It's all their fault. My mother, a dentist, saw little value in handwriting. Studying biology (a family tradition) doesn't require clear writing. In fact, her dream of seeing a doctor seems to entail just the opposite. My father, a computer engineer turned businessman, had always thought that keyboards would eventually replace the ever-mighty pen. He was right; mandatory typing classes and the proliferation of computers have made handwriting a vestigial skill. While I was a child, my parents supplied mountains...