Virtual teaching has an analog-heart
We live in an era of teaching that no longer has snow days. Instead, my school transitions to remote teaching. The days of waking expectantly to inches of snow and a surprise day off may be in my students’ pasts. But my days of waking expectantly to inches of snow and a day of using any pen I have on my desk have only just begun.
Thank glob for desk drawer organizers
My pen use increased this week. While teaching remotely demands a lot more emailing and typed lessons, most of my thinking still takes place on paper. My lesson plans, notes for two new lectures on panoptics during the Medieval Inquisition, a handful of meetings, and some grading all took place across our LMS platform and in my work bullet journal.
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. I leaned heavily on the TWSBI ALR’s predator grind for my daily task management. My Rhodia desk pad, which lives in my study, was my go-to space for scratch notes. The result was more scratch notes and fewer organized spreads in the work bujo. All spread out fairly evenly across my pens.
Nakaya Neostandard Heki-Tamenuri — 3/5. Fantastic pairing with Vert Empire. Great shading and smooth. Journaling, a lot of lesson planning, and even some scratch notes. The B line-width was limiting for notetaking.
Karas Kustoms Decograph — 1/2. Honey Bee looks best, to my eye, when I flood the feed. The haloing effect is beautiful with this combo. Too light for me. Maybe I put this ink in the Pelikan next week? Journaling, some scratch notes.
Delike New Moon 2 — 1/2. By far the least expensive pen in my weekly outfit. Performed just as well. Yama Budo was a great choice, especially on the Tomoe River paper in both of my bullet journals. Meeting notes, holiday cards, general scratch notes.
TWSBI Vac 700R Iris — 1/5. The forgiving F-CSI is balanced between playful line variation and versatility. This combo lived on my desk all week. Lecture notes, lesson plan outlines, holiday cards, editing manuscripts.
TWSBI 580 ALR Prussian Blue — 1/5. Predator grind makes for a wonderful daily driver. EF was wet, if too wet to afford shading. M was great for headings and faster notes. Used this all week long, for just about everything. Task management, meeting notes, journaling, holiday cards, outlining a manuscript.
Pelikan m805 Stresemann Anthracite — Dumped. Sapphire wasn’t a fun color for me. Wrote well enough, though. Didn’t reach for this combo much at all.
Franklin-Christoph 46 — Empty. Journaling, a few holiday cards, and one meeting. A great combination, especially with only a little shimmer.
Notebooks. Ten new pages bring me beyond the illustrious page 200, to 204. A lot of my work this week was revising and revisiting older reading notes. While new notetaking happened, a lot took place on existing notes. Two pages for the weekly spread, three for reading and lecture notes and four for lesson plans, and one master meeting notes page.
The personal journal saw a lot of attention this week. 17 pages in all. Long form journaling is great for thinking out loud. Much of the extra time I gained from not needing to commute went into journaling this week. Entries sport poems from Henry David Thoreau. And a couple from my man, Jim Harrison.
Written dry. I wrote the Franklin-Christoph dry on Thursday. The repaired section turned a frustrating pen into a fun, comfortable writer. Quite happy with this pen, especially with the F-SIG I have in it right now. The grind put down a narrow enough line for most notes and with a broad enough line for journaling and even some headings. I dig a multitasker.
I also emptied the Pelikan. Monteverde Sapphire performed wonderfully. The color isn’t my favorite. And, since writing should be a joyful part of my work, I’d much rather re-ink in a color I enjoy. Out with the old, in with the new for next week.
Newly inked. No need.
Collection
Incoming / new orders. No new stationery this week. The downpour of new pens and nibs these past few weeks were a product of birthday purchases. The pens were bought all at once and took widely different amounts of time to arrive.
Outgoing / trades or sales. I’ve finally selected my Blue and Gunmetal Looms as tributes to the greater pen community. They’re going up for sale next week.
So long, penliest of pens
I also gifted Monteverde Sapphire to my father-in-law. He’s far more adventurous in the indigo-realm than I am and so will enjoy the ink. Ink belongs with those who will enjoy it.
Currently listening
Arctic Monkeys. Their AM album, in particular.
