at  04:35 PM
  3. Bethany, So what do you use?
    Posted by katy  on  12/05/02  at  04:40 PM
  4. katy, i use roller ball type pens pretty much exclusively.<br>for example, the uniball vision micro is a favorite, as is the pilot precise rolling ball v5 extra fine.<br><br>http://uni-ball.hbi.ne.jp/catalog/show/product.php?no=5<br><br>http://www.syscontech.com/supplygraph/pil35334.jpg
    Posted by bethany  on  12/05/02  at  05:51 PM
  5. i've always wanted to try a fountain pen, though. where would i get one? anything special you need to know about using one? are any of those sisters available to teach me how?
    Posted by bethany  on  12/05/02  at  09:08 PM
  6. chad (absence of Sisters nonwithstanding) taught himself calligraphy a few years back. he's quite the artisan when he sets his mind to it...we made lovely gifts for friends and family, as i was into flower pressing at the time. i love to hear that though your kids are grown, you still consider yourself a student, katy - it's very inspiring :)
    Posted by lisa  on  12/05/02  at  10:14 PM
  7. B-Even if you were to take up your education in a Catholic academy, you would encounter very few Sisters. So sad. And even if you did find some, their handwriting has likely evolved into something barely recognized by those of us who were classically trained. Sigh.
    Posted by katy  on  12/06/02  at  09:38 AM
  8. Lisa, Isn't it fun to be married to a sensitive, creative type? My husband is also artistic, musical, wonderful photographer and an excellent interior decorator. Lousy seamstress and cook, in case anyone was starting to wonder....
    Posted by katy  on  12/06/02  at  09:41 AM
  9. potpourri for you: my great grand-uncle (i think uncle) invented the ballpoint pen. (the waterman pen.)<br><br>for those fountain pen purists who feel betrayed by this truth, this is the same side of my family that includes benedict arnold...<br><br>hehe
    Posted by annie  on  12/06/02  at  10:01 AM
  10. katy, fun some days, maddening others...as we are both right brained to a fault, the list of things that seem important but get left undone grows frighteningly long and threatening at times...not to mention both of us being so sensitive and analytical most of the time we drive each other nuts. but other than all that...;)
    Posted by lisa  on  12/06/02  at  12:21 PM
  11. Annie, You frighten me. Tee, hee. My new pen is a Phileas made by Waterman. You're related to Benedict Arnold? Question: is anyone in your family named after him? There are so few Benedicts...
    Posted by katy  on  12/06/02  at  05:19 PM
  12. Lisa, Yes. Other than all that, we right-brained couples are having a blast!
    Posted by katy  on  12/06/02  at  05:20 PM
  13. Bethany, I must say your pens of choice sound lovely. (Much preferred to running up against someone called Ballpoint Ben.) Because you are a discriminating pen user, I have reason to believe you would love to own and use a fountain pen. Check in the display cases at Office Depot. They're under lock and key, they're that good.
    Posted by katy  on  12/06/02  at  06:36 PM
  14. nope, no benedicts. maybe if i ever have a wee boy of my own?
    Posted by annie  on  12/08/02  at  01:14 PM
  15. You know, we were in a schooling system where till the age of 12 (standard VI from standard III) we were allowed to use only fountain pens. They were messy…but like you I developed the love for fluidity and a result an appreciably good handwriting. These days I touch the ebonite keyboards more often than a fountain pen and your post made me dream! Thanks friend!
    Posted by sandiegofan  on  02/25/09  at  07:12 PM
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