Back to School: Pencil Days

When did you stop using pencils, do you remember? I know I used them in high school for tests but can't remember if I used them for class work, too. I remember being a child and having to sharpen them, and buying a sharpener for my son, too.

I don't know what kids have been doing since my son graduated eighth grade, but I do know it's been ages since I used a pencil. Once I figured out how much faster you could write with a pen - especially gel pens -- all I wanted was to float on a cloud of ink across any page I had to write physically on. And then of course, in high school we learned to type and use a keyboard.

I still use pens for thank you cards, making notes (especially writing notes) and a few other things, but mostly write on computer. But today, unpacking boxes in my workroom, I found a box of colored pencils.

I used colored pencils when freelancing about 8 years ago as a copy editor. After a while the profession insisted everything be done on track changes, but I do remember liking the pencils, especially the red ones, which made marking up manuscripts more fun. My late friend Susan, who had edited the Harry Potter books, liked using pencils too, and I sometimes wonder if J. K. Rowling's manuscripts were marked up in Susan's red pencils.

There is something a lot more personal, of course, in physically sitting with someone's work and writing on it. Susan had sets of different colored pencils, and though I have to say it's a lot faster and easier to use computers, I loved to watch her work. I also loved all the hieroglyphic-looking marks the editors made with pencils. Is it a lost art?

Is there anyone in the world any more who uses pencils, not just to edit, but for other stuff? I'm guessing architectural draftsmen types, but who knows? Maybe they do everything on computer now, too.

The summer before last I found six colored pens in a Stillwater stationery store with erasers. I don't think the erasers worked, but I loved them anyway. In fact, I wanted to jump up and down screaming when I found them, I loved them so much. Something about using colors and ink together that is one of the most wonderful things in the world.

Unfortunately, I packed them somewhere and will have to dig through nearly everything I own to find them. And who knows when that will be?

Still, I do like the look of pencils better than pens, especially when they have new, square-tipped erasers and their points are newly sharp. The summer before last I found six colored pens in a Stillwater stationery store with erasers. I don't think the erasers worked, but I loved them anyway. In fact, I wanted to jump up and down screaming when I found them, I loved them so much. Something about using colors and ink together that is one of the most wonderful things in the world.

Unfortunately, I packed them somewhere and will have to dig through nearly everything I own to find them. And who knows when that will be?

Maybe I need pencil wall hangings, just because they'd look so interesting? Pencils also give us a rite of passage, one of the only instruments that allows us to learn writing skills and then slips into oblivion after being crucially important for si or seven years.

I can't help but wish that pens had the versatility of pencils, because the ability to erase ink would be wonderful, especially when you're writing out your thoughts on a greeting card. Speaking of which, are those getting obsolete, too?

I have to say I will always love getting a hand-written card, so it's hard for me to stop sending them. Maybe what we need our kids to learn in school is not just how to write with pen or pencil; but how writing, particularly hand writing, connects us to someone in ways a computer cannot.

And sorry, not sorry, but crayons, however wonderful they are, do not count.

Then again, I'm sure I sound impossibly old fashioned. But isn't that what moms are for?

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