We’ve probably all sung that little song about learning our alphabet, and I’ve been singing it again quite often in recent days. I’m going back to calligraphy — or, more accurately — hand-lettering, a pen-and-ink skill I first began learning back in the 80’s.

I’ve always had beautiful handwriting. Maybe that sounds a bit immodest for me to say, but it’s true. I’ve actually been paid by various companies for such little tasks as addressing their annual Christmas cards, not with any fancy script, but simply with my nice, neat, precise, lovely handwriting.

If you’ve read much of this blog, you might already be aware of why I have nice handwriting. I was raised by my grandfather, you see, a man who was very well-read on topics of his day, and one of those topics was the work of Cesare Lombroso. I’m sure Lombroso is probably not a “household…