Off Script

My husband emailed me something from The Atlantic the other day, accompanied by the comment, “Here’s your next column.”

The article was about the death of cursive handwriting. It was a rich, exhaustive essay, and when I finished reading it, I couldn’t imagine what more could possibly be said on the matter. It seemed the definitive nail in cursive’s coffin as well as its quintessential eulogy.

The piece was written by history professor – and former Harvard president – Drew Gilpin Faust, who had recently learned that a majority of the students in her undergraduate seminar couldn’t read cursive. The revelation had come during a class discussion of a book about the Civil War. One of her students said he’d enjoyed it, but that its illustrations of wartime documents weren’t very helpful since, “of course,” he couldn’t read cursive. Stunned, Dr. Faust asked for a show of hands – who else couldn’t read cursive? – and about 2/3 of the class raised theirs.

How did we get here?

Remember Common Core? Those controversial national education standards that everybody was arguing about back in 2010? Well, at least half the states have now abandoned those standards, but not before they left their mark. Apparently, cursive was omitted from Common Core in 2010 and never quite made a comeback.

“The students in my class, and their peers, were then somewhere in elementary school,” writes Faust. “Handwriting instruction had already been declining as laptops and tablets and lessons in ‘keyboarding’ assumed an ever more prominent place in the classroom. Most of my students remembered getting no more than a year or so of somewhat desultory cursive training, which was often pushed aside by a growing emphasis on ‘teaching to the test.’ Now in college, they represent the vanguard of a cursiveless world.”

After reading this, I called up my own member of that vanguard, currently matriculating at Clemson, to get her take on the situation. I couldn’t quite recall my daughter’s past experience with cursive. Not in any detail.

Amelia told me she remembered learning cursive in third grade – she thinks – but doesn’t remember there being too much emphasis on it. She said she can read cursive “if it’s normal” but not if it’s “real slanty and fancy, like old-people writing.” She confessed that she has a hard time reading historical documents like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. No biggie, right?

On the bright side – I think? – she prefers taking class notes on her iPad, with a stylus pen, instead of typing them on her keyboard. “When I type my notes, I feel like I don’t learn the material as well,” she told me. “Sometimes, I’ll look back over typed notes and I don’t even remember typing them.” She says writing them by hand makes the material “sink in” in a way that typing doesn’t. Is that because typing is just second nature to a GenZ’er, while writing demands focus and concentration? I honestly don’t know.

And here’s the rub. My daughter tends to print those notes on her iPad, instead of using cursive. “Unless the teacher’s talking really fast,” she says, in which case she sometimes switches over to a halting, broken script.

I’m not sure what all this means for the future, if anything.

Drew Gilpin Faust, as an historian, is deeply concerned that young people are losing their direct access to their own history, thus putting themselves at a distinct disadvantage. Her Atlantic article, entitled “GenZ Never Learned to Read Cursive,” asks in its subtitle, “How will they interpret the past?”

While sitting at my desk, pondering the enormity of that question – and wondering what I could possibly add to this topic – I kicked back in my office chair and my eyes lit on the wall behind my computer monitor. Mounted there is a beautifully-framed sheet of lined, yellow notebook paper – the kind you tear out of a legal pad – on which are written, in heartbreakingly familiar script, the words: Hey, sweet Margaret. I still love you best of all. Great love, Pat Conroy.

Now, lest you find that a scandalous bit of over-sharing, please understand that this is the kind of note Pat Conroy wrote to everybody in his orbit. He loved us all best of all. I have no worries that his wife Sandra will read this column and be appalled. In fact, my own husband is the one who had the note framed for me, soon after Pat’s death. It’s just one of many little dashed-off memos he’d occasionally include with my “to-do” list, when I was working for him as an editorial assistant/typist.

And now that we’ve cleared that up, my point is this: I would never have framed that note and hung it on my wall had it been typed. There’s something of Pat Conroy’s personality – his very soul – on that yellow page, and it goes way beyond mere words.

I may be the first person ever to use the phrase “mere words” in the same sentence with “Pat Conroy,” but you know what I’m saying. It’s not so much about the sentiment. It’s about the handwriting. And the signature.

Speaking of signatures . . . the young folks aren’t the only ones who’ve gone “off script.” Just the other day, Jeff and I were signing some business papers, and I realized, not for the first time, that I have absolutely no signature left. Not a “signature” signature, anyway. When I sign my name on a document anymore – which is increasingly rare – it’s an illegible scrawl. Which would be okay, if it were always the same illegible scrawl. But it’s not. I had to sign three separate papers that day, and I’m not sure any of those signatures bore even a family resemblance.

If you don’t use it, you lose it. And apparently, I’ve lost it. How that loss affects the rest of my life remains to be seen. I could imagine some troubling scenarios, but I’m trying to reduce my stress level, so I won’t. Fortunately, I have a “digital signature” that lives on my computer, but I don’t think I could replicate it now, by hand, if I tried. And I wonder: Having lost my unique, distinctive signature, have I lost a small part of what makes me . . . me?

“The spread of literacy in the early modern West was driven by people’s desire to read God’s word for themselves, to be empowered by an experience of unmediated connection,” writes Faust in the Atlantic. “The abandonment of cursive represents a curious reverse parallel: We are losing a connection, and thereby disempowering ourselves.”

For students and scholars of history, the implications couldn’t be more clear. For the rest of us, the handwriting on the wall is a little harder to read, but in time, the loss may be every bit as profound.

Margaret Evans RANTS

& RAVES

Balance

Original Artwork by Richard Grant

Originating in Scotland hundreds of years ago, the cairn – a carefully crafted stack of stones – has had many practical as well as spiritual jobs, among them memorial, gravestone, shrine, and trail marker. The Art League Academy’s exhibition “Balance,” honors the soul of the cairn, as it has carried meaning across cultures for centuries. Each rock can signify an intention of praise, grace, and love.

“Richard’s work is timely for the current state of the world as we all are seeking balance in our lives,” says Amy Wehrman, Art League Academy manager. “The art collected here looks to the cairn to depict the peaceful yet precarious nature of balance.”

Originally from Chicago, Richard was previously represented by the Thomas Masters Gallery. Now living here in Hilton Head since 2017, Richard has artwork on display at the Island Recreation Center, Art League of Hilton Head gallery, and various local Hilton Head businesses. View more of his work at richardgrantartist. wixsite.com/hiltonhead.

Balance: Original Artwork

by Richard Grant will be on display October 10 through November 18, at Art League Academy. An artist's reception, free and open to the public, will be held on Wednesday, October 12 from 5-7pm.

Art League Academy offers art classes, demos and workshops taught by professional art educators in all media and for all skill levels, including true beginners.

Art League Academy is located at 106 Cordillo Parkway, Hilton Head Island. 843-842-5738.

Harbor Master, above Align, right Muses, below

Chiropractic Truth Bombs

Health applies to each of us on many levels. I think its importance is best stated by the World Health Organization’s definition. They say Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Most of us have never heard this definition and have been taught to believe the exact opposite. We have been conditioned to focus on illness and disease, with the absence of either one meaning health. Our current health-care paradigm is built on this belief and has contributed to much confusion. For real health to be experienced, we must include the well-being of our social, spiritual, mental, emotional and physical parts of ourselves. Would you believe Chiropractic can help integrate all of the above?

Let's start with some background information. Chiropractic is a 127-year-old, doctor-level profession that serves as a direct access portal of entry into the healthcare system for millions of Americans of all ages. This means you don't need a referral from an MD and we diagnose within our scope. We are able to refer out to other practitioners, when needed, given that our core courses are pretty much the same as medical school. We actually have more overall course hours in some subjects, so please don't promote the illusion that we are not "real" doctors! https://www. beaufortchiropracticcare.com/chiropractic

According to the Journal of Chiropractic Education, Vol. 15, No. 2: “Chiropractic is a health care discipline which emphasizes the inherent recuperative power of the body to heal itself without the use of drugs or surgery. The practice of chiropractic focuses on the relationship between structure (primarily the spine) and function (as coordinated by the nervous system) and how that relationship affects the preservation and restoration of health. In addition, Doctors of Chiropractic recognize the value and responsibility of working in cooperation with other health care practitioners when in the best interest of the patient.”

Originally developed in the U.S., Chiropractic is now established in more than 50 nations worldwide. The basic principle of chiropractic science is that abnormalities and misalignments of the spine, can and do distort the normal function of the nervous system. This interruption in the vital flow of nerve impulses back and forth may create serious negative health consequences, since this is how your brain communicates with every part of your body to establish the dynamic nature needed to maintain and adapt your internal environments to the best possible health expression.

Chiropractic works on the basis of adjusting the spine and other parts of the body to remove blocks to the body’s natural “innate” healing ability, and holds that a drugs-free, hands-on approach best enhances this healing response. Even though most people come to my office because they are in pain, Chiropractic’s emphasis also focuses on wellness and quality of life, working with patients’ behaviors, environments and motivations to reach the highest level possible of pain-free function. This can take some time, however, as the body heals on its own timeline, which is not linear. What a difficult pill to swallow!

In my experience, our symptoms are only our bodies trying to tell us something is in disease and the energetic impulses (communication via the nerves) are not able to move well. Just like a clogged hose, the water will start to move/expand outwards building more and more resistance if not allowed to flow again. Most people are terrified of pain. It brings up feelings of powerlessness, fear and worry. We just want it to go away. This just makes us angrier and more frustrated, adding fuel to an already inflamed environment. Did you know that the brain actually forms pain conduits that keep the pain going (even after the experience has long gone) until we pay attention to the message? Our usual way of paying attention is to reach for the quick fix of a pill or invasive surgeries/procedures to make the pain stop and achieve the ultimate goal which is to feel good again. This approach can often be used as a band aid for what is deeper and once again we ignore what our bodies are trying to say to us.

WHOLLY HOLISTICS

by Dr. Winn Sams

Would you believe that many of us are addicted to suffering/pain and do not even know it? In this case, it doesn't matter what you do to alleviate the pain or suffering unless and host Andrew Armstrong has carefully the cause is addressed. Your nervous system assembled programs that will inflame the is a memory bank, where default "tapes" play passions, satisfy intellectual curiosity, and offer if not disabled. Chiropractic can change serene listening with vibrant sounds and those internal pathways by allowing your pleasing melodies. He is offering twenty-four parasympathetic system to calm things down, works by twenty-two different composers—allowing you to feel different, even if it's just male and female, young and old, spanning three feeling less burdened or stressed. For some, centuries. There is something for everyone.the outcome is miraculous with the symptoms just disappearing. Others take more time. Regardless, your body will heal better with more energy available that isn't being devoured by systems being pushed or overtaxed.

In closing, let's address the fear many have of Chiropractic. I understand. I was one of them. I hope it is clear we are well trained and qualified doctors. Many people don't know there are many chiropractic technique choices. It is assumed all chiropractors use the typical “cracking and popping” techniques. I use a very gentle technique that allows me to adjust the whole body and provides a choice for those who prefer a gentler approach or need a less aggressive technique because of spinal conditions, surgeries or fusions. All chiropractic techniques work, however. It's up to the patient to determine what works best for them.

If you've tried chiropractic and your pain didn't resolve, you might believe chiropractic doesn't work. I would suggest a different perspective of taking care of your nervous system as a necessary support for health, just like you would by visiting a dentist, so it can help take care of you!

Dr. Sams owns Beaufort Chiropractic on Lady's Island. A Charlotte native with a B.A. in Economics from UNC Chapel Hill, Dr. Sams graduated from Sherman College of Chiropractic in 2002. She has written legislation addressing health concerns, helping to bills pass in many states. She ran for Congress in 2020 to represent western NC. She practices with her oldest daughter who is a chiropractor, acupuncturist and massage therapist. She can be reached at 843-522-1115 or at beaufortchiropractic@gmail.com