{"id":72150,"date":"2014-06-04T09:30:14","date_gmt":"2014-06-04T13:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=72150"},"modified":"2014-06-04T10:08:38","modified_gmt":"2014-06-04T14:08:38","slug":"cursive-matters-and-other-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Cursive Matters, and Other News"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_72151\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/cursive.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-72151\" class=\"wp-image-72151\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/cursive-1024x699.png\" alt=\"Cursive\" width=\"600\" height=\"410\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-72151\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>A new history argues that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/books\/jacketcopy\/la-et-jc-james-joyce-likely-had-syphilis-new-history-of-ulysses-finds-20140603-story.html\" target=\"_blank\">Joyce suffered from syphilis<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>And a new study suggests unique <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/06\/03\/science\/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?smid=tw-nytimes\" target=\"_blank\">cognitive benefits to learning to write in cursive<\/a>: \u201cIn alexia, or impaired reading ability, some individuals who are unable to process print can still read cursive, and vice versa\u2014suggesting that the two writing modes activate separate brain networks and engage more cognitive resources \u2026 cursive writing may train self-control ability in a way that other modes of writing do not, and some researchers argue that it may even be a path to treating dyslexia.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>In an ancient Chinese tomb, archaeologists have found <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/worlds-oldest-pants-were-developed-riding-horses-180951638\/?utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_medium=socialmedia&amp;utm_campaign=06032014&amp;utm_content=smartnewsoldestpants2\" target=\"_blank\">three-thousand-year-old pants<\/a>. \u201cThese pants, which were recovered from a tomb in China, are about\u00a0four hundred years older than the previous record holder for \u2018oldest pants.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<li>At the Tate, \u201cCrowds gather <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lrb.co.uk\/v36\/n11\/tj-clark\/the-urge-to-strangle\" target=\"_blank\">at the heart of <em>Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs<\/em><\/a>, drawn to an artless home movie showing the master at work. He looks, and was, extremely unwell \u2026 Art for him is the moment at which, to quote a remark he made about <em>Snail<\/em>, one becomes \u2018aware of an unfolding\u2019. \u2018At this time of year,\u2019 he wrote to a friend, \u2018I always see the dried leaves on your table, catching fire as they pass under your fingers from death to life.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cBooks do indeed furnish a room\u2014but <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newstatesman.com\/culture\/2014\/05\/will-self-i-dont-decry-smoking-ban-i-do-miss-smoke\" target=\"_blank\">tobacco smoke gives it volume, substance and an aroma<\/a>.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>In the forties, the U.S. Public Health Service <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/blogs\/the_vault\/2014\/06\/02\/ddt_malaria_eradication_comic_for_government_effort_in_1940s.html\" target=\"_blank\">gave this pamphlet<\/a> to anyone whose home had been sprayed with DDT; it includes a poem of sorts. \u201cStay indoors at night \/ That is when malaria skeeters bite \/ But DDT upon your wall \/ will kill them if they call.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new history argues that Joyce suffered from syphilis. And a new study suggests unique cognitive benefits to learning to write in cursive: \u201cIn alexia, or impaired reading ability, some individuals who are unable to process print can still read cursive, and vice versa\u2014suggesting that the two writing modes activate separate brain networks and engage [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2512],"tags":[8062,14159,8914,14156,947,14158,11422,14157,14155],"class_list":["post-72150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-the-shelf","tag-cursive","tag-ddt","tag-handwriting","tag-henri-matisse","tag-james-joyce","tag-mosquitoes","tag-pants","tag-smoke","tag-syphilis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Morning News Roundup for June 4, 2014<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The cognitive benefits to learning to write in cursive, the world\u2019s oldest pants, and other news.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cursive Matters, and Other News by Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June 4, 2014 \u2013 A new history argues that Joyce suffered from syphilis. And a new study suggests unique cognitive benefits to learning to write in cursive: \u201cIn alexia, or\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-04T13:30:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-04T14:08:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\"},\"headline\":\"Cursive Matters, and Other News\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-04T13:30:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-04T14:08:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/\"},\"wordCount\":286,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/cursive-1024x699.png\",\"keywords\":[\"cursive\",\"DDT\",\"handwriting\",\"Henri Matisse\",\"James Joyce\",\"mosquitoes\",\"pants\",\"smoke\",\"syphilis\"],\"articleSection\":[\"On the Shelf\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/\",\"name\":\"The Morning News Roundup for June 4, 2014\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/cursive-1024x699.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-04T13:30:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-04T14:08:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"The cognitive benefits to learning to write in cursive, the world\u2019s oldest pants, and other news.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/04\/cursive-matters-and-other-news\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cursive Matters, and Other News\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. 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