Anyhow, perhaps in an effort to fit in (or because I was simply swept up by the "cute" fad), I started to change my handwriting style. And I don't think I'm the only girl who worked hard to develop a cute handwriting style (or "identity typeface" as J might call it); I have noticed a couple of teenage girls who have changed their writing style around the age of 14 or 15. (Did you?)
I was going through my journal entries this evening, noticing how the entries mark my changes in penmanship and "cuteness." Check out these two entries. The first one is from the "pre-cute" era (I had only been in Utah about four months), and then you can see my first attempts at a "cuter" handwriting in the next entry (which was about two months later):
And the handwriting continued to change for the next few months. For awhile I maintained this really time-consuming writing style, where my "R," "B," and "Y" letters had to be capitalized at all times:
I finally ditched the selective capitalization, but I still kept trying to make things more difficult for myself. I was into swirly "9" numbers for awhile, and I always had to write the "9" backwards (starting to write the "9" from the tail of the number instead of at the loop) to achieve my desired effect:
Luckily, that didn't last either. I guess I started to realize that it took way to much time to execute stylized, choppy letters and backwards-written numbers. I started to go for more swoops and curves (especially with the "y" and "g" letters), but still kept things rather neat. This was taken from my mission journal:
As my mission progressed, though, I began to write more and more sloppily. I spent so much time quickly jotting down addresses and phone numbers, that my whole writing style became more messy (and even more swoopy). I have recovered somewhat, but I still don't write as neatly as I did during my early college and early mission days. Actually, when going through my journals, I realized how some of the most busy and stressful periods of my life are indicated through my sloppy script. I must not have felt like I had time for neatness back then. (Or perhaps I wasn't even thinking about being neat, since my energy and attention were focused on other things.) This sample was taken soon after I started graduate school:
Tonight I realized that I hardly write with a pen anymore. I was writing some lengthy comments in the margin of a textbook, and I realized that the physical act of writing feels a little foreign to me. I use a computer so much; I only write to sign a check or quickly jot something down. With technology replacing the need to physically write, I wonder:
Who else went through a handwriting metamorphosis?
* Get the joke? This post isn't exactly a historiography, but it's a history of my own "graphy" (i.e. handwriting).
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14 comments:
I sometimes think you must be reading my mind (maybe we just think alike?). I am not kidding when I tell you that just last week I stopped and had some serious thoughts about my handwriting! Ha ha ha!
I was writing in my journal (which I do so rarely now days, thank you blogger!) and I thought, "Wow, my handwriting has really gone down hill. I used to have CUTE handwriting."
I can still remember the day I consciously changed the way I wrote so that it would be "cute". I remember my best friend had really cute handwriting (I did grow up in Provo after all), so to be like her, I changed my writing.
And I about died laughing with your stage of capitalizing certain letters. I totally did the same thing -- definitely the r's!
It's quite amazing to think that we alter something as silly as our handwriting to fit into popular culture. And, I was just thinking about it, and I have no idea where you grew up.
my handwriting has gone through some changes but nothing as drastic as yours. and i agree, during stressful periods it was always more sloppy.
your handwriting change strikes me as so "utah." maybe that's an unfair generalization, but in my experience the only girls i knew who practiced their handwriting (in order to make it more "cute") were my cousin and her friends in slc. she still has amazing handwriting, i must say, but it did strike me as odd as a young girl that she would occupy her time with handwriting practice.
this post makes me wish i had been more diligent about writing in my journal!
Interesting! I used to sign my name every year and date it in my journal so I could see how my signature changed over the years. But it's been pretty much the same since I was in my teens.
Other than that - it seems like my handwriting changes daily, largely dependent on my mood!
e: I have no doubt that we think alike. How funny that you've been thinking about handwriting, too! Ha! For the most part, I grew up in L.A., Cincinnati and Denver. I loved Denver and had a hard time moving from there. Actually, one of the last posts with the "pre-cute" era handwriting has "DEATH TO UTAH!" written in all caps. What a typically angry thing for an upset teenager to write.
m.m.: I don't deny it. The handwriting is totally "Utah." I would like to think that I've evolved into a more generalized feminine-ish handwriting style (especially since I don't do the capital "R," "Y" and "B" letters anymore), but maybe I'm fooling myself. Perhaps anthropologists will find samples of my handwriting several centuries from now, and immediately think "This woman lived in Utah during the 1990s."
Breanne, I like your idea of writing your signature every year. Actually, I thought it would be fun to talk about handwriting in a blog post, since handwriting can be indicative of personality and mood (like you mentioned!). I think that aspect of personality and mood is lost in the blogging medium (and in books that are supposed to be in letter format, like The Guernsey Literary Society); you can't get that added sense of personality and mood when you are reading something that is typed or printed.
Nice post, friend! I was also thinking about this very topic this weekend! And I enjoyed seeing all the samples of your writing. It's almost like seeing a picture- it's a glimpse into someone's personality.
I knew lots of non-Mormon, non-Utah girls in upstate New York who practiced their handwriting...as did I, but mine never developed into anything worth looking at. ;)
I've never had good penmanship and it gets worse with every passing day. The clinic has now instituted quarterly chart reviews, which required me, among other things, to set the goal of writing legibly. I have to write so much in such a short period of time that my handwriting keeps slipping into the abyss. Someday, when we finally get electronic medical records at this place, perhaps my writing will improve. Right now I literally don't have the time.
I'm laughing over this post as I'm thinking about how my handwriting has changed/morphed over the years. It's definitely not so 'cute' anymore. I can still recognize your writing as yours though.
p.s. Liza spoke today in sacrament and did such a great job. I can't believe how much she's grown up. What an amamzing young woman...
Interesting post. I never did the cutesy handwriting thing but envied those girls (always girls) who had cute handwriting. I have noticed that if I wrote the same message every day for a month you may think it was a different person who wrote it. There are some days in the month that I have very lovely handwriting and some days I can't read a note I have scribbled to save myself. As I get older my writing is less and less lovely.
I love finding an envelope or scrap of paper with a scrawled note and recognizing from whos hand it has come.
Irene in Bellevue
The handwriting from your graduate years really looks like Ann's. Which...I think that's a little weird, but clearly it's soaked into your consciousness (sub-consciousness?) long-term.
Also? Utah girls are clearly not the only neurotic identity-seeking teens, or there would be no market for all the teen/tween movies and music that play upon the "right" (cute) and "wrong" (less-cute) way of doing pretty much everything girl and teen.
this is one of the most interesting, clever posts I have read in awhile. My handwriting looks just like my moms. I write almost everything in cursive and it is very swoopy. Richard's handwriting is almost illegible-- much like a five year olds, and it hasn't changed much. Cute handwriting was the least of my worries in middle school!! I was just trying to figure out who to sit with at lunch.
Thanks for the comments! It's fun to read other opinions about cutesy handwriting and their own handwriting. Rebekah brought up a good point about insecurity and teenage girls - you're right, that isn't just specific to Utah. (Oh, and I never thought that my handwriting looked like my mom's before, but I can kinda see what you're saying, Rebekah. I always liked mom's handwriting, so I'm taking that as a nice compliment.)
very cool post! Mine has morphed too!
I love the idea for this post. You're so creative! I've never really thought to look back on my own handwriting and see how it evolved, but now I can clearly see that I had much "cuter" handwriting when I was a younger teenager because I actually wrote in journals and made a real effort to have cute, nice, neat handwriting. It got sloppier as college progressed and I struggled to write fast enough to capture notes in all those humanities and art history classes. And now that I almost NEVER handwrite anything anymore, my handwriting is probably the least cute it's ever been!
This is a brilliant post M! The funny thing is...I remember looking at your "9's" in seminary and adapting the same thing for a while.
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