June came and went, as did July, August, and September. And, here we are to the last week of October. This time I had valid reasons for not posting. I fell in mid-July and fractured the ischium portion of my left pelvic area. It has been slow going with the walker. I am improving, but not as quickly as I would like. In August, my son came home not feeling well and it turned into Covid-19. A couple days after he presented symptoms, I did. I am just now digging out of the brain fog that so many are left with. October, so far, has seen the loss of two very special people in my life. The old adage "it comes in threes" must hold true.
I read an article recently (thanks to the Firefox home page) posted on Popdust.com with the headline "Why Grammarly is Key for Young Professionals" and it brought thoughts to mind. Bear with me while I wax on this a bit. I, thankfully, grew up in an era when phonics was taught. Cursive was taught. And...novel idea...grammar and composition was taught. They were all part of the English classes from 6th through 12th grades. That is what spurred my love of words. In today's instant society, there is no grammar, there is no cursive (and kids get in trouble for using it), and there is no phonics. People turn to computer applications to check their writing, to make sure it is proper. While programs are not 100% at catching errors, I realize people aren't either. But I would rather have two or three sets of eyes on my writing than a computer program. (personal choice) Back to my cursive comment. I was discussing school subjects with the mother of a college employee who trains teachers. She told me a story that her daughter related from one of her teachers. The student wrote his assignment in cursive instead of typing it. I get that he went against instructions, but I thought it was pretty impressive. The teacher failed him because SHE COULDN'T READ IT. She asked the student what language he wrote his paper in and when he told her it was cursive writing like his grandma wrote, she shook her head and said "this is not English. It's a foreign language and unacceptable." That broke my heart. It saddens me that there is an entire generation who will never know the satisfaction of dotting "i's" and crossing "t's" and learning how to make curly-cues on the ends of letters that fall below the middle line on a cursive sheet. Times have changed, and I realize the computer is how things are now done, not only in schools, but in most communicative places. I guess the moral to this is, do your homework. If you write, find a few beta readers to go through your piece first, then hire an editor to polish it to perfection.
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