My Paean to the Ballpoint Pen, Part 1

       This year, 2014, is the 70th anniversary of the ballpoint pen.  If you're interested in language, you're interested in the instruments that carry language.  From typewriter to computer was a very big step.  For me as a kid, from ink pens and fountain pens to ballpoint pens was such a one.  I remember the fascination, pride, and pleasure with which I purchased my first ballpoint.

       Quite a novelty for a school kid then, especially one who had been brought up on Palmer penmanship.  I never did come anywhere near mastering the Spencerian handwriting style taught us in the early grades by a wonderfully behatted elegant woman who whisked in once a week to teach us how to write.

       We sat stunned and astonished as Miss Evans swirled her incredible hand across the blackboard in exquisite cursive letters of beauteous perfection.  It was like a show.  In a way, we loved to have her come in.  It wasn't so much teaching as a demonstration, a theatre of the classroom.