The Connection between Writing and Technology :: Teaching Writing Education

The Connection between Writing and Technology There are times when an idea pops into your head and immediately you need to write it down or lose the thought forever. What is the first thing you grab? Probably a pen or pencil and then a piece of paper, or even the nearest keyboard. These technologies are so common, we don't even give them a second thought; they are just there. With almost every household owning a computer we even tend to take them for granted. Now imagine these writing technologies didn't exist and that Henry Thoreau's father didn't perfect the pencil, what would you grab then? This is what I set out to do; find a writing technology that isn't common today. At first, I thought about what our ancestors would have used and depending on how far back we go, this can range from a quill and ink to carving on stone. Looking around my house though, these things weren't easy to find. So, I searched thru the yard looking for anything that might resemble paper. I kept coming back to the leaves hanging on the catalpa tree. I first decided this had to be my paper. It was the closest thing to being flat and the leaves were large enough for my text. For my pen I tried many different tools. First, the obvious, I could use a stick. Then I decided to cut some of the needles off my pine tree and use them. With these I twisted them tight and then tied them with Cattail reeds from the pond. Just from the looks alone, I knew this had to be my pen. My ink was a challenge though. First, I tried to burn the tip of the "pen" in order to produce ash. I figured this would be easy and would work in the same manner as a pencil. After much burning, my porch smelled like a pine forest, but little ash was being produced. This led to another search of the yard and the discovery of my ink. I had found some wild grapes and knew this would be an easy substitute for ink. Once the grapes were crushed and the neighbor's questions answered, I preceded with my new technology experiment. By burning the tip of my "pen" I had formed a perfect point to write with. This was out of pure accident, but none the less a stroke of luck.