News for the hand writ ing pro fes sional and se ri ous stu dent July - September, 2013 Inside This Issue 2013 AHAF-AAHA Conference At the Beach Rhythm vs. Regularity Chapter Reports Committee Reports Are We Fossil Fuel? How Heavy is Stress? What do Men Really Want? Conference update Bulletin Board
7 Rules of Life To gether we ll stand - Di vided we ll fall Come on now peo ple - Let s get on the ball And work to gether - Come on, come on Let s work to gether - (Now now peo ple) Be cause to gether we will stand - Ev ery boy, ev ery girl and man Canned Heat Does any body else re mem ber 1969 and Canned Heat? I was eigh teen years old and a wannabe hip pie. Fast-for ward 46 years and their song, Let s Work To gether, is the per fect ral ly ing cry for us. In the thick of pro mot ing our an nual con fer ence (Oc to ber 24-26, plus preand post-con fer ence work shops), work ing to gether is high on the com mit tee s list of pri or i ties. I can not be gin to tell you how lucky we are to have such an awe some Con fer ence PR Com mit tee. That word (awe some) is so over used, but ap pro pri ate when we re talk ing about Theresa Ortega, Gayna Scott, Val Weil, Linda Cropp. We meet, along with guests, Mon day morn ings via Zoom.us to dis cuss how to make this the best con fer ence ever for you, our con stit u ents. You ll see in Theresa s Com mit tee re port in this is sue some of what we ve al ready accomplished. So, why do we need Canned Heat? Be cause this is the joint AHAF/AAHA Con fer ence and we are only half of it. If you re new to the or ga ni za tion, you may not know that for the past 20 years or so, the AHAF and AAHA have taken turns host ing. But in tak ing turns, both or ga ni za tions still have a re spon - si bil ity to pro mote the events. So we are reach ing out to AAHA, as well as sev eral other or ga ni za tions and study groups and individuals, for help. That means if you have any great ideas for pro mo tion or ven dors, or any thing else, you are in vited to join us on one (or more) of our Mon day calls and share what s on your mind. We meet at 9:30 a.m. PDT. Just email me and I ll send you the in for ma tion (sheila@sheilalowe.com) and invitation. In other news, I m hav ing a fan tas tic (and ex haust ing) 15 days of teach ing gra phol ogy to a group of 14-17 year-olds from It aly, Ja pan, Ku wait, and even a cou ple from the US, at the Uni ver sity of Cal i for nia, Santa Barbara. We ve just com pleted the first week and these kids are en thu si as tic, en gaged, bright, and fas ci nated by psy chol ogy. It makes me be lieve that even in a dig i tal world, there is a fu ture for our field (see Val Weil s ar ti cle). Speak ing of which, did you see the young woman in the Zimmerman trial re cently who, un der cross-ex am i na tion, ad mit ted, I don t know how to read cursive. Those words ech oed across the internet and caused quite a hue and cry. Let s hope they will help turn the tide. Our Cam paign for Cur sive com mit - tee is cer tainly do ing ev ery thing it can to that end. How about join ing us in that ef fort, too? See, there is no end to the op por tu ni ties for you to get in - volved. Let s work to gether! 1. Make peace with your past so it does n t spoil your pres - ent. 2. What oth ers think of you is none of your busi ness. 3. Time heals al most ev ery - thing. Give time some time. 4. No one is the rea son for your happiness except you. 5. Don t com pare your life with oth ers. You have no idea what their jour ney is all about. 6. Stop think ing so much. It s al right not to know all the answers. 7. Smile, you don t own all the prob lems in the world! The Van guard is the sole prop erty of Sheila Lowe. It is a quar terly pub li ca tion avail able on a sub scrip tion ba sis at a rate of $25/ year for the elec tronic ver sion; $30 for print ver - sion. Advertisements related to handwriting anal y sis will be con sid ered. The Van guard logo on the cover of this is sue was cre ated by Lena Rivkin. John Hookey is our able copy editor: jhookey@gmail.com Send ar ti cles, ques tions, com ments and other con tri bu tions to: sheila@sheilalowe.com Web site: www.sheilalowe.com 2 The Vanguard July-September 2013
Rhythm vs. Regularity The fol low ing article is a dis cus sion of the dif fer ence be - tween two im por tant graphic con cepts: rhythm vs reg u lar ity. The gen eral in ter pre ta tions of rhythm and reg u lar ity dif fer. There fore, it is im por tant to rec og nize such dif fer ences in hand writ ing, too. The use of rounded forms is more as so ci ated with rhythm, while an gu lar ity and taut strokes pre dom i nate in a writ ing that veers to wards reg u lar ity. Rhythm can not be en - forced, while reg u lar ity can be en forced. How ever, noth ing is that sim ple in hand writ ing anal y sis. There fore, it can oc cur that a pat tern of reg u lar ity is su per im - it should be noted that there are two with rhythm, three with reg u lar ity, and just one in which reg u lar ity is su per im posed on a rhythm base. Which is which? One more ques tion: what pre dom i nates now a days: rhythm or reg u lar ity, or nei ther? And is there any dif fer ence be tween Table I. Graphic Concepts Rhythm qualitative a function of the total appearance of the writing, which cannot be measured order arising naturally from below the threshold of consciousness because it is innate periodic repetition of patterns that are similar rhythmic quality of natural occurrences cannot go to extremes since anything extreme is out of balance and rhythm means balance in the pattern of contraction-release op po site qual ity: arrhythmic posed on a rhyth mi cal base. Rhythm as an in nate and ex pres - sive qual ity will show best in the mid dle zone of writ ing. This may be of help in case the two con cepts ap pear hand-in-hand. Ta ble II fol lows a very reg u lar pat tern. It should not be dif - fi cult to fig ure it out. With re spect to the hand writ ing sam ples, Regularity quantitative a function mainly of slant, size and alignment + pressure pattern; with a low degree of vacillations we have a high degree of regularity order established consciously from above by an effort of will and under the influence of the guiding image periodic repetition of patterns that are the same regularity of a mechanical device, as for instance a clock can go to (unhealthy) extremes which impede all expressions of spontaneity and put the writer into a straightjacket of overcontrol op po site qual ity: ir reg u lar arrhythmic and irregular? Regularity in writing always pre - sup poses a more-or-less vo li tional con trol. Rhythm em pha - sizes a nat u rally grown, in nate, un en forced or der. There also ex ists a com bi na tion of nat u ral or der and vo li tional con trol. Table II. EXAMPLES Rhythm or Regularity? 1. Col ors lined up side-by-side in a paint set 2. Col ors com bined to form a rain bow in the sky 3. Col ors used in an art ist s paint ing 4. Move ments of a toy bear that has been wound up 5. Move ments of peo ple danc ing a waltz 6. Move ments of bal le ri nas danc ing in a group 7. Du pli ca tions com ing out of a copy ma chine 8. Shapes of leaves fall ing from a chest nut tree 9. Let ter forms pro duced by an adroit pen man ship art ist 10. Ar range ment of nine pins in a bowl ing al ley 11. Lay out of an Eng lish park 12. Ground plans of a French park July-September 2013 The Vanguard 3
Table III. GENERAL MEANING Transferred to the appearance of different samples of handwriting. Decide which fits best under each group. Regularity - will con trols drives, or der li ness, neat - ness, re li able, duty-bound, sub or di na - tion; in extreme cases: - mo not o nous, func tion ing like a ma - chine, anx ious or cal cu lat ing, de sire not to arouse any at ten tion Rhythm - in ner even ness and har mony, ap pro pri - ate re sponses to ex ter nal stim uli no ex - ag ger a tions, suf fi cient en er gies for integrating experiences, regenerative capac i ties, nat u ral ness, spon ta ne ity, self-confidence, instinctive orientation Regularity + Rhythm - striv ing for per fec tion: some times com pen sa tion for weak in stinc tual drives, re duced ca pac ity to ad just be - cause of pre dom i nance of will, con - scious aware ness in plan ning and acting. Rhythm or Regularity Spec i mens from Hein rich Pfanne s collection 4 The Vanguard July-September 2013
AHAF CHAPTER REPORTS Chartering the new North Bay (California) Chapter April 27, 2013 L-R: Stan Crouch, Clare Harper, Joan Kramer, Linda Larson, Linda Green, Sheila Lowe, Ed Castellini Cal i for nia North Bay has re served the Rohnert Park Li - brary for the next chap ter meet ing on Sep tem ber 14th. 10:30 a.m. 3:00 p.m.. Please RSVP to Joan Kramer, VP of Pro - grams, who is lin ing up a very in ter est ing pro gram. Di rect pro gram ques tions or com ments to Joan Kramer: joanekramer@mac.com. California NorCal: no re port sent. Cal i for nia SoCal, which meets quar terly, wel comed sev - eral young guests at its April meet ing. The next meet ing is sched uled for July 28 th in Ventura. Our dis cus sion will cen ter around hand writ ings in the news and rhythm ver sus reg u lar ity. Col o rado: Rocky Moun tain: no re port sent. New Jer sey is on sum mer hi a tus. Tuc son held a board meet ing on Jan u ary 20, 2013 where Heidi Harralson was in stalled as chap ter pres i dent and a pro - gram for chap ter meet ings was de vel oped for 2013. Chap ter meet ings in clude: March 14, 2013 Hand writ ing Sam ples of the Fa mous and In fa mous; April 11, 2013 Hand writ ing and the Enneagram: The In ner Tri an gle Part 1; May 9, 2013: Hand writ ing and the Enneagram: The In ner Tri an gle, Part 2; June 13, 2013 Hand writ ing, Crime, and Bor der line Per son al - ity Disorder. Have you considered forming an AHAF chapter or study group? AHAF en cour ages chap ter mem ber ship, and of fers chap - ters a $200/year sti pend to help de fray costs for speak ers, post age, room rental, etc. We have a few guide lines for those who wish to ap ply for a char ter. Only five mem bers are needed to start a new chap ter (less than five peo ple meet ing reg u larly is a study group). The pres - i dent is ex pected to be cer ti fied by AHAF or AAHA, or in pro cess of tak ing the ex am i na tion. The ex ec u tive board is made up of AHAF mem bers: Pres i dent, Vice-Pres i dent, Sec re - tary, Trea surer. Ad di tional board mem bers may be ap pointed (such as pro gram chair, hos pi tal ity chair, etc.) if de sired. The chap ter may ac cept mem bers who are not mem bers of AHAF, but those non-mem bers are en cour aged to join. Non-mem bers do not re ceive mem ber ben e fits (e.g., news let - ter, li brary priv i leges, on line study ses sions, etc.) and are ex - pected to pay higher rates for meet ings and events. Those vested with lead er ship of the chap ter must be able to see the global per spec tive and must be aware of and uti lize all that AHAF has to of fer. In this way, they can share their ex pe - ri ences with oth ers who par tic i pate in the chap ter but are not AHAF members. Participation in the national organization must be seen as a priv i lege rather than a forced re quire ment. As new chap ter mem bers re al ize the ben e fits of AHAF mem - ber ship, they will de sire to be come a part of the na tional or ga - ni za tion. Chap ters must be wel com ing groups that fos ter the growth of in ter est in gra phol ogy and the de sire to learn more. Dues, if any, are set by the in di vid ual chap ter Board of Di - rec tors. The num ber and con tent of meet ings are set by in di - vid ual chap ters. At least one meet ing should be held quar terly (4 meet ings/year) to main tain the char ter. The chap ter pres i dent is a mem ber of the AHAF board of di rec tors and is ex pected to at tend quar terly board meet ings via Zoom, or at least sub mit a re port. The pres i dent na tional mem ber ship is waived while in of fice, and re ceives 50% off conference registration. Any one who need s help or ad vice in form ing a AHAF chap ter is in vited to con tact Chap ter Co or di na tor, Linda Cropp: allhandwriting@hotmail.com July-September 2013 The Vanguard 5
Campaign for Cursive - Gayna Scott The com mit tee has now com pleted one of its ini tia tives! We ve got our first Certified Cursive Coach certification pro gram and we are de lighted! Did you see the press re lease? See it here: http://bit.ly/19lsf6q. There is now a ve - hi cle for any one in ter ested in help ing our chil dren learn this im por tant life skill, whether they charge a fee or vol un - teer their time. This cer tif i ca tion course will be of - fered at the end of the AHAF/AAHA con fer ence. The re quests for such an of - fer ing sparked us into de vel op ing it as one of the many re sources avail able via our website: www.campaignforcursive.com, for peo - ple want ing to learn and do more about keep ing our kids cursive-literate. Our site is a neu - tral place for those want ing to get educated and we are reach ing a world wide au di ence. If you are sched uled to give a talk that in cludes the im por tance of cur sive, we strongly sug gest you take ad van tage of our C4C pen cils and stick ers. Kids of all ages love them. You can or der the pen - cils from Mostly Books, www.mostlybooksaz.com. For stick ers, con tact Theresa Ortega, tlortega@gmail.com Fi nally, please con tact me if you know of any cor po ra tion or per son to whom we should be reach ing out for help in le ver ag ing our cur rent scope of influence. We are interested in developing part ner ships and synergizing with like-minded peo ple who share our pas - sion. Re mem ber: Cur sive is Cool! Con tact Gayna Scott, gayna@comcast.net Certification/Education - Linda Green, CG The Tues day Zoom Ses sions are on break for the sum mer. Our ses sions will re sume the Tues day af ter La bor Day, Sep tem ber 3. Our next study book, which you may want to pur chase and read or re-read over the sum mer, is Per - son al ity in Hand writ ing by Al fred O. Men del. You will see all the re cur ring ba sic themes and prin ci ples in each of our rec om mended books. I ve heard that we need to hear some thing six times be - fore we re mem ber it. Each au thor adds a new twist, a dif fer ent per spec tive to the same prin ci ples and re in forces our skills and con fi dence as gra phol o gists. Ap - ply ing these ba sics to fresh hand writ - ing sam ples with other mem bers of our study group hones our abil ity. See you all in Sep tem ber! Non mem - bers are in vited to at tend a ses sion and check us out. There is no charge. greenmsngr@gmail.com Our certification records need to be up dated. If you are cer ti fied by AHAF and wish to be in cluded on the AHAF cer tif i ca tion list, which will be posted on the website, please con tact Linda Green at greenmsngr@gmail.com with the year you were cer ti fied and in - di cate whether or not you wish to be listed. If you are not cer ti fied and would like in for ma tion on how to at tain that goal, please see our website: www.ahafhandwriting.org/certification or contact Linda Green, Certification Chair. Library - Linda Green, CG New Li brary Items for Sale. Mar - cel Matley has gen er ously do nated his mono graphs and pa pers for sale by AHAF. Pro ceeds will be used to help de fray mem ber ship fees of those in need. See the AHAF website Li brary/ Books for Sale to see ma te ri als of fered (priced from $5 to $25). Re cent ad di tions to the li brary in - clude: Annette Poizner, MSSW, EdD, RSW. Clin i cal Gra phol ogy: An In ter pre tive Man ual for Men tal Health Prac ti tio - ners. Spring field, IL, Charles C. Thomas Pub lisher, Ltd., 2012. HB, 187pp. An ac a demic ap proach that re unites gra phol ogy with the psy cho log i cally driven prin ci ples that are the un der pin - ning of the the ory. This work pres ents the men tal health pro vider with a de - tailed guide on how to use gen eral pro vi - sional in for ma tion about an in di vid ual s per son al ity based on di ag nos tic pro jec - tive principles. *** Lorraine Herbert, Bernadette Keefe, Monique Riley, Monique Stirling. In ter - na tional Man ual of Gra phol ogy: Core in sights into hand writ ing anal y sis. Lon - don IGC Books, 2013, SB, 276 pp. This book is the suc cess ful re sult of the au thors aim ing to bring all the dif - fer ent meth ods of gra phol ogy un der one um brella, so that the in ter na tional world of gra phol ogy will be able to un der stand the mean ing of each de nom i na tion of graphism, its core mean ing, in ter pre ta - tion and trans la tion. The au thors hope that the con tents will prove to be use ful to all se ri ously prac tic ing gra phol o gists and that ev ery reader may ben e fit from this in ter na tion ally suc cess ful co op er a - tive ef fort which be gan at the In ter na - tional Graphological Col lo quium (IGC). 6 The Vanguard July-September 2013
The authors emphasize the similarities that exist between differ ent schools, even if at first they ap pear dif fer ent. The book in cludes the au thors own ex pe ri ences and the em pir i cal re - search of prac ti tio ners who use gra phol ogy in their ev ery day work. Research - Jane Yank I have been for tu nate to talk to sev eral mem bers about pos - si ble re search pro jects, how to frame a re search ques tion that is prac ti cal and plau si ble in light of cur rent knowl edge in re - lated fields. We have an in tel li gent and thought ful mem ber - ship that is scru pu lous about ap ply ing well-ac cepted stan dards for ad vanc ing our knowl edge. For help with your re search pro ject, con tact Dr. Jane Yank: janeyank@visi.com Social Media/Communications - Theresa Ortega Here s what we ve been up to in re cent months: April PR for the newly chartered North Bay Chapter in California. This press release got us a lot of no tice on line and in so cial me dia, and kept our name in the pub lic. May go ing over ideas and mak ing plans for our 4th of July na tional press re lease, to make men tion of the Dec la ra tion of In de pend ence sign ers and the im por tance of cursive writing. June pre lim i nary meet ing to talk about AHAF/AAHA Con fer ence com mit tee needs. I per son ally at tended the cur sive train ing with Iris Hat field in Lou is ville, KY, to become AHAF s very first Cer ti fied Cur sive Coach. I pre pared a per sonal press re lease to talk about the train ing pro gram and to pro mote the idea of cer ti fy ing cur sive coaches through out the coun try. Com mit tee mem ber Val Weil sent an in vi ta tion to many chap ter pres i dents/mem bers to join our con fer ence plan ning meet ing on June 17 via a Con stant Con tact news let ter. We have de cided to meet ev ery Mon day morn ing un til the con fer ence, to make plans for con fer ence PR. If you are in ter ested in at tend ing, we meet via Zoom.us. Con tact Sheila Lowe for an in vi ta tion, sheila@sheilalowe.com. Sheila has re quested speak ers to sub mit a 30 to 60-sec ond video com mer cial about their pre sen ta tion at the con fer ence, so we can be gin pro mot ing in di vid ual speak ers and the top ics they will ad dress. Gayna Scott pre pared a fan tas tic SmileBox in vi ta tion for the an nual con fer ence, which we are send ing out across the coun try and around the world. View it here: http://smilebox.co/173dgwx We continue to post information on the AHAF Facebook and Twitter pages about upcoming chapter meetings, and trainings going on across the country as well as updates for our conference, etc. If you have an event you would like help posting, contact Theresa Ortega, tlortega@gmail.com Iris Hatfield (L) presents Theresa Ortegas (R) her Certified Coach Certificate Can a handwriting exercise save your marriage? The fol low ing item was re printed by kind per mis sion of the New Ox ford Re view, April 2013 edi tion. Re search ers at North west ern Uni ver sity found that an easy, seven-min ute writ ing ex er cise can help main tain a suc cess ful mar riage. I don t want it to sound like magic, but you can get pretty im pres sive re sults with min i mal in - ter ven tion, says psy chol ogy pro fes sor Eli Finkel (Tele - graph, Feb. 6). In a two-year study in volv ing 120 cou ples, half wrote quar terly re ports on the state of their marriage, and half did not. The near-universal decline in marital satisfac - tion thought to be wrought by time was en tirely elim i - nated for cou ples who com pleted the writ ing ex er cise dur ing the sec ond year. Writ ing and non-writ ing cou ples re - port edly fought just as fre quently about equally se vere top - ics, but the writerly cou ples were less dis tressed by it. The ef fect emerged for other re la tion ship as pects like pas sion and sex ual de sire, Finkel said. And this is n t a dat ing sam ple. These ef fects emerged whether peo ple were mar - ried for one month, 50 years or any where in be tween. From his per spec tive, the thrice-yearly writ ing ex er cise has to be one of the best in vest ments mar ried people can make. www.newoxfordreview.org July-September 2013 The Vanguard 7
By Valerie Weil, Penn syl va nia Are We Fossil Fuel? Fos-sil fu-el: A nat u ral fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geo log i cal past from the re mains of liv ing or gan isms. Ap plied to gra phol ogy: all the prin ci ples and prac tices of the past that are prod ucts of the liv ing minds of our fore fa - thers. You will want to at tend the up com ing AHAF/AAHA Con - fer ence, Oc to ber 24 26. It s go ing to be ex cit ing! Aside from the many fine speak ers, some of the great est graphological minds will be net work ing, hav ing din ner and dis cuss ing and col lab o rat ing on ideas and con cepts that will move us into a brand new era. That s real fuel for to mor row. Oh, to be part of these con ver sa tions! But lit eral fos sil fuel co mes from di no saur bones that which is from the past. So, are we talk ing about graphological fos sil fuel, or light ing the fire of in spi ra tion to cre ate and change into some thing new? Di no saurs were around for mil lions of years. They were n t al ways cute and cud dly (well, some of us were), but they left be hind some great bones. Great bones is a good eu phe mism for a sound struc tural ba sis a foun da tion a solid be gin ning on which to grow. The di no saurs died out due to their in abil ity to adapt, to evolve. Is that what is hap pen ing to us as gra phol o gists? Is hand writ ing not just pen man ship dy ing out? Re cently, it was brought to my at ten tion that the en ve lope, which has such sig nif i cance to the gra phol o gist for its spa tial ar range ment, is, ac cord ing to the U.S. Postal Ser vice, in deed dy ing out. En ve - lopes are hand writ ten only 0.03% of the time. Most pub lic school chil dren are ei ther not be ing taught cur - sive, or only un til the 2 nd or 3 rd grade. Cur sive hand writ ing is no longer en cour aged. In fact, print ing is pre ferred by teach - ers, many of whom do not use cur sive them selves. We are see ing a slow dis ap pear ance of other graphological pre cepts, too. First, the de cline of cur sive. Then, for mal writ - ing on en ve lopes and proper for mat ting of let ters sal u ta - tions/closings, mar gins, etc. What next? Will pen and pa per dis ap pear? Prob a bly yes. Tech nol ogy is ad vanc ing so fast that we may in deed be paperless at some point in the near fu ture. In the 1950s our be loved Klara Ro man was in great com - pany with other piv otal hand writ ing an a lysts who her alded in a new age of gra phol ogy. Ro man s book, Hand writ ing, A Key to Per son al ity filters the experiences and empirical studies con ducted at that time. This is clas sic read ing, a must for any bud ding gra phol o gist. Her book guides us through all as pects of gra phol ogy, the why s and how s and what-to-look-for s. To these pre cepts, Ro man ap plied in for ma tion that was evolv ing in the new field of psy chol ogy. Her book is dated only by her dis dain for the new ball point pens that must frustrate the sensitive writer. And that brings me to our pres ent day di lemma. Are we em bark ing on our own Cre ta ceous pe riod, or will we sur vive? Where is the fu ture of Gra phol ogy? How are we go ing to adapt? Phys i cist Max Planck once said, Sci ence ad vances one fu - neral at a time. I don t want to die to give way to a new era. I would like to chal lenge my self, to learn more and ap ply that knowl edge of graphological pre cepts into con cepts for our evolv ing world. If proper let ter writ ing for mat, with mar gins and bor ders is no lon ger go ing to be taught, we need to adapt our con cepts to the new par a digm. When the pen and pa per are no lon ger in use, we need to learn and un der stand more about dig i tal tech nol o gies for writ ing. Gra phol o gists as a group need to un der stand the ad vance - ments in teach ing stan dards for our youth and the ad vance - ments in tech nol ogy so that we can keep up. There are so many stud ies wait ing to be done, re search to doc u ment and pub lish, tech nol ogy to em brace. Cu ri ous minds want to know: What is the ef fect of Alz hei - mer s on writ ing? Dys lexia? How about stud ies of print ing on col lege stu dents to day who were never taught cur sive ver sus their cur sive writ ing coun ter parts. I want to know about the loss of the cre ative arts (mu sic, paint ing, draw ing, etc) of stu dents from the schools that have dis con tin ued cur sive from their cur ric u lum. And then, there s a whole new phar ma ceu ti cal gamut of med i ca tions that have never been ex plored for their im pact on hand writ ing and the personality. Digital Signatures, Tablet writing, Online 8 The Vanguard July-September 2013
Banking Are we pre pared for digital analysis? As we en ter this new age, there are terms we must con sider for our new stan dards. Def i ni - tions of words used in gra phol ogy cir cles may vary from group to group, but a ba sic stan dard should be set and met. Stor age and shar ing and mea sure ments Oh My! It s a com puter era, and soft ware pro grams are evolv ing faster than bac te ria. Which pro grams ben e fit gra phol o gists? What is not avail able that needs to be? Is there any new soft ware we need to be aware of? Is it im proper for me to use my cell phone to pho to graph a sam ple, en large it, and en large it again to re view the ductus? It s so much hand ier than drag ging around a mag ni fier. So much eas ier to scan and en larg e when I am not near my com puter. And speak ing of scan ning, what PPI do you pre fer? (And I m not talk ing about your per sonal pro noun). PPI is pix els per inch, the res o lu tion op tion you need to choose for scan ning hand writ ten doc u ments. Will you use color, grayscale, or black and white? A TIFF file made up of 800 PPI in color takes up far too much space on your com puter. A 300 PPI JPG is usu ally ad e quate, but what color for mat is best for file re call, and is there any loss in that particular dig i tal file com pres sion? So what is our new stan dard? An other ques tion: How do you stor e your in for ma tion? The days of pa per stor age will soon be gone. Orig i nals are hard to file and store A young lady con fi - dently walked around the room while lead ing and ex plain ing stress man age ment to an au - di ence with a raised glass of wa ter. Ev ery one knew she was go ing to ask the ultimate question, half empty or half full? She fooled them all. How heavy is this glass of wa ter, she in quired with a smile. An swers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz. She re plied, The ab so lute weight does n t mat ter. It de pends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a min ute, that s not a prob lem. If I hold it for an hour, I ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you ll have to call an am bu lance. In each case it s the same weight, but the lon ger I hold it, the heavier it be comes. She con tin ued, that s the way it is with stress. If we carry our bur dens all the time, sooner or later, as the bur den be comes in - creas ingly heavy, we won t be able to carry on. As with the glass of wa ter, you have to put it down for a while and rest be fore hold ing it again. When we re re freshed, we can carry on with the bur den, hold ing stress lon ger and better each time prac ticed. So, as early in the eve ning as you can, put all your bur dens down. Don t carry them through the eve ning and into the night; pick them up to mor row. What ever bur dens you re car ry ing now, let them down for a mo ment. Re lax, you can pick them up later af ter you ve rested. Con trib uted by Ju dith Stevens in def i nitely, but com put er ized stor age al lows you to find what you are look ing for faster, eas ier and with out all the dust and yel low ing of old pa per doc u ments. Geez! Just try get ting a cli ent to send you an orig i - nal these days. Ev ery one wants to Text, Email, or Cloud you the doc u ment. Even Fax ma chines are be - com ing ob so lete. If we are to ex pect cli ents to send us ma te ri als, how do we want them to do it? Shar ing me - dia files is be com ing a way of life. We need to cre ate a stan dard by which we can ex change in for ma tion for the best re sults. These are all im por tant ques tions to con sider for the mod ern gra phol o gist who can t af ford to stay in the Ju - rassic Age. Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. Put a lit tle meat on em. There s so much fos sil fuel to be dis - cussed at the con fer ence, more than can fit on the agenda. Oh, this is ex cit ing stuff! Be part of the fu ture of gra phol ogy. Join us, in per son or via live broad cast - ing. AHAF/AAHA Con fer ence: Oc to ber 24 26th, 2013. Con tact Val at valweil@comcast.net Reg is ter for Roger Ru bin s Oc to ber 23rd pre-con fer ence work shop for the an - swer to this puz zling question. In a half-day train - ing, Roger will ex plore mens iden tity and sex u al ity through their hand writ ing. Only $45. Roger is a past pres i dent of the Na tional So ci ety for Gra phol ogy and has been in the full time prac - tice of gra phol ogy and doc u ment ex am i na tion for more than thirty-five years. He is a fre quent guest speaker at con fer ences and work shops around the US, and has also been an in vited speaker at groups in South Af rica, Can ada, and Eng land. Roger, who was in tro duced to gra phol ogy in 1971 by Fe lix Klein, teaches a mas ter class in hand - writing analysis using the gestalt, psychologically ori ented ap proach that Fe lix brought with him from Eu rope. Roger has pub lished nu mer ous mono graphs on di verse top ics re lated to hand writ ing and per son - ality. This pre-con fer ence work shop is a don t-miss. It s not all that of ten you get an op por tu nity to study with one of the cur rent mas ters in the field. Reg is ter on line or, if you pre fer, print and mail the form. www.ahafhandwriting.org/registration July-September 2013 The Vanguard 9
Picture yourself here Conference on the Beach Updates! We ve added a won der ful new speaker to the ros ter. Dr. Cynthia Crosson s talk is ti tled Heal ing with a Cold Nose: What does hand writ ing tell us about the suc cess of plac ing ser vice dogs with vet er ans with PTS?. She will share with us the stun ning re sults of her research. Stand by for in for ma tion on an other pos si ble speaker to be added. For the Roundtable ses sion, Linda Green is set ting us a fas - ci nat ing task. She will lead Mur der on the Grapho Ex press, where par tic i pants will solve a mur der through the anal y sis of 5 sus pects hand writ ing samples. View her short video ad, tell ing you about it on the AHAF website (com ing soon). Be sides Linda s video, we ll be post ing clips from Gayna Scott, Irene Levitt, Iris Hat field, Yoshiko Inagaki, Sheila Lowe, and oth ers. For a video of the ho tel click here. Click here to see our fun Smilebox, which lists all the speak ers and shows you more of the con fer ence site. You ll find a reg is tra tion form along with this is sue of The Van guard. There s also a form on line here. Please feel free to for ward the form to any one you think might be in ter ested. We re also in clude a ven dor form, as we ex pect to have sev - eral ven dors dis play ing their wares in the back of the room on the Fri day of the con fer ence. Ad di tion ally, there s a flyer for Iris Hat field s post-con fer - ence work shop, which will take place af ter the clos ing Rec - og ni tion Lun cheon on Sat ur day af ter noon, Oc to ber 26. If you are in ter ested in the move ment to re turn cur sive hand writ ing to the core cur ric u lum of pub lic schools, you will want to at - tend this event. Roger Ru bin s pre-con fer ence work shop on Oc to ber 23 rd is de scribed in this is sue on page 9. Oc to ber will be here be fore you know it. Re serve your room at the ho tel now, space is lim ited! Also, the earlybird rates end Sep tem ber 25. You can make a $50 de posit to hold your spot at the con fer ence. Or der CampaignforCursive pen cils now and hand them out to all the kids you know. Stick ers, too! Or der pen cils from Tricia Clapp at www.mostlybooksaz.com 10 The Vanguard July-September 2013
As part of Administrative Pro fes sion als Ap pre ci a tion Week, Lena Rivkin pre sented a talk and PowerPoint presentation entitled What Your Hand writ ing Says About You to the In ter na tional Association of Administrative Pro fes sion als in Wood land Hills, CA. The au di ence was lively, in quis i tive and ap pre cia tive to learn about the im por tance of gra phol ogy. Sheila Lowe and Lena Rivkin made a gra phol ogy pre sen ta tion to stu dents at Hillsides, a residential treatment fa cil ity and ed u ca tion cen ter for vul ner a ble and at-risk chil dren and teen ag ers. They showed ce leb rity hand writ ing sam ples spe cif i cally cho sen for young peo ple, in clud ing Lindsay Lohan, Beyoncé and Justin Bieber. They also fea tured Jessica Cox, a young woman born with out arms who taught her self to write and fly, which served to teach the stu dents about per se ver ance over chal lenges. This sum mer, Sheila Lowe is teach ing In tro duc tion to Hand writ ing Anal y sis at the University of California Santa Barbara cam pus, a 22 hour course for high school stu dents from around the world as part of their Sum mer Dis cov ery pro gram. Reed Hayes is al ready hard at work plan ning the next NADE con fer ence that he s host ing in Ho no lulu, April 23 26, 2014. For in for ma tion, con tact Reed at reed@reedwrite.com Karla Garrett spoke on Per son al ity Type and Gra phol ogy at the Dal las-fort Worth Chap ter of APTi, the As so ci a tion for Psy cho log i cal Type In ter na tional. Both Annette Poizner and Joyce Brizendine were in ter viewed for an article in the Daily Emerald, ti tled The Un writ ten Laws of Hand writ ing: http://bit.ly/11ndi9bm_1_bm_1_3 Iris Hatfield announces the New American Cursive National Penmanship Contest, an annual event to promote legible cursive handwriting. The contest is free to enter and open to all students in Grades K-6. Certificates and prizes are awarded to the girl and boy winner in each grade. Learning cursive has more than simple aesthetic value, it has tremendous practical value. The New American Cursive Penmanship Program is designed to foster scholastic achievement and character development. The goal is to teach students to write legibly, fluidly and automatically so the memory is free to relax and compose. Log on to www.newamericancursive.com for more information. NEW BENEFIT for Professional Members! Press Release (PR) Assistance Whereas AHAF s mis sion is to pro vide in for ma tion and ser vices to its mem bers with the goal of en rich ing their ef - fec tive ness as hand writ ing an a lysts and to ed u cate the pub - lic about the hand writ ing sci ences, we would like to of fer an out stand ing new ben e fit to our professional members. Pro fes sional mem bers who need sup port/as sis tance in pro mot ing a ma jor event, such as a book re lease, na tional rec og ni tion, land mark re search, etc., can ac cess our On line PRmedia ser vice or use their own PR ser vice to pro mote a ma jor event. AHAF will help de fray the cost of a sin gle press re lease for each event, up to and in clud ing the top tier re lease (cur rently $349 in May 2013), for a max i mum of 3 times per year. The pro fes sional mem ber must sub mit their pro posed PR to the PR/So cial Me dia Chair for re view, and if ap proved, AHAF will re im burse up to $225/press re lease. (But not more than the ac tual value of the press re lease). If the pro - fes sional mem ber has more than 3 ma jor events in 1 year, a pro posal can be sub mit ted for re view for pos si ble ap proval by the board. Re im burse ment pro cess: the pro fes sional mem ber will sub mit the paid re ceipt via email (scan) or postal mail to PR/So cial Me dia Chair for ap proval. (Please pro vide PayPal email if you would like funds de pos ited in this way). The PR/So cial Me dia Chair will then for ward the re ceipt with ap proval to the Trea surer, who can ap prove a de posit into the pro fes sional mem ber s PayPal ac count, or send a pa per check via postal mail. If the mem ber re quires as sis tance in up loading the press re lease us ing our ser vice, AHAF s PR/So cial Me dia Chair is avail able to help. The mem ber will need to pro vide the PR copy. Con tact Theresa Ortega: tlortega@gmail.com July-September 2013 The Vanguard 11
The Vanguard News for the Successful Handwriting Professional & Serious Student A division of Sheila Lowe & Associates & the official publication of AHAF 170 Dahlia Way, Ventura CA 93004; www.sheilalowe.com News for the Suc cess ful Hand - writ ing Pro fes sional and Se ri ous Stu dent