The Funeral of Handwriting: What We Lose When the Hand Stops Moving

In 2010, the Common Core State Standards Initiative dropped cursive instruction from its recommended curriculum. The decision arrived without ceremony. No public debate, no period of mourning, no recognition that a cognitive practice stretching back to the Sumerian reed stylus was being retired from American education. Forty-one states adopted the standards. Cursive, along with its slower sibling manuscript handwriting, began its institutional death.

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As Elaine's Dies a Second Death

Elaine’s, a venerable restaurant on New York City’s upper East Side, is closing in nine days after being open for 48 years.  Elaine’s, in its heyday, was a hotspot place to be seen.  Woody Allen played his clarinet there.  Authors celebrated their books there.  Celebrities went there to be seen.  Elaine Kaufman — the “Elaine” in Elaine’s — died six months ago and now her namesake restaurant is following her to the grave.

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