Al Poo

In high school (McDowell High School, Erie, PA) I once brought home a graded paper that wasn’t mine. I handed Mom a stack of returned homework, and as she thumbed through it she asked, “Who’s this?”

We looked, looked again, turned the paper left and right and upside down, and for the life of us couldn’t read the name. It looked for all the world like “Al Poo.”

It turned out to be Al Post (Alton Post) who was practicing his medical doctor’s signature.

One of my best friends throughout K-12, Rich Nickel, made an effort to achieve the most beautiful and illegible signature possible when we were in 6th grade. Mr Locke, our 6th grade science teacher, put a stop to that.

My signature is the only thing I write in cursive anymore. Funny, we now sign keypads at the checkout with scribbles that say little more than “someone was here.”

At one point I’m sure I asked my grammar school English teacher, “Why do I have to learn how to do this? I’ll never need it,” because we asked that about everything.

In this case, I was right.

[2013-12-16]

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It’s 00:14 01-01-2014. Happy New Year!

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