Monday, April 12, 2010

The Vanishing Letterhead


Text, email, tweet, yeah, yeah, yeah....

From The Phenomenology of Writing by Hand:

"Planners tend to think of writing primarily as a means of recording or communicating ideas which they already have clear in their minds;

Discoverers tend to experience writing primarily as a way of 'discovering' what they want to say."


Sure, we all dig, most of the time anyway, the immediacy and always-on communication tools on our desks, in our cars and in our pockets. I tend to fall in to the Discoverers camp when it comes to, what I call, thinking on paper. As far as I'm concerned a text, email, or tweet can never replace the emotional fullfillment and tactile experience of writing/composing or receiving an actual handwritten Thank You, Congratulations or Birthday message - especially when it entails the use of an official letterhead and arrives in the mail.



To me, there is still something so very cool, mysterious and exciting about recieving a hand addressed package or letter complete with stamps and postmarks along with the dings, smudges, creases and cryptic scribbles - the real and pure evidence of it's journey.

Yeah I know, dream on Michael, but it's nice to know that in our new world of virtuallity and simulacra, I'm not the only one that pines for the real thing: Letterheady.

That's Right,

HMK