Member Monday is all about opening new vistas. And so it is here with the subject of calligraphy, especially as it’s applied to those like this cursive-challenged student whose third grade handwriting sample smacked of a squashed spider and whose later on-line graphology test pegged him as uneven, stingy, inner-contradicted, wrapped in distrust with flourishes of mythomania -- with probably a bad haircut, to boot.

We welcome new club member Amanda Nicole (Borne), calligrapher and hand lettering artist, to be our lead participant as we discuss the healing power offered by modern calligraphy (Healing Power Of Modern Calligraphy). Be not afraid. The goal of the session is simple awareness, rather than a lesson on penmanship from Professor Eat-Your-Peas. “It’s not about the bike”; it’s not about the calligraphy.

It’s really all about broadening a mindset that embraces a certain kind of deepened intimacy, to others, to oneself. Maybe start by comparing the impact of a handwritten thank-you note to a flat, perfunctory email. It’s night and day. Yes, one might say, but the email is more efficient, bringing to mind a previously-discussed sentiment i.e. in a perfectly efficient society, man is redundant.

Extrapolate that and we might begin to appreciate the trade-offs where your own world has become largely mediated through the keyboard and the flat screen. The point is we, as humans, still have a basic yearning for interaction beyond the computer and the hell-hole of the commercial answering machine (“thank you for the call, now press two to drop dead”).

Social interaction aside, we will also touch on those known benefits of handwriting – improved cognition, creativity, emotional relaxation and stress reduction, hand/brain linkage – not only as it applies to children on the upswing but to those (of us) facing later-year decline (Note From Your Neighbor).

But what we’re really here to talk about is the supreme lightness associated with beauty itself. Calligraphy is up there with any of the art forms we’ve previously taken on, e.g. the visual arts (MM 4/4/22 Are You Not Moved?), music (MM 10/30/17 Music's Evocative Magic), or even writing (MM 6/6/19 On Writing). As applied to architecture, we were reminded how such beauty requires the synthesis of strong intent, extensive know-how, finely tuned subtle techniques, and a focused mind (MM 6/3/19 Birthing Beauty).

And so it is here when it comes to calligraphy (Modern Calligraphy) as Amanda walks us through this special art form.