Archive for December, 2007

I’ve always enjoyed the font called Garamond. It has always been the most fluid of fonts when I am writing. It’s crisp and to the point. The letters have been obviously modeled in a flavor that is somehow modern as well as classic in design. Sadly it is a bittersweet feeling when I see these letters typed upon a page.

It wasn’t always so.Long ago when I first started writing, I wrote upon every surface imaginable. From bus schedules to half dirtied napkins. I especially enjoyed those family styled restaurants where they gave you crayons upon which to draw or write whatever you desired upon the paper table cloth while you waited for your meal.

A minor Picasso and a woeful Alan Ginsberg rolled into one complete long haired freak of a package was I, only in mind if not by deed.

I ran with the madness of exploring the world with new eyes, preferring old ways to new. Then I was introduced to word processing.Instead of relying upon my vibrant ideas executed in primitive ways. Now I had the tools, the fire if you will to create masterpieces.

I tried different styles for different feelings. I studied the mechanics of the machine as well as the software and determined it was a lovely toy as well as a handy little word grinder.It was far better than the manual typewriter (her names was Gertrude, and she once belonged to my Father) I hid in the hall closet, rarely letting it see the light of day. By now old Gertrude was technically undead as far as I was concerned. She had risen from her grave in that hallway closet a few times when my need was great, like a loyal zombie though she also fell apart at the most inconvenient times. Not bad for a typewriter that was 40 years old when it was bequeathed to me.During the evolution process of my writing, I became enamored with the idea of font usage for evoking feelings to the reader. A slight subconscious twist to how you perceive a story. After awhile I found the font that completely expressed the emotion of Honesty and Integrity as far as I was concerned… Garamond.

Garamond became my font to use in emails or submission letters. All sorts of homemade cards, from business to Christmas, Garamond was there lending its hand of integrity to whatever I touched.

One day I landed my dream job, I knew it was destiny. After all they even had an official font, it too was Garamond. I came into the job expecting work, what I received was an uphill battle. Garamond had blinded me, it had betrayed me. Soon the battle was completed and I became another statistic. Garamond remained though. She teased me and toyed with my affections.

No other font packs the punch she does.

Not Calibri, nor Ariel, not Kalinga or Tahoma. She who embitters each keystrokes as I type words upon pseudo pages, it is Garamond and Garamond alone that holds the spark of life I crave to pour into each and every page.Like I said before, perhaps it’s time to get a new Font.