When I was in third grade my handwriting was very bad. Our teacher used to have the class watch a show called “Cursive Handwriting”.

This show was not wacky, fun or featuring hip teenagers.

It was nothing more than a lady (Virginia Henderson) who sat at a desk or stood by a chalk board and wrote cursive letters; sometimes she would mix it up, and write the letters with an electronic stylus like the kind they use for football play diagrams.

My class would watch this show on video. The theme song was just an instrumental. The class would really get into the song. They would “orchestrate” the theme song with their pencils. I had already seen this show years before when I was in the third grade. It would be on during those educational programming blocks. I think I watched it before I learned how to write.

The problem I had with this show was that the lady’s handwriting was hard to replicate. As hard as I tried I could never get it just right.

After the class watched the show we would have to practice the letters as homework.

During winter break the teacher gave me a packet to practice my handwriting. I was so embarrassed. The new transfer student and I and were the only people in the class who received one. I was a very strange and lazy child, and I would only practice the letters in my name. I’d think “z” there are no “z’s” in my name why should I practice it? The funny thing is I forgot about my middle name, and didn’t bother practicing the letters in that name that weren’t already in my first and last name. I hardly ever use my middle name anyway; only when I sign legal documents and stuff. I would also practice my signature. It took me years to perfect it. At first I had a hard time writing it because my first and last names are so long. After looking at some celebrities signatures I learned how to write my long name small and quickly. I wasn’t proficient at this until I was in junior high.

This is my best cursive as an adult. I hardly use it anymore since my handwriting is pretty illegible