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pamela gassman's picture

I love the idea that our

I love the idea that our names and how we write them help define our identity. By leaving our name somewhere we have left our mark even if no one knows who we are, or what we look like. When I was young I went to a summer camp that had cabins which were graffitied with the names of people, places and ideas. I would always search for people I knew, look under crevaces in attempt to discover a new name or I would find an empty space to leave mine. When I have gone back to find my name, the lettering, the size, and every dimension of how I wrote it, I realized, said something about who I was at that point in my life. My script has continued to evolve, sometimes I change it weekly. In some sense, for me, my handwriting has become a way to trace my identity. It depicts my evolution, my growth from a naive 12 year old who drew hearts around her name to the controlled letters used for taking notes in college,which are absent of any quirky designs. Through writing we are able to take ownership of certain points in our lives, and assert control when we feel we may have none. 

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