Some politicians choose to focus on poverty or drop-out rates or foster care or government spending.
But in Idaho, Rep. Linden Bateman is on a different sort of crusade: protecting cursive. According to the Spokesman-Review, he introduced a resolution this morning to make instruction of cursive part of the Idaho Common Core. He's even been visiting with reporters in Boise to show off his penmanship.
As a retired history teacher, he worries that if kids lose their ability to write all swoopy-like, the distance between the past and present will grow even further.
But it may be too late. We're already there. Have you ever sat down with the Declaration of Independence lately? It's entirely illegible. The s's look like f's, making things even more infcrutable. The shapes of letters have changed, and the art of calligraphy has become the province of wedding invitations, not correspondence.
We wrote this article on this exact phenomenon two years ago. Bad cursive is worse than no cursive.
Kathleen Wright is the national product manager for handwriting for Zaner-Bloser, a company whose curriculum has been used to teach handwriting in schools since 1904. “I’m seeing a rise in concern at the university level,” Wright says. Cursive handwriting on essays turned in to college professors is becoming increasingly messy. With standardized test prep panicking teachers at elementary schools nationwide, the amount of time spent on cursive instruction has fallen drastically.
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And as cursive quality gets worse and cursive usage becomes more rare, choosing to write in cursive becomes ever more dangerous. Something needs to change.
Just ask the ultimate arbiter of truth, the organization that proved the existence of Santa Claus: The U.S. Postal Service. Remember the cursive Q? “The Postal Office asked us to change it,” says Wright of Zaner-Bloser. Postal workers kept thinking it was a “2.”
Expect this trend to continue: As iPads and smart boards become increasingly ubiquitous, cursive still will be taught. But as an elective taken by artists, designers, and history majors.
With an icy high of 26 degrees today, it’s hard to remember what the Inland Northwest’s pleasantly warm summers even feel like anymore, but that doesn’t mean summertime attractions like North Idaho’s Silverwood Theme Park aren’t working to prepare for the coming warmer temps.
The theme park, on U.S. Highway 95 in Athol, Idaho, announced today the addition of two new rides this year that will join the ranks of its 65 other rides and attractions.
One is a 104-foot tall thrill ride that’s yet to be named — a contest to name the ride runs through Feb. 22 on the park’s website, reportedly, though we couldn't find a link yet — and which Silverwood purchased from an Italian manufacturer. The ride seats 24 passengers and exhibits a force of 3 1/2 Gs, Silverwood says in a press release. It’s expected to arrive in mid-April and should be installed by the park’s 2013 season opening date of May 4.
The second new attraction coming to Silverwood is a 20-passenger family ride called the Barnstormer, purchased for $200,000. The Barnstormer has already arrived from Scotch Plains, N.J., where the Bowcraft Playland amusement park is located.
Bowcraft’s website lists a ride of the same name, though Silverwood’s press release didn’t mention whether the Barnstormer ride was purchased from Bowcraft. It says, however, that the Barnstormer is one of two rides like it in the U.S., with the other located at Six Flags Great Adventure, also in New Jersey.
The new Barnstormer ride as pictured on Bowcraft's website.
The Barnstormer will be installed as soon as weather permits and is set to be operating by the park’s opening date.
As of this blog post, a countdown on its website shows 101 days and 22 hours until opening day on May 4.
We’re used to seeing coal trains roll by our window here at the Inlander office, but last Friday morning there was a more unusual train out on the tracks: Amtrak’s special King Tut train.
First off, the disappointing news: King Tut probably wasn’t in that train.
Amtrak didn’t get back to us yet about what comes next for the train — which is technically a F59PHI No. 470 locomotive, not a whole train — but Trains.com reported last Thursday that it would be leading Amtrak’s Empire Builder line that runs from Chicago to Spokane and on to Seattle and Portland.
It was spotted in Chicago last Wednesday, and was heading westbound through Idaho when disaster struck: The locomotive crashed into an elk near Sandpoint, Trains.com reported, and barely limped into Spokane to be repaired.
Baby, it's cold outside. But what does is mean to be cold in Spokane? From a Spokane Police Department email:
We’ve seen an increase in vehicle theft this month, presumably because of the extreme cold temperatures. Patrol officers have taken quite a few stolen vehicle reports where the owner has left the engine running, unattended, and the car has been stolen. Anything you can do to remind citizens NOT to leave their engines running, unattended, would be GREAT! Officers took a stolen report this morning – a gal warming up her car in her driveway at 8800 N. Colton. Within an hour, SPD officers located the car pulling into a parking lot near Nevada and Wellesley. Officers arrested Robert Basford (12/21/70). (press release coming)……
Maybe there's a jobs fix here. We can pay people to sit in our cars as they warm up. Sort of like how there's a culture of doormen in New York City. We could have Anti-Thief Car Warmers. Think about it, Mayor Condon. Spokane needs jobs. And its cars.
For more City Hall Eyeball, hotwire this.
HERE
Cops are trying to make peace after a recent wave of shootings. (KXLY)
A missing University of Idaho student has been found dead. (Spokesman)
A CDA chef won a big contest to get his own restaurant. (KREM)
OUT THERE
Seattle is getting its NBA team back, it looks like. I just hope that the new owners have actually met these "Sacramento Kings" in person and this isn't a Te'o-esque hoax. (Seattle Times)
Was Beyonce lip synching the national anthem at the inauguration yesterday? And do we care? (USA Today)
A professor at Harvard is asking if any ladies out there want to give birth to a neanderthal baby, Like...an actual cloned neanderthal. (Discovery)
And if you didn't see it on the blog yesterday, here's the most awkward date ever.
Blue and white signs supporting the Spokane Public Library's tax levy for the February 12 special election are popping up all across town. It's part of a well-organized effort to raise money for the city libraries, which are facing cuts. Library supporters aren't just throwing up a couple dozen signs, either.
"Seven hundred and fifty yard signs, a mailer that goes out to 24,000 people, [and] we started phone banking" last week, says Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart. "We're on track to dial 20,000 numbers."
That's an intense campaign for a election that happens on Feb. 12, in just three weeks. Will the anti-library crowd push back in like fashion? Remains to be seen.
For more City Hall Eyeball, head here.
Holy crap. It actually happened. The two most awkward people in the universe actually went out on a date. Yeah, yeah, I know — they're actors and not real-life weirdos — but it's still delightfully hilarious.
We first posted Aaron Fink's offer to take someone on a date to the Northtown Mall. Then, local model/actress Rachel Cox out-weirded Fink with her response.
Now, the two finally came together in this pile of mall awkwardness. If you listen carefully near the end, it seems like they're actually getting kicked out of the mall — for real.
But really it depends on the type of employer: More than half of “non-business organizations” — like government offices, hospitals, schools and nonprofits — give employees the day off. On the other hand, only 7 percent of manufacturing companies do.
Here in Spokane, more than a thousand people gathered for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march. A number of other events already happened this weekend, but tomorrow the University of Idaho is hosting a screening of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech at 12:30 pm to mark 50 years since the speech was delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And on Wednesday at 11:30 am, Spokane Falls Community College is hosting an MLK Day celebration with DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
Time for another GOOD READS blog. Each week, Inlander staffers share five-ish of our favorite stories in hopes you'll love them too. Bookmark them for your morning coffee over the weekend. Then let us know what you think. Love 'em? Hate 'em? Read anything great lately?
1. "Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend …. Is A Hoax" (Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey//Deadspin)
One of the most told and re-told sports stories of the season appears to be based on a lie. We're going to go ahead and guess you've seen this, but if not, take a read. (While you're at it, check out this response from Malcolm Gladwell and Chuck Klosterman on Grantland.)
2. "Statistical Abstract for My Home of Spokane, Washington" (Jess Walter//Byliner)
Walter is a fiction guy, so it's likely this isn't strictly factual, but it's an honest, and at times heartbreaking, look at the place we call home.
3. "300 Cats, Yes. Craziness, No." (Anne Raver//New York Times)
There's a plenty of talk about "crazy cat ladies" these days, but this is a beautiful story about what companionship can mean.
4. "Moby-Duck" (Donovan Hohn//Harper's)
In search of the nearly 30,000 plastic animals that went adrift in the North Pacific in the '90s.
VIDEO "The Long Wait" (Jason Dasilva//New York Times)
Something a little different: A mini documentary about the challenges of navigating public transportation in New York City with a disability.
More good stuff over here.