IN THIS ISSUE

Homeschooling Teen Profile: Amy Burritt

Homeschool Friendly College: The Master's College

College Bound Reading List: "A Walk Across America"

Special Feature: 2000-2009 Timeline

HST Readers Write: "Writing Scholarship Applications"

HST Exclusives: Webcomix & Anime Reviews

Homeschooling High School: Degrees, Certificates, and On-the-Job Training

Career-of-the-Month: Watch for this new column starting next month!

E-Mail Etiquette: Tip-of-the-Month

Parents Column  

Plus a whole lot more!!!

JANUARY IS...

New Year's Day, Jan. 1

Twelfth Night, Jan. 5

Epiphany, Jan. 6

Winnie the Pooh Day, Jan. 18

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 18

National Handwriting Day, Jan. 23

Chocolate Cake Day, Jan. 27

Blueberry Pancake Day, Jan. 28

National Hobby Month

National Soup Month

National Candy Month

National Hot Tea Month

National Oatmeal Month

National Wheat Bread Month

A Wish for the World

May the year ahead bring
health and happiness;
hearts that love each other;
strength and perseverance;
people helping one another;
a renaissance of values such
as family, faith, and freedom;
the spirit of God within us
as a living temple for Him;
children safe from any injury;
forgiveness of the past;
no more terror, war or poverty;
and peace on earth at last.

by Teri Ann Berg Olsen

The Best of Times; the Worst of Times

In the opening lines of "A Tale of Two Cities," Charles Dickens wrote: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way." The novel "A Tale of Two Cities" is about politics and war and human nature at its best and worst. The first decade of the 21^st century might also be described as a time of great contradictions and extremes. But however you look at it, it seems like no consensus has been reached on what to call the first decade of the 21^st century. The o's? The double-o's? The zeros? The zips? The naughts? Perhaps it's appropriate that we don't have a good name for it, since it turned out to be a decade in which there were no good answers.

Technically, of course, December 31, 2009 was not even the last day of the decade. December 31, 2010 is! That's because there is no year "0." Therefore, the first day of the first decade on our calendar was January 1st in the year "1." So the last day of that decade is actually December 31st, year "10." Just like the last day of the last decade was really December 31, 2000, although everyone was already celebrating the arrival of a New Millennium at midnight, December 31, 1999. Having readied ourselves for the Y2K Bug to cause world chaos (and either feeling a sense of relief or saying "I told you so" when nothing happened), the tragedy that actually did materialize on 9/11 came as a complete shock to every American. You might even say this has been a "Decade of Disaster," and yet there were some bright spots amid the gloom and doom as you will see in the following timeline.

2000-2009 Timeline

2000

February 13, 2000 - Final "Peanuts" comic strip runs the day after Charles M. Schulz's death.

March 10, 2000 - NASDAQ peaks at 5134, before beginning a downwards descent as the dot-com bubble collapses.

April 3, 2000 - The ruling in the case of the United States versus Microsoft states that the company violated anti-trust laws by diminishing the capability of its rivals to compete.

November 2, 2000 - The International Space Station becomes the largest and the longest continuously crewed space station with the docking of the Expedition 1 crew.

November 7, 2000 - Hillary Rodham Clinton wins a seat for the United States Senate from New York. It is the first time a former First Lady wins public office.

December 12, 2000 - George W. Bush, son of the former President, and Vice President Al Gore were virtually tied for the presidency, with a disputed vote in Florida holding off the naming of the winner of the President Election until the Supreme Court of the United States voted in favor of Bush.

2001

January 6, 2001 - Certification of the Electoral College victory of 271-266 in the 2000 United States Presidential election confirms George W. Bush as President, with Dick Cheney as his Vice-President.

April 8, 2001 - Tiger Woods becomes the first golfer to hold all four major golf titles simultaneously.

September 11, 2001 - Islamic fundamentalist terrorists hijack four U.S. airliners and crash them into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York City.  The attack of two planes levels the World Trade Center and the crash of one plane inflicts serious damage to the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, causing nearly 3,000 deaths.  The fourth plane is heroically crashed by passengers into a Pennsylvania cornfield when they learn of the plot, preventing destruction of another structure in Washington, D.C., supposedly the White House or Capitol building. The plot is attributed to the Al-Qaeda organization led by Osama Bin Laden.

October 7, 2001 - In response to the tragedy of September 11, the United States military, with participation from its ally the United Kingdom, commence the first attack in the War on Terrorism on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.  By November 12, the Taliban government leaves the capital, Kabul.

October 23, 2001 - Apple launches the iPod.

2002

January 1, 2002 - The Euro replaces the currencies of 12 of the EU's 15 members.

March 22, 2002 - "The Sims," originally released by Maxis in 2000, becomes the best-selling PC game in history, surpassing "Myst."

July 5, 2002 - Iraq refuses new proposals from the United Nations concerning weapons inspections. The inspections were part of the cease-fire agreement and terms of surrender in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. On September 12, President George Bush addresses the United Nations and warns the members that Iraq presents a grave danger to the world.

November 8, 2002 - The United Nations passes Resolution 1441 in a unanimous Security Council vote. It forces Saddam Hussein and Iraq to disarm or face serious consequences.

2003

February 1, 2003 - A tragedy at NASA occurs when the Space Shuttle Columbia explodes upon reentry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

February/March 2003 - A major SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak occurs in China, and SARS was verified to have entered Canada and the United States, but no SARS epidemic took place.

March 19, 2003 - The War in Iraq begins with the bombing of Baghdad after additional measures and mandates from the United Nations and the United States coalition fail to gain concessions or the removal of Saddam Hussein from power. The U.S. coalition begins land operations one day later with participation from U.S., British, Australian, and Polish troops.

April 9, 2003 - The U.S. coalition seizes control of Baghdad in the Iraq conflict, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein.

December 13, 2003 - Saddam Hussein, former leader of Iraq, is found hiding in a small bunker and captured by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.

2004

January 4, 2004 - The "Spirit Rover" lands on Mars, transmitting detailed data and images of the Martian landscape back to earth.

July 4, 2004 - The groundbreaking ceremony for the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, the former site of the World Trade Center complex, occurs in New York City.

November 2, 2004 - President George W. Bush wins reelection over Democratic Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts.

November 16, 2004 - "Half-Life 2" is widely considered to have revolutionized physics in gaming with its Havok engine, allowing for widespread interactivity with objects in the game environment.

November 23, 2004 - "World of Warcraft" established itself as one of the most popular PC games ever, and set what are now the generally-accepted standards for the genre of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

December 26, 2004 - Following a 9.3 Richter scale earthquake in the Indian Ocean, a tsunami kills 290,000 Southeast Asian people from Sri Lanka to Indonesia, creating one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies in history.  A worldwide relief effort, led by the United States and many other nations, is mobilized to assist.

2005

July 24, 2005 - American cyclist Lance Armstrong wins his record 7th straight Tour de France.

July 26, 2005 - In the first Space Shuttle flight since the tragedy of 2003, Discovery goes into orbit on a mission that returns to Earth safely on August 9.

August 29, 2005 - Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast region, causing severe damage and inundating the city of New Orleans with water from Lake Pontchetrain when the levees break. Over 1,800 people perish from Alabama to Louisiana in one of the worst natural disasters to strike the United States.

October 26, 2005 - As elections in Iraq confirm a new constitution, a statement from the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calls for the destruction of Israel and condemns the peace process.

2006

February 22, 2006 - The one billionth song is downloaded from the internet music store, Apple iTunes. This shift in the music industry to new platforms comes at the expense of many brick and mortar chains, including Tower Records.

June 20, 2006 - The first Blu-ray disc titles are released.

August 24, 2006 - The International Astronomical Union (IAU) demotes Pluto to "dwarf planet" status after it was considered a planet for 76 years.

October 9, 2006 - North Korea performs its first successful nuclear test.

October 17, 2006 - The population of the United States reaches the milestone of three hundred million.

November 7, 2006 - In the mid-term elections, both houses of Congress change back to Democratic hands for the first time since 1994.

November 19, 2006 - Nintendo releases the Wii video game console.

2007

January 4, 2007 - The first female speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Representative Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, California, is sworn into office.

January 10, 2007 - President George W. Bush announces a troop surge of 21,500 to stem the violence in Iraq, a controversial policy which begins to show positive signs once fully implemented during the summer months, with a reduction in violent attacks against coalition forces and Iraqi civilians. 

June 29, 2007 - The Apple iPhone first goes on sale.

July 4, 2007 - The fifty star flag of the United States of America becomes the longest flying flag in history after flying for over 47 years.

December 13, 2007 - The Mitchell Report on the Steroids Scandal in baseball is published. It recounted a year long investigation into the use and abuse of performance enhancing drugs over a two decade period, in which nearly ninety players were named.

2008

January 28, 2008 - The LEGO� brick turns 50 years old.

May 12, 2008 - Over 69,000 people are killed in central southwest China by the Wenchuan earthquake.

July 1, 2008 - A report by the U.S. embassy in Iraq states that 15 of the 18 goals set for the Iraqi government have been met, largely due to the surge implemented over the last year. The increase of 21,000 United States troops, commonly known as the surge, reduced violence and restored order to the nation, allowing the government of Iraq to focus more on solving other problems needed to establish a stable nation.

August 17, 2008 - Michael Phelps, the United States swimmer from Baltimore, wins his 8th Gold Medal of the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, surpassing the record of seven won by Mark Spitz in 1972.

August 29, 2008 - John McCain chooses Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, as his running mate. This made the contest between Barack Obama and himself, the first time a presidential election included both an African-American candidate and a woman amongst the Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees.

September 14, 2008 - Lehman Brothers, a global financial services firm, files for bankruptcy and becomes a catalyst for the global financial crisis.

November 4, 2008 - Barack Obama, Democratic Senator from Illinois, won the election for the 44th U.S. President over John McCain, making him the first African-American president in the history of the nation.         

2009

January 15, 2009 - After striking a flock of geese immediately after takeoff, resulting in a sudden loss of thrust from both engines, US Airways Flight 1549, en route from La Guardia Airport, New York City, to Charlotte, NC, makes a forced landing in the Hudson River. All 150 passengers and 5 crew members survived. The entire crew of Flight 1549 was later awarded the Master's Medal of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. The award citation read, "This emergency ditching and evacuation, with the loss of no lives, is a heroic and unique aviation achievement."

February 7, 2009 - The deadliest bushfires in Australian history kill 173, injure 500, and leave 7,500 homeless.

April 6, 2009 - A 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Italy kills nearly 300 and injures more than 1,500.

April 8, 2009 - Somali pirates hijack an American ship and take the captain hostage off the Horn of Africa. The ship, Maersk Alabama, was carrying food and other aid products for the World Food Program. On April 12, U.S. Navy SEAL snipers, positioned on the destroyer Bainbridge, kill three pirates and free Captain Phillips, ending the five-day ordeal in the Indian Ocean.

April 15, 2009 - Grassroots Tea Party protests spring up all across the nation to protest President Obama's big government spending projects such as the bailout of the banking industry, car industry, potential cap and trade legislation, and other administration projects that project a ten trillion dollar deficit over the next decade.

May 31, 2009 - Abortion doctor George Tiller, notorious for performing late-term abortions, is shot and killed at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas, where he served as an usher. His clinic has been closed permanently.

June 1, 2009 - An assailant opened fire on a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas. Private William Long of Conway, Arkansas was killed. Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, an American previously known as Carlos Bledsoe who converted to Islam, has been indicted on one count of capital murder and 15 counts of terrorist acts.

June 11, 2009 - The H1N1 influenza virus, commonly referred to as "Swine Flu," is deemed a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. This is the first such designation since the Hong Kong flu of 1967-1968.

June 12, 2009 - Federal law requires that all full-power television stations stop broadcasting in analog format and broadcast only in digital format.

July 3, 2009 - Sarah Palin, the first-term Republican governor of Alaska and former vice-presidential candidate, announces her resignation. Palin cites a desire to spend more time with her family and a lack of interest in running for reelection in 2010. During her time off, she also went on a 24-state book tour and scheduled a number of paid speaking events.

August 25, 2009 - Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, a fixture in the U.S. Senate for 46 years, died of brain cancer at the age of 77. Kennedy was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts; he filled the vacated seat of his brother, then-president John F. Kennedy.

September 8, 2009 - President Obama's back-to-school address to millions of American students causes a great deal of controversy over the President's political agenda in making the speech.

November 5, 2009 - A shooting at the Fort Hood army post in Texas left 13 dead and 31 injured. Ten of those killed are military personnel, while two are civilians. The gunman was Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a practicing Muslim, who opened fire while shouting "Allah Akbar!" Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and will be tried in military court.

December 1, 2009 - In a press conference, President Obama announces that the U.S. military will be sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, in an attempt to prevent further Taliban insurgencies. The troop surge will begin in January 2010, and will bring the total number of American troops in Afghanistan to 100,000. Obama also outlines his plan for the removal of these troops, which will begin in July 2011.

College Bound Reading List

A WALK ACROSS AMERICA,by Peter Jenkins

"A Walk Across America" spent three months on the New York Times bestseller list when it was first published in January of 1979. Still popular over 30 years later, this book remains one of the best selling backlist titles in the United States. Now considered a classic, "A Walk Across America" is required reading in hundreds of college and high school classes across America.

Just out of college and with his own feelings echoing the disillusionment of a whole generation, Peter Jenkins set out with his dog Cooper to uncover the truth of what his country was really about. Peter was wondering if America is worth staying in or if it is too corrupt. He walked from Alfred, New York to Washington, D.C. and then to New Orleans, Louisiana. Along the way, Peter learned timeless secrets of life from a hermit mountain man, caused a local stir by living with a black family in North Carolina, worked in southern mills, almost died on a mountaintop, and had more than a lifetime of experiences. Moreover, 5000 miles and 35 pairs of shoes later, his faith and pride in his country were restored. Yours will be too as you read this story.

In the process of seeking to discover his country and find himself, Peter also found God and met his wife-to-be. In his sequel, "The Walk West," Peter and his new bride travel from New Orleans to the Oregon coast. Filled with inspiring people and places from west of the Mississippi, this book describes the next segment of Peter's five year journey exploring America. Religion was an important part of the second book, and portions of the book were also written by Barbara Jenkins. Unfortunately, this one is now out of print.

"A Walk Across America" was one of the first books to popularize adventure travel and travel as a way of life. It's fascinating to look back and consider what it was like without the benefit of a cell phone, laptop, or GPS to help plan the route. Today there seems to be another great debate raging about what is wrong and what is right with our country. Maybe this would be a good time to "Walk Across America" again. Visit www.peterjenkins.com to learn more.

Send your book reviews to: mail@homeschoolingteen.com 

Did You Know...?

January 19 is a day of celebration in some southern states. It is the birthday of Robert E. Lee, commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Lee is considered to be among the greatest generals, and remains one of the best-loved and respected men in American history. As a child he was taught at home by his mother, and his own children were homeschooled by his wife. Learn more about Robert E. Lee at: http://www.famoushomeschoolers.net/bio_lee.html

E-mail Etiquette Tip of the Month

Make a point of filling in the Subject: field with a brief and concise description of the topic of your e-mail.

Many onliners take a quick glance at Subject:

fields to determine if they want to open an e-mail. So, using proper case and grammar is very important.

Leaving the Subject: field blank or having wacky verbiage or symbols could cause your e-mail to be mistaken for spam and deleted before opened.

This E-mail Etiquette Tip is provided as a courtesy by: www.NetManners.com 

In 2010 we want to include more profiles of Homeschooling Teen subscribers - so that means we need to hear from YOU!

 If you are involved with an amazing project, have a special interest that you're passionate about, possess a unique skill, talent or ability, or have accomplished something positive and extraordinary for a person your age or in your situation - be sure to tell us about it and we will feature you in our magazine!

 Contact: mail@homeschoolingteen.com

Amy Burritt: America Through the Eyes of a Student

Born on January 19, 1983, Amy Suzanne Burritt was raised in northern Michigan in a close-knit homeschooling family. Many homeschool families incorporate the educational benefits of travel into their lifestyle. Nevertheless, 12-year-old Amy Burritt at first thought her parents had gone crazy when she was told that they planned to sell their share of the family business, rent a motor home, and roam the country for a year. But later she would recall, "It's hard to put into words the way homeschooling has shaped me. Homeschooling provided the opportunity to do these things. Being able to spend the time with my mom, dad, and Jon has been great."

In the summer of 1995, the Burritt family - consisting of Amy, her younger brother Jonathan, and parents Kurt and Emily - started out on the adventure of a lifetime. They would leave their Traverse City home, drive from coast to coast, and fly to Alaska and Hawaii on a 50 state/50 week tour of the United States ... from the forests of the Great Lakes, across deserts, over twisting mountain passes, through urban jungles of the east, past Southern battlefields, and among giant redwood groves of the Pacific coast. To focus their travels on learning about American history, geography, and government, they set a goal to meet the governors of all 50 states.

Amy's favorite subjects were reading and writing. While on the nationwide tour, she studied interviewing and public speaking to prepare for meeting with the governors. Besides being an interviewer and gatherer of information, Amy was the official trip documenter and faithfully recorded daily events in a journal each night. In addition, by writing down ahead of time all that she hoped to accomplish along the way, Amy learned that "if you can dream it, you can do it." Amy's learning journey also taught her about compassion for others and the value of persistence.

As a result of the trip, Amy realized that she had learned a lot of valuable information about America. Upon arriving back home, Amy wrote a book about her adventures with the help of her mom and a writer friend. In May 1998, when Amy was 15 years old, the Burritt family self-published "My American Adventure: 50 States in 50 Weeks." It was soon republished by HarperCollins/Zondervan. Adapted from the journal she kept on the road, her book is a travel guide, history text, and personal memoir that provides a firsthand account of the people and places she discovered on her American odyssey. Her story is interesting and heartwarming, imbued with a spirit of adventure that makes readers want to go out and do something themselves. It will also inspire teens to set high goals and keep reaching to achieve them.

Amy's sojourn reads like a series of extremely well-written "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" essays. She cruised through the streets of New York City in a jeep, and walked the path of George Washington at Valley Forge. In Vermont, she narrowly escaped falling down a waterfall. She made friends with homeless children at a Rhode Island campground. She watched bighorn sheep butt heads in South Dakota. She swam with dolphins in Hawaii, and saw the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska. Besides describing her many adventures, Amy also reflects candidly on personal struggles and relates amusing incidents, such as when her dad knocked off the 34-foot motor home's television antenna.

Amy's meetings with the governors provided some of her most vivid memories. The governors were as diverse in temperament as the states they came from. A few refused her request to meet them. Some curtly offered little more than a handshake. Others warmly granted interviews in which they reflected on their lives and work. Governor David Beasley of South Carolina invited her to his Christmas Open House at the governor's mansion. Amy personally met 44 out of 50 governors, and she was able to get all 50 governors to sign her and her brother's sweatshirt mementoes of the trip.

"I've learned that if you set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Amy said. "But I didn't know just what I was getting into at first." The trip's low point was a gloomy Easter in Alaska. Amy was tired of living on the road and interviewing governors; she just wanted to go home. But when her mom reminded her that "we aren't quitters," Amy resolved to keep going because she didn't want to have to tell her friends that she had given up. Rather than admit failure, Amy decided to take charge. "That's when it became MY project," she said. "I saw real purpose behind it." Her father adds, "That was the real turning point. She made a determination to finish what she'd begun and from then on you could see a change in her. We left with a girl and came home with a young lady."

For her next adventure back at home, Amy switched from writing to music. She worked on expanding her vocal ability, knowledge of the guitar, and songwriting talent. She led her youth group worship band for several years, and was involved in a second church band. Amy also played with other musicians, picking up tips and tricks. At age 17 she recorded a demo CD and began playing in small venues, sometimes picking up paid gigs. Since then, Amy has written hundreds of songs and performed in a wide variety of venues. Her style is an original combination of folk, blues, jazz and pop combined with soothing vocals and engaging lyrics.

Amy attended Michigan State University and graduated in 2005 with a B.A. in Communications. The day after graduation, Amy moved to Asheville, North Carolina, where she started her own graphic design and creative consulting business called Carbonated Creative. Since then, Amy also has been performing in coffehouses around Asheville, where she always enjoys meeting new people. She released her own album in September 2008, and is currently working on turning her garage into a recording studio. Many of her lyrics reflect upon themes of driving, camping, and homelessness, harkening back to her travel experiences: "And we're heading down the highway / I'm still trying to find my way / home."

Visit Amy's website: http://www.amyburritt.com

National Handwriting Day is January 23. For some people, practicing better handwriting might be a good New Year's resolution!

Handwriting and Penmanship

Handwriting is the physical activity of writing printed or cursive characters with the hand and a writing instrument. It incorporates posture, balance, visual acuity, fine motor skills, and knowledge of how individual letters are formed. Penmanship is the art of writing clearly and quickly. The main purpose of penmanship instruction is to promote legibility in handwriting so that we can effectively communicate with others (and easily read our own notes!).

Does your handwriting look like scribbles and chicken scratches, or does your script flow gracefully across the page? Good handwriting is eye-catching, easy to read, and quick to write, while the fact that it is easily legible shows respect for the reader. The best handwriting is clear and beautiful, perhaps even embellished with calligraphy (stylized, decorative writing). Poor handwriting is careless and sloppy. Your character is reflected in the way you write. What does your handwriting say about you?

Mahatma Gandhi once said that bad handwriting is a sign of an incomplete education. However, there are many successful adults who are handwriting challenged. It seems like the more gifted, logically-brained people have the worst penmanship. Studies have found significantly lower legibility than average associated with being an executive and being male. Doctors are notorious for having poor penmanship. Almost all computer hackers have terribly bad handwriting, often block-printing everything like junior draftsmen.

The French emperor Napoleon had horrible handwriting. Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition didn't write very well either. I. L. Gordon, the editor of Who Was Who, had such poor penmanship that he took to the typewriter. Music scholars believe that Beethoven's "F�r Elise" may have been titled "F�r Therese," but the printer couldn't read the composer's handwriting. Likewise, Eric Clapton's instrumental piece "Badge" was actually called "Bridge," but Clapton's hand-scribbled title was misread. Even geographic landmarks and place names have been incorrectly labeled due to misinterpreting the scrawls of explorers and cartographers.

The need for good penmanship has not gone out of style in the computer age. We still have to sign our name on checks and other documents, jot down notes, write memos, make shopping lists, address envelopes, fill out forms, take written exams, etc. Calligraphy or artistic handwriting is not required in day-to-day writing but simple, graceful handwriting gives a warm personal touch to personal correspondence such as thank you notes, greeting cards, and letters.

Clear, legible handwriting is a valuable skill in the workplace, enhancing communication and preventing misunderstanding. More and more of the new computers and pocket organizers rely on "pen-based input", i.e., handwriting entered with an electronic pen on a special tablet or screen. Handwriting skills also complement other language skills such as spelling, note-taking, composition, and editing.

We know from observing young children that being able to print and write bolsters self-confidence as it develops fine motor skills. The practice of handwriting also fosters an appreciation for words and language as it teaches attention to detail. As children develop and improve their handwriting skills, the process of penmanship will eventually become automatic, an almost subconscious output of their brain. A person's handwriting generally develops until about age 17, although even as adults our handwriting can change over the years.

Different styles of writing have been popular at different times. In the mid-1800s, the Spencerian form of penmanship was the standard. Palmer Hand became the style taught in most American schools through the late 20th century. Some schools view the teaching of D'Nealian handwriting as easing the transition from print to cursive writing. Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting is also popular.

Keep in mind, however, that no one has identical handwriting. No matter what penmanship program is used and how strictly students are forced to follow the rules, by the time they leave school most will have developed their own style which may consist of printing, cursive, italic, or a combination of forms joined together. Each individual's handwriting is as unique as their own set of fingerprints. The study of graphology - a division of psychology - has shown that handwriting can reflect our personality. Handwriting can also be influenced by our personal circumstances, mood, and health.

Article Source: http://www.knowledgehouse.info/handwriting.html

Webcomix

A column by Peter in AZ

True Remembrance

I'm filing this under Webcomix, even though it isn't technically a webcomic.

True Remembrance is a visual novel. Everyone familiar with the term? Yes? ...Oh, no? You in the back, you're shaking your head... Alright. You all know what a novel is, right? It's "an invented prose narrative that is usually long and complex and deals especially with human experience through a usually connected sequence of events." Now, what about the visual part?

A visual novel is what you could call an interactive novel. They are especially prevalent in Japan. It shows images of the various characters on the screen, and a text box that shows what they're saying. You press a little button to advance to the next paragraph, and the character's facial expressions will change. It can even be accompanied by a soundtrack!

Anyway, back to True Remembrance. The setting is rather interesting. Extreme depression is a pandemic spanning the entire globe. The condition is known as the Dolor. And people will go to one remote city, where they can have their bad memories removed by 'Mnemonicides'.

In this city, live Blackiris, an Alpha Class Mnemonicide, and La, his patient. And this is their story.

And quite a nice story indeed. There is little in the way of action scenes, and much more about character development/interactions. So if you like a good story, you can't go wrong with this. If you want things exploding every five minutes... you'll have to look elsewhere.

As for the character art and accompanying soundtrack, they are both excellent. (It's originally from Japan. Good artwork seems to flow from there.)

The entire story takes about three hours to read, and may be longer or shorter depending on how fast you are. But I recommend going a little slow in reading the first time.

When people are first introduced to the concept of visual novels, they are often directed to this piece. (Just as I just did. ;) )

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