Editing The Pen Addict 364/transcript (section)

== Ink Properties and Colors ==


'''Myke Madison:''' For me, it's going to be saturation and shading. I like saturated inks, but I also like them to shade if possible. But, like, the other one that's not listed there and most people don't think about too much is feel. I like an ink that feels, like, thick and smooth. I hate it when inks feel dry and grainy.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like, I just, ugh. You can tell, right? Like, when you're, after you've used a few inks, you can go, oh, this one feels different, right? There's noticeable things. Yeah. I'll never forget when I first started using fountain pens regularly. I didn't know what shading was. Like, I was, I was like, why are my lines darker in some areas and lighter in other areas? Like, I used to have to ask about that. And nowadays, that's, like, my favorite thing, to have that type of character in a line. Yeah, I just love, I love seeing that. This is a tough question. This is one of those unfair questions that I put in, because I don't know how I would answer this totally. But Blakemore wants to know, what's one trend in fountain pens that you like and one trend that you dislike?

'''Myke Madison:''' Man, that's a tough one.

'''Myke Madison:''' Yeah, I don't know. Like, some of the things I really like in fountain pens that are starting to happen more are I like to see interesting filling systems. And I like to be able to see them. So, I really, I like demonstrators. I know that's kind of polarizing. Like, some people feel like they look a little bit cheap, and other people, like me, like to see the inner workings of a thing. So, those are things I'm into. But trends that I don't like.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, that's a tough one. Like, I'm not even sure I have one for that either.

'''Myke Madison:''' Like, I mean, I can throw one out there, but it's going to start some fights. I mean. That is, there's too much purple right now. Too much purple. I can't purple.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, see, I'll, okay. See, I'll fight with you right there. Like, outside of orange, like, purple is probably, like, my number two shade. So, like, I'm okay with the purple. But it does tend to go in cycles, right? Just like, the fountain pens seem to be whatever hot color is the year after the Pantone color of the year. Like, we've gone through, like, mints and corals and salmons. And, like, last year was a dark purple. So, now all the pens are purple this year. So, you know, maybe that's it. The one trend I like, and I think you're on board with, is, like, the highly customizable, like, materials and just wild things that we see that are not necessarily, like, straight up traditional type of pens. That there's an opportunity to get something, like you were talking about, your Panther material, like, from Franklin Kristoff or something. That really kind of fits you and your personality. And you can really match pens up to those type of things. And then find an ink to go with it, too. So, as far as... Yeah, and, like, Brooks, who we just mentioned, is great at making those materials. Exactly. So, that's a trend that I think is here to stay, like, the highly customizable stuff. So... I like that so much, I didn't even think of it as a trend. Right? Like, I agree with that, right? Like, to me, that's what I look for. Like, that's my normal. But in the big picture of things, it's definitely a trend, I think. And it's one that's growing. All right. This one brings in your teaching experience a little bit. Do you incorporate... This is from Astro Noir. Do you incorporate your love of pens, ink, and paper into your philosophy teaching?

'''Myke Madison:''' I don't know if I do it into my teaching. Definitely into my prep and those kinds of things. And I definitely use that kind of stuff in class. So, sometimes we have projectors and that sort of thing that can project your writing on the screen or whatever. And I'll use fountain pens. And sometimes I'll get comments about it. Oh, nice. I've had students go, wow, that's a really cool pen. I'm like, yeah, see me after class. Or after a course, sometimes students are like, you know, I saw you using fountain pens this semester. And I went and looked into fountain pens. And now I've got, you know, two Lamy All-Stars or something like that. So, yeah, I've spread a little bit of that. But I don't use it in examples and stuff very often. Sometimes in talking about value and price and these sorts of things, when I'm doing business ethics or marketing sorts of situations, I'll bring some of that in. But I try not to put it in people's faces too much.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Oh, that sounds, I mean, that sounds like exactly right. Like you use it and it's kind of passive a little bit. And then people inquire and find it interesting. Then, you know, may end up down that path themselves. So, related to that, Andrew wants to know, can you tell if taking notes by hand as opposed to laptops makes a difference in the classes you're teaching? Nope. Yeah. There's no way to quantify that, right? Like you can't really.

'''Myke Madison:''' Well, yeah, not for me. I mean, I've read research studies and that sort of thing that have tried to show correlations between improved test scores and learning and retention with writing things by hand. And so, I'll put some stock in that. And I think it's probably, it seems true. It has the ring of truth. But there's no way I can do. I can figure that out.