Pen, Spoon & Dagger

July 3, 2011 Archaic Method? Cursive writing no longer has to be taught TERRE HAUTE — Starting this fall, the Indiana Department of Education will no longer require Indiana’s public schools to teach cursive writing. State officials sent school leaders a memo April 25 telling them that instead of cursive writing, students will be expected to become proficient in keyboard use Just reading the above set my blood boiling.   Are they telling us that cursive writing is obsolete?   Will our next president print his name on documents, or worse, just pen a big X? How are we going to determine if a check signature is a forgery if there is no signature? Will our grand kids even be able to read cursive, I mean little things like the Declaration of Independence? At the risk of slotting myself in with the dinosaurs, I'll admit that I learned cursive script back in the 50's, actually using an inkwell and a nib pen (no, not quill). The nuns were very fussy about our writing, both it...

In honour of the debut of the Maine Crime Writers' blog, I thought I'd offer a little mystery puzzle.  See if you can find the last names of the writers and their protagonists in the puzzle below.  Remember, words can go up, down, across or diagonally. M C M O R R O W N B D S G R S B S Z K E N S O O O S R N P U X O K V A J S Y U O D L I U M N X W M Z S L D R D C N M I M U F Y D U E E A R O L F E F E B A G G I R B G X J Y V L G R H A R A A T T E N N U D F F Y V E E P E M C C A B E O R Q L F H M P S E U H J H X N E D W H L G L X S R R R F M O C K S X W U E F D A T P V X R N A N W A I T R A B L P H M I E Z Y E S P O Z G R A G I Y O P O F J K W N D T F R U N T D S K I T Y E L H S U W H C P V P Y C Appleton      Bowditch      Boyle   Doiron   Doudera Dunnett   Farr    Fergusson   Flora   Glass   Hayman Kozak   McCab...