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Chetta Achara
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Chetta is the nom de plume of Deborah Guenther Beachboard a poet writing since 1992. Her poetry has been published in Modern Haiku, Sijo West, Amaze: The Cinquain Journal, Short Stuff, Twilight Ending and numerous other online and in print journals.

After taking a 10 year hiatus from writing (for reasons not interesting enough to share) Chetta returned to writing, most recently having poetry published in Periwinkle Pelican, Puddick, Stygian Press, Snoozine, and Sweet Smell.

Chetta makes her home in the Adna Valley in southwest Washington in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

LIFE IS SHORT

It's not
as if you have
a choice in the matter,
but if you leave a poem
it's enough.

Do you have a superpower? I do!

Blog Posted by Chetta Achara: 1/21/2025 7:24:00 PM

Image courtesy of Society of Scribes

I always wanted to to know if I have a superpower. Well, it seems I do! It's the ability to read cursive writing. Who knew? I suspect I share this ability with many of you.

I found out I did after reading an article in Popular Science. A link to the article is at the bottom of this blog.

When I was in fifth grade, way back in 1966, I worked hard to develop beautiful penmanship. I practiced, practiced, practiced both in school and after school at home. Of course learning to write cursive also meant you learned how to read it.

I also have just always liked how words look on paper.

The sad thing is that aging has diminished the beautifulness of my hand writing. *sigh*

From the article:

“Reading cursive is a superpower,” Suzanne Isaacs community manager, National Archives...

Learning cursive used to be standard in classrooms across the United States, with penmanship graded. Once typewriters became common and later computers, it started to disappear. Common Core teaching standards emphasized keyboard typing by 2010. However, 14 states still require cursive to be taught in schools, regardless of how little it is used in daily life...

There is also some evidence that learning cursive benefits the brain.

“More and more neuroscience research is supporting the idea that writing out letters in cursive, especially in comparison to typewriting, can activate specific neural pathways that facilitate and optimise overall learning and language development,” neuroscientist Claudia Aguirre told the BBC after the California law passed.

Read the entire article here:

Know how to read cursive? The National Archives wants you



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Date: 1/23/2025 5:33:00 PM
I can write a whole word in cursive without lifting my pen from the page as we were taught copperplate style in Tasmania. I still write handwritten letters in cursive just from habit. I type poems so I am wondering if we write a poem in cursive would it be more freeing to our Muse….interesting.
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Delaney Avatar
Suzanne Delaney
Date: 1/23/2025 6:35:00 PM
Thanks Chetta: It might be worthwhile to try the old way again and do some stream of consciousness writing each day. I am more into watercoloring and paper crafts these days but miss the act of writing regularly. Not enough time for all I’d like to do.
Achara Avatar
Chetta Achara
Date: 1/23/2025 6:26:00 PM
I think handwriting would stimulate creative writing and If you ask Google, it does: "Yes, research suggests that handwriting can stimulate creative expression, as the act of physically writing by hand engages more areas of the brain, allowing for deeper thought processing and facilitating the generation of new ideas, similar to a meditative state; this can be particularly beneficial for creative writing and brainstorming." Of course I am also guilty of typing, not handwriting my poems.
Date: 1/23/2025 1:13:00 PM
I used to write fine in cursive. I wonder why it changed with age for you same as for me. My writing now looks like chicken scrawls. If it gets any worse, I can pretend I am a doctor. Curiously, in my middle age I began writing in a way that integrated cursive with regular print style. Hard to believe that probably by 2040, fewer than half of all Americans will be able to read and/or write in cursive.
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Date: 1/22/2025 2:38:00 AM
I’ve got a superpower. Mine is the ability to detect a certifiable idiot from the company they keep in a millisecond. Present company excluded I hasten to add. Yeah, people have told me my cursive writing is beautiful.
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Woody Avatar
Tom Woody
Date: 1/25/2025 4:06:00 PM
Gotta lay off Mr. Beam. James Beam
Trestrail Avatar
Keith D Trestrail
Date: 1/23/2025 3:22:00 AM
I don’t so much leap over Lego as trip over it.
Trestrail Avatar
Keith D Trestrail
Date: 1/23/2025 3:20:00 AM
Same here. I try to avoid cursing too but it’s so *%#*-#* hard.
Woody Avatar
Tom Woody
Date: 1/22/2025 6:18:00 AM
I try to avoid cursing. Btw, my superpower is leaping tall (Lego) buildings in a single bound. Yep
Date: 1/21/2025 10:43:00 PM
Cursive; human creativity in most relevant of things. -Richard
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