Steve Jobs, in his commencement address to Stanford students, said it was the calligraphy at Reed that was partially responsible for him producing computers: вЂњThroughout the campus, every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed.вЂќ And while Jobs was at Reed after Reynolds, he probably dropped in on the calligraphy class of Robert Palladino, ReynoldsвЂ™s protГ©gГ©: вЂњI learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. Writing was a privilege in the old days, and LloydвЂ™s classes remind us of that.ДЄs for calligraphy being dead, the artistic value of the script one uses is as current now as it was then. LloydвЂ™s classes, available on YouTube, present a way of engaging with history from a vocational perspective. A while back, curious as to his popularity with Reed Magazine, I googled Lloyd to see what the fuss was all about. I too began at Reed after LloydвЂ™s tenure, which ended in 1969. I understand Lawrence ButcherвЂ™s frustration with Lloyd Reynolds as a Reed superhero. Few of my students have become skilled calligraphers, itвЂ™s true, but all tell me how much it enriched their lives, awakened them to the ordinary, to unexpected beauty. Since then, I have taught history through historic alphabets to students 6 to 66 years old, from short intensives to ongoing classes that sometimes continued for years-on a shipвЂ™s deck, in my studio, on kitchen tables, for arts organizations. If you write something, your eyes, mind, and fingers help you to remember. We found that the children wrote with italic when they were proud of their work, and also they retained information better. I also taught at Catlin Gabel and initiated the first italic writing program, grades 1вЂ“6, as a curriculum subject.

After leaving Reed as a student, I was a photographer for Reed College publications for many years and saw the unifying effect of calligraphed signs all over campus. I came to Reed from the East Coast (and have lived in the Northwest ever since) because I had read Richard NeubergerвЂ™s article in the Saturday Evening Post that spoke highly of Lloyd Reynolds and his Graphic Arts Workshop. What a shame that he did not avail himself of Lloyd Reynolds вЂ™s legacy of beauty, discipline, and awe! True, he must have come after Lloyd left, so he was unable to participate directly in or benefit from, his lively, broad-reaching classes, but it hardly qualifies him to judge so fiercely. I read with mounting fury the smarmy, overweening letter from an ignorant Reedie by the name of Butcher. Working with letterforms without knowing their history is like practicing medicine without knowing anatomy. Thanks again for supplying the disdain that has been a crucial element of the calligraphic revival since its inception in the 19th century. I have enjoyed my share of letters that looked like waltzing pigs, but I have never seen a student who could be described as one. Roman letters descend from handwritten models that evolved under varying cultural circumstances and are the oldest uninterrupted system of graphic indication available to humanity. Renaissance italic military orders are far more legible than 19th-century copperplate commands.ДЇaces and fonts are successive applications of the original written forms that are embedded in each iteration. Consider communicating with lumber crayon on the side of a building after a natural disaster: a decipherable message may be the only connection to oneвЂ™s personal future. The traditional sequence and direction of writing strokes are simple to learn and most valuable when circumstances are most demanding. The content of a trained scrawl can be retrieved by repeating the gestures of the writer. Traditional scripts remain legible when they decay under pressure of production. Speed is a legitimate variable related to content. Working consciously since 1952, I comprehend a writing tool as a musical instrument that can be played silently under any circumstances and writing itself as a subtly percussive exercise. The pen point is the exact equivalent of the cutting stylus on a master recording device. The handwritten letter is a couture response to content, and it ainвЂ™t necessarily the ruffles and flourishes writing masters used to lure students after Gutenberg automated their game. Audio engineers are the contemporary equivalent. What is unique is the economy of effort traditional writing affords to low-tech recorded speech. Many thanks to Lawrence Butcher вЂ™75 for his critique of formal handwriting (Letters, March 2017), though I do think deluded self-appreciation and lack of redeeming social value are not unique to calli.

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