Geoff Duncan

Back when I was in elementary school, I used to get A's in every subject. Except Penmanship, where I got C's every term except for the very last term of the year, where my teacher would usually give me a B- out of pity. I could print just fine, but my cursive - and we were required to write in cursive - was atrocious. My parents tried everything: endless hours writing out ooooooooooooo's and ttttttttttttt's and lllllllllllll's on lined paper; penmanship books; chalkboards with lines; nice pencils. Nothing helped. (Although, from my point of view, it wasn't a total loss: the chalk got used liberally on sidewalks throughout the neighborhood.)

After elementary school, penmanship no longer figured into my GPA, and I happily put cursive writing out of my mind.

And today, to my mild astonishment, I discovered I have absolutely no idea how to write in cursive anymore.