We are happy to be able to post some work from artist Graham McArthur from Australia, along with an essay on pencils:

For as long as I can remember I have loved to write and draw and for as long as I can remeber the pencil has always remained my first choice for both writing and drawing.

There is nothing like a good pencil, and I can’t think of a more versatile, immediate or interesting medium. Being so universally familar and easy to use makes the pencil the most immediately accesible tool for most people. Used mainly as a linear writing or drawing instrument, the graphite pencil is very much at ease creating tone and textural effects as well as implied colour. It is these properties in particular that interest me the most. The availability and range of pencils seen today makes the medium more attractive than ever before providing unlimited potential for an open mind and inventive imagination.There is great joy to be had in spending endles hours gently persuading the pencil to leave its silky grey tones on delicious paper. The implied colour of graphite can be enhanced with a restrained use of a single coloured pencil creating a sense of mystery and inviting the imagination of the viewer to create more implied colours in the mind’s eye.

As a semi-retired illustrator my work these days is just for fun and self indulgence. I no longer try to please the client or the unknown viewer. I still like to paint and to experiment with a variety of media. However, without the restraints placed on me by the brief, I find that I am being drawn more and more to the simple but incredibly and wonderfully expressive nature of the most versitile medium of them all. Long live the pencil.

Many thanks to Graham, whose blog — featuring lots of great artwork — you can check out at Eidolon.

[Image and text, G.M. Used with kind permission.]

Professor Henry Petroski is the author of the monumental The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance and Vesic Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University. He was kind enough to submit to a short email interview about pencils, which we post here for the benefit of all Comrades the world over:

PR: Do you use pencils frequently? If so, what do you usually use them for?

HP: I use pencils all the time. I do not feel full dressed if I do not have a pencil in my pocket. I use pencils for writing notes and reminders to myself, for underlining and making annotations in books, for editing manuscripts, and for virtually all writing that does not explicitly require a pen.

PR: What is your favorite pencil, or some of your favorite models, types or manufacturers?

HP: The pencil I carry with me is a Pentel, Model P205, using 0.5 mm lead. This mechanical pencil has a well-balanced feel, not unlike that of a good-size wood-cased pencil. Because it does not have to be sharpened and carries a good supply of lead in its barrel, I am always ready to write, no matter where I find myself. I like the thinness of the lead and the fact that I do not need a sharpener. When working at my desk, I usually have a variety of soft-lead wood-cased pencils handy. I have no particular favorite—any quality pencil will do. But I do not like to write with inferior pencils—those with scratchy lead or poor quality finishes.

PR: Given its rich history – of which you are certainly the expert – what do you think the future of the pencil will be?

HP: The future of the pencil will be much like its past. It will remain a basic writing implement. I am always encouraged when I check into a nice hotel and find a high-quality pencil rather than a cheap ball-point pen placed beside a notepad. I have also attended many meetings where pencils rather than pens have been provided.

PR: Do you have any words of wisdom for budding pencil enthusiasts?

HP: Look carefully at the pencils you encounter. The best made ones are examples of quality manufacturing that approaches fine craftsmanship. Just because something is mass produced does not mean that it does not have high aesthetic values.

Many thanks go out to Professor Petroski, and we renew the urge for anyone who loves the pencil to check out his very fine volume on our favorite implement of expression.

This is the first post about what we will call “Revolutionary Reading,” i.e., books that have some bearing on pencils and the Revolution. All Revolutions need their pamphlets, chapbooks and other volumes, even if such poetry or prose is not necessarily akin to some sort of doctrine.

It is only appropriate that the first such post be on Professor Henry Petroski’s The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance. This book is widely available in trade paperback, and the current edition is actually a very well-designed book itself, with a durable cover with very nice graphics. The height is actually longer relavtive to the width than more books, and this gives it a pleasing grip and span.

The Pencil is a book about engineering told through the sustained example of the pencil. What you get is the story of the pencil, from its origins in England in the sixteenth century to the pencil industry of the late twentieth century and everything in between. Professor Petroski covers graphite discoveries, the production of pencil “leads,” wood, erasers — and there is even an entire chapter devoted to my personal gadget, the pencil sharpener.

The text is extremely engaging, even though we non-engineers might be tempted to be wary of reading a book about engineering. In my own field (philosophy), I can certainly spot a boring book. But take my word for it: this is an exciting book for anyone who uses, likes or admires pencils. Far from being boring, it reads like an epic novel, with the protagonist and hero being the pencil, with other heroes that help the pencil along the way.

While it seems that pencils are simple objects at first glance, Professor Petroski shows that they are anything but simple, as he details the technological advances and engineering geniuses who have brought us our wooden warrior. Do you know why, for instance, Incense Cedar is the preferred wood for making quality pencils? Do you know what people used for erasers prior to rubber ones? Or just how long it took for sharpeners (as we know them) to appear on the scene? If you give The Pencil a good read, you will know all this and more.

Certainly, having some understanding of what forces, minds and inventions have brought us pencils affords us a much greater appreciation for the humble tool that many us take for granted. If you are intersted in learning more about our graphite champion and/or in reading an enlightening and entertaining book, then The Pencil is for you.

[Photos, J.G.]

Devoted Comrade Dave in New Zealand recently made a week-long experiment with wooden pencils, a foray away from the mechanical pencils he so excellently writes about on his new and very well-written blog:

Now whilst my main interest is mechanical pencils, I am certainly not immune to the charms of wooden pencils, so I thought that it was time to put my mechanicals away and have a “wooden week”.

Anyone visiting a selection of shops here in New Zealand would quickly get the impression that Staedtler was the market giant, with Faber-Castell a fairly distant second, and so I decided to trial three Staedtlers and two Faber-Castells.

I chose the following HB grade pencils as a reasonable selection of different price ranges, qualities and designs:

Monday - Staedtler (Australia) Pacific 830
Tuesday - Staedtler (Australia) Tradition 110
Wednesday - Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 (Made in Germany)
Thursday - Faber-Castell Grip 2001 (Made in Germany)
Friday - Faber-Castell Goldfaber 1221 (Country of origin not identified)

Read the rest of the results here.

[Image, D.P.  Used with kind permission.]

A few months ago, I came into the department where I study and found this on my desk, a joke from a colleague (and fellow Revolutionary) which reads:

“This could easily happen to all your pencils,
if you don’t follow these directions exactly.
Get 100 dollars in nonsequential 2 dollar bills
and wait for further instructions.”

[Ransom note, Alex. Photos, J.G.]

We are not divisive enough here at Pencil Revolution to hate pens. Ink users will not be guillotined, French Revolution style. Rather than putting pencils over pens, I personally seek instead for the more realistic and peaceful telos of obtaining for pencils equal status with their inky counterparts. Along with my private stockpile of pencils (for when the Revolution really comes), I do have a lot of pens, with a particular affection for Fisher Space Pens.

This is a great photo by Jennifer Guillory of This Is Your Brain On Lithium (see photos here) that depicts graphite and ink in the same Moleskine notebook. A testiment of what is possible.

[Image J.Guillory. Used with permission.]

Ashley sends us some cool stuff regarding the ability to write in color, without resorting to ink:

“Sorry to inundate your inbox with my pencil finds [ed. never! keep them coming!], but the latest ones, CRAYOLA TWISTABLES Colored Pencils are truly exciting. It would not be going too far to call them a supermarket serendipity, as I stumbled upon them at the grocery store. Yet another impulse purchase, but not one I regret!!

I’d never heard of them before. They write really well, like very thin crayons. They are a shameful waste of plastic, since the ‘lead’ twists and retracts within a transparent plastic casing. One would probably not want to write term papers or reams of notes with them. I plan to use them for editing, highlighting, and journaling, in addition to all those times I want to write in pencil, but not in graphite gray!!

A pack of twelve cost 3 dollars.”

Thanks, Ashley!
[See Writing in Color (i) for more!]

A recent article on Parent Center is about how to raise a child who loves to write. Of course, pencils are featured:

Experiment with writing tools
Let her try all different types of writing implements — crayons, chalk, pens, pencils, paints. Keep in mind that she may have an easier time using “fat” crayons or pens than skinny pencils. Even dough and modeling clay are writing tools — you can roll them out and form rope letters (this helps develop her motor skills as well). Keep these supplies in a drawer she can reach easily.

Experiment with surfaces
For starters, white paper is a must. Big pads of newsprint are inexpensive, and children love having a big surface to fill in. But don’t forget about chalkboards, sidewalks, and dry erase boards. If you’re concerned about the mess, set up a kid-size table outside or in a section of your kitchen or playroom where the splatter won’t matter. And buy water-soluble markers and erasable pens for easy cleanup.

Read the rest of the artcle here.

I’ve searched and searched and searched, but I can’t find information on whether Mr. Poe ever used pencils to fashion his tales of the macabre. (If anyone has any, we’d appreciate it!) It really looks like he was an ink man. So I know; this post has little to do with pencils, then. But Mr. Poe is one of the patron writers of my hometown, so much so that they named their football team after his most famous poem. And I just plain like him.

But even if wishing Mr. Poe a Happy Birthday is not really “pencil related,” it can’t hurt to stop and think about the idea that all that separated him from the stories in his brain and posthumous fame was paper and something to write with. Pencil collectors, fanatics and casual users always have these on hand, since pencils usually come by the dozen or so. What if Mr. Poe had no ink or quill?

Besides, who among us has not read Poe with a Black Warrior of Dixon Black in hand, or written a scary story or grizzly poem without fancying her or his self to be in cahoots with the Master of Dark Writing in English?

For more information about Mr. Poe, visit the website of the famous (or infamous, lol) E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore. Great editions of Poe’s work can be found by the Library of America series, and you can get them at a very good price (comparable to less authoritative editions with typos, etc.) on Amazon or Overstock. They are based on the authoritative (but out of print) Harvard University edition. The Library of America also makes a great collection and analysis of Poe’s poetry in their American Poets Project, and the Everyman Library’s Pocket Poets edition is also excellent.

And finally, for a bit of fun, check out the adventures of Li’l Edgar (requires Flash) at Accoutrements, makers of the Poe action figure, Li’l Edgar figure and the Poe bobble head.

[Image, Joe Kubert. Found here.]

The Theorist at Fade Theory quotes from Paris bookshop owner Silvia Beach:

“Ulysses, like everything else of Joyce’s, was written entirely by hand. He used blunt black pencils - he found the ones he wanted at Smith’s in Paris - and pencils of different colors to distinguish the parts he was working on. Fountain pens he didn’t understand at all. They bewildered him. Once I found him struggling to fill one, covering himself with ink as he did so.”

Check out the rest of this great post here.

If you’re a Hemingway fan, this is the nice lady he talks about in A Moveable Feast when Papa recalls his days in Paris, writing with his pencils over a nice cafe’ au lait.

[Image and text, Fade Theory.]

In keeping with the blue pencil theme from yesterday, check out the great work of artist Steve Tansley, who tells us, “I only use the Sanford Col-Erase 20044 blue. Always have. Best pencil around.”

Goodfences:

“A cartoon by Bill Goodykoontz and Steve Tansley.”

Blue Pencil Unlimited:

“BluePencil Ultd. is the online portfolio of Steve Tansley. An illustrator and graphic designer for 12 years, an interactive designer for 6 years. His work has been published in the Arizona State Press Newspapers, Scottsdale Tribune Newspapers and Take 5 Entertainment Guide. He works full time at Studio Productions in Tempe Arizona as their Senior Graphic Designer and Illustrator. He has been honored with the Society for Professional Journalists Award and has won two Prisma Awards for interactive design with an honorable mention. Steve is the co-creator of Goodfences, a hilarious new comic-strip. He continues to teach cartooning principles, graphic design and web design for middle school, high school and undergrad students to help educate and broaden the appreciation of art.”

Of his favorite tool, Steve tells us:

“I use the pencil so much I named my freelance effort Blue Pencil Unlimited. As a full-time illustrator and graphic designer I am always sketching my ideas first. So the Col-Erase has become my standard. I offer a mac icon of the col-erase on my site if anyone is interested. I welcome feedback and best of luck with the revolution!”

Many thanks to Steve for sharing such amazing work with us! Sanford’s Col-Erase pencils are readily available at Dick Blick and Mister Art, for the adventurous who want to try them.

[Image and text, S.T. Used with very kind permission.]

A good friend and colleague of mine gave me permission to quote from an email she sent me about pencils, Thoreau and a Mars Lumograph 100 that I left in her mailbox. I’ve been thinking about environmental issues and how they relate to throw-away (non-refillable) pens, etc. And the issue of quality versus value pencils comes up often in our little community, so I thought I’d post this:

“I know I’ve teased you about the extent of your fascination with pencils, but I understand where it comes from. These are the tools of our trade, if we’re doing philosophy correctly. We might need the laptops to do academic philosophy, but to really think and explore the meaning of life, we need quiet time to ourselves, away from the hum of electronics; time alone in nature, with a means of recording our thoughts as they come to us. Most pens are disposable, and their use reflects our attitudes toward the environment, others, and ourselves. Pencils are finicky, and they need care. If we don’t sharpen them, they won’t write, and if we don’t use caution, they will break. Using pencils — in a strange way — cultivates stewardship.

Also, it’s encouraged me to take note of the quality of the things that I usually take for granted. There is a demonstrable difference, and we should aim for quality. And all too often, the quality gets disregarded, especially as we search for good deals. I’ve almost gotten to the point of doing searches for quality chalk for my classes, since there are some years that the school’s chalk simply doesn’t work. What’s kept me in check is the fact that I know I’m nowhere near organized enough to keep it on me. I’d have a crate of the good stuff in my office and nothing on me when I got to class.

And I get the same looks from my family that you’ve gotten over the pencils. When my aunt and I get to talking about spices and various brands of olive oil, it’s as if we’re speaking Outer Mongolian. One of my uncle’s called me a pseudo-intellectual snob because I knew what Earl Grey tasted like.”

[Text, Tanya J., used with permission. Image, J.G.]

Cyber Lizard, a very very brave Comrade of the Revolution is writing a novel this month entirely by pencil!

“I am insane. Really. I am participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I am writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. And as crazy as this seems, that’s not what makes me insane. It’s the fact that I’m writing this novel by hand, in pencil. My Moleskine notebook is filled with almost 10,000 pencil-written words. Needless to say, this gives me ample opportunity to try out different pencils. I have bought several of the pencils reviewed here and used them to some extent. Here is what I have discovered.

Dixon-Ticonderoga Tri-Write HB: I found this to be a pretty good general purpose pencil. Not dark enough for me, but I like it for sketching.

Mirado Black Warrior HB: The crispness of the line was great. For some reason, I set this one aside and haven’t actually used it for my writing. I need to pick this back up and give it a go.

Dixon Tri-Conderoga HB: I love the feel of this pencil in my hand. Its finish is amazing. I really wanted this to be my favorite. Unfortunately, it was not quite dark enough for my tastes and it required more frequent sharpening to maintain a good point.

Faber-Castell GRIP 2001 2B: This one was my favorite for several days. It kept a point well and was fairly dark. I didn’t find it as comfortable as the Tri-Conderoga, but my hand held up well for long writing sessions with it.

California Republic Palomino HB: Currently my favorite pencil. I love its terrificly dark line, and it keeps a point very well. I can usually get about a half a page written before I feel the need to sharpen.

My biggest issue right now is that I need a good eraser. My two favorites, the Palomino and the GRIP don’t have erasers. I’ve been keeping an unsharpened Tri-Conderoga out when I write for the eraser, but I’d like something more compact. Any suggestions?

Now I need to go catch up on my word count since I’ve wasted my precious time writing for Pencil Revolution instead of my novel ;-)”

[Image and text, Cyber Lizard. Used with kind permission.]

For a long time I lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains, in Central California. It’s damp up there, cold, and gray most of the year. My house was heated by a environmentally-correct woodstove. In the mountains, because of the weather, after a while, you get a little book-ish. Down the highway about 10 miles or so, in the city of Santa Cruz, well, there was an art supply store called Palace Arts. This store carried Blackfeet Indian Pencils. Now I grant you that I have always been a pencil freak. It’s just now, with your wonderful site, I can come out of the closet about it. I have always loved pencils. Some of my favorites have been, over time, the Venus Goddess, the old yellow Mongol #1, Black Warrior #1, and the Tombow Mono B. The Blackwing, of course, cannot be mentioned in the same sentence with any other pencil. It is the high chieftain of all pencils. Somewhere, however, between the Blackwing and the Tombow Mono B, there is a place for the Blackfeet Indian #2. A person who understood me really well once gave me a gross of Mongol #1 pencils for Christmas one year. I was happy for months.

The Blackfeet Indian is almost impossible to buy now, but I remember a time when I could go to Palace Arts in Santa Cruz and buy them by the dozen. They are beautiful: simple hardwood, lots of grain, very simply varnished. The eraser worked like a Pink Pearl, and although you could get them with a gold ferrule, my favorite version is the one with the black ferrule. It looked so minimally beautiful, matching the simple black print on the pencil body. The gold ferrule, to my eye, was a little too flashy, a little too Hollywood. I loved the black. The lead was magnificent. It was never gritty. The line was an impressive black. It did not smear. It held a point pretty well, and what’s even more impressive, I never had a Blackfeet Indian pencil turn into one of those nightmare pencils that break when you sharpen them, and the lead never fell out of the wood after sharpening, either. The lead in these pencils also would last. I bear down when I write and I can use up a Faber Castell Grip 2001 in a couple days. Not so with the Blackfeet Indian pencil. The weight of this pencil was also wonderful, not too heavy, not too light. Some newer pencils, well it feels like the wood is really dried out to the point of where the pencil lends no weight to the writing job. You have to bear down to get a line, some. The Blackfeet, well, it is equal to the task of writing.

I am an internet ranter. When it became clear to me that it was going to be hard to get more Blackfeet pencils through stores, I began to beg them from my pals on the net. A dear friend in Minnesota found that she had a whole box of them, and she sent them to me. She doesn’t use pencils. I have given single pencils from my stash as special gifts to dear friends. Some of them upon receiving these pencils, look at me a little strangely. But I always smile at them and say: there is a poem, or a story, or a drawing, in that pencil, waiting to come out for you. Then the odd look melts into a grin, usually. I only have about a half dozen of these pencils left. I have been looking for suitable substitutes. Consequently I have an embarrassing number of pencils in my house, of which only the General Cedar #2 and the Pacific Music Papers “Magic Writer” come anywhere near the Blackfeet Indian Pencil. The General #2 is a little gritty for my taste, although the aesthetics of the pencil itself are magnificent. The “Magic Writer” has a good lead, except it wears down too fast. Ideally, my pencil would LOOK like the General Cedar, and behave like the Tombow Mono B or 2B. Right now I am writing with a Staedtler 4B lead in a red Koh-i-Noor Lead holder. It’s a little thick for me, but at least the line is black. I bought some TriConderoga pencils, and while I like those, I am not in love.

Based on what I read on your site, I bought some Palominos and some Forest Choice. I am hoping that one of these will be my new Blackfeet Indian Pencil.

What I want to know is this: why is it that when people make something that actually works, like the Blackwing and the Blackfeet pencil, that automatically it just goes away? For example: for a while, I could get the Noris ErgoSoft HB at Office Depot. Now this pencil is both elegant and functional. It doesn’t sharpen away into a nub in two days. The pencil is also beautiful to behold – it has a real Art Deco paint job. Everything works on this pencil, and it’s 3 bucks a half dozen — Okay, so a little expensive. But Office Depot won’t carry this pencil anymore. Nope. You want to buy a pencil at Office Depot you have to settle for a school pencil. Now I’m not in love with the Dixon Ticonderoga #2, but I love the #1. I’m willing to deal with the yellow paint for the sake of the lead. Can you find a #1 at Office Depot or Staples? No. At Office Depot or Staples, I can buy all the cheap Pentech atrocities I want. But no Noris, No Ticonderoga #1. For Dixon #1, I have to go to a store across town. For Noris Ergosoft, I have to buy online – General Cedar and Black Warrior #1 I can only get on line, too. To get Mitsubishi or Tombow pencils (and Japanese woodcase pencils are EXCELLENT) I have to drive downtown to Kinokuniya bookstore in Los Angeles. I can get the Faber-Castell GRIP 2001 in stores, but not the excellent Faber-Castell 9000 (and it is, to my way of thinking, a much better pencil).

Sometimes all of this drives me to use a Pentel .9 mechanical pencil, but that does not make my soul happy. I write for a living. I want REAL pencils.

Thank you, I feel better now.

(Many thanks to Humdog for a great contribution!)

[Text, Humdog, used with very kind permission. Image, J.G.]

Those among us of an academic bent are familiar with the C.F.P.s (Call For Papers) we get in our email inboxes almost daily. We’re not that…stuffy here at the Revolution. However, we are issuing our first “Call For ~” in order to integrate the People and to promote sharing among the Comrades of the Revolution. In other words, I — at least — think it’s safe to say that we are no longer a website with readers but are a fledgling community. And I think that having myriad contributors, at least from time to time, is a good thing now.

What are we after? Reviews of pencils you like or don’t like, or erasers, sharpeners, pencil boxes, etc. Essays about pencils, erasers, sharpeners, and other pencil gear. Photos of the same. Drawings with graphite, colored pencils, watercolor pencils, drawings of pencils. If you have a drawing that needs scanning, please contact us via email, and we can arrange to scan it for you and return it to you unharmed via physical mail.

While we are not going to issue any explicit guidelines, we do reserve the right not to publish what we deem offensive or irrelevant. Please don’t send us a list of aphorisms on where pen users can stick their pens. We still love our brothers and sisters of ink, and — though pencils are sharp — they are not weapons. We reserve the right to edit work, and consent is implied in submitting that we can use said work on the site, with all due credit given, of course.

Perhaps not everything submitted will make it onto the site, but we will try to publish all we can. We are not going to be Puritanical in our tastes of art work when we decide what to publish, but bear in mind that people of all ages and backgrounds are members of our community when submitting. But also bear in mind the kindness and openness displayed by the People on every available occasion. We are an accepting and brave People.

Please feel free to bear your pencil soul.

[Please continue to Submission Guidelines in the permalink or comments section.]

As many of the People already are, no doubt, aware today kicks off the National Novel Writing Month for 2005. What is NaNoWriMo? In short:

“National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.”

Check out Libby Copeland’s article in The Washington Post for more information.

We are wondering if anyone in the Revolution is participating this year, and if said brave writers might be interested in sharing with the People their work, or bits of it, on PencilRevolution.com? If so, please leave a note or email us (see right) directly to discuss.

But first off, who’s writing in pencil?

There were a number of accusations levied against the Revolution last week, and since a few hundred people read them before we were able to take them down, I suppose it’s appropriate to address them here, in a non-belligerent spirit, since we are a peaceful Revolution.

First, no, this site was not created as a joke, and many hours a week do not go into it as a joke. If some folks do not like pencils and prefer pens or computers, they are perfectly free not to be a part of our community.

It was suggested last week that we are promoting the killing of the planet’s trees through promoting the use of pencils. This is completely false. None of the manufacturers that we recommend go out and cut down trees for pencils that are not grown for that purpose and are not replaced. This is akin to claiming that meat comes from cows shot down in the forest. The fact is that some companies (like Faber-Castell and Staedtler) grow their own wood for their pencils on land where there were no trees before. Our friends at Cal Cedar are the largest pencil slat manufacturer in the world, and one would be hard-pressed to find a more responsible grower. Plainly, a pencil company that did not replenish its supply of wood would be committing corporate suicide. What some manufacturers did in the 19th and early 20th centuries is irrelevant.

No, Thoreau would not roll over in his grave because we promote the killing of the planet. Most Thoreau fans are aware of his innovations in pencil manufacturing and the fact that his family’s money came from making pencils and superior graphite. He never loved pencils but viewed them at best as tools, and usually as a way to make money for his father’s company. He didn’t sit around thinking about how great pencils are, so we could not “justify” the deforestation of the planet by how Thoreau felt about pencils. Besides, Thoreau never ventured far enough from Concord to actually see any wood that was made into pencils anyway. He never went to the South to see Red Cedar or to the West to see Incense Cedar (which wasn’t being used yet). And his ethic of simplicity would surely not shun pencils and probably not even blogs and gel pens.

No, we will not be promoting products from the likes of Proctor and Gamble, etc. First, they don’t make pencils. Second, we do not promote products from any company that engages in animal testing. California Republic doesn’t. Dixon doesn’t. Sanford doesn’t. The Germans don’t. Promoting pencils from companies that test on animals (parent companies, too) is not an issue now that Gillette no longer owns PaperMate and Parker anyway. Even Bic has a moratorium that has been in place for several years.

Our editor (me) was called a “corporate goon” and “a sad, sad corporate sellout.” While we very happily promote products we like and very gladly accept samples to review, we do not take money for our reviews. Period. This site is run out of my own pocket and never from any company. We would be very foolish indeed to take money from the manufacturers of what we review if we coupled this with the expectation that anyone trust what we say. Yes, we promote some pencils like the Palomino moderately aggressively, but that is soley because it is such a great pencil, made by great people, that more pencil lovers should try. We are spreading the word, not lining our pockets. Name-calling is just mean. If I am a sell-out because I freely promote pencils that lots of people think are great and not well-known enough, then sell-out I am.

A thousand apologies if we offend whoever anonymously posted the original list of reasons why Pencil Revolution is “stupid”; that is not our intention. However, the record must be set straight, and every effort has been made to be straight forward and not vindictive. We have no intention of being contentious.

Our friend Heller Levinson has a new book of poetry out entitled ToxiCity. Mr. Levinson tells us that he writes his poetry in pencil, with a Dixon Ticonderoga (#2) or with a Pentel 0.7 P207 when travelling. The artists responsible for the cover art — Margo Kren and Ed Paschke — begin their work in pencil, to boot! Graphite aside, from all counts, Mr. Levinson’s work is nothing short of revolutionary.

“ToxiCity is a volume for the starving masses of readers to devour, then shelve among poets who refused to succumb to the shrews and molls of convention and mediocrity dolling themselves up as muses. Nothing is lost in Heller Levinson’s prolific study of philosophy, history, music and the arts: the poems in ToxiCity are like a palimpsest where diverse lexicons, facts, detailed observations all meld….
—from the introduction by Anthony Seidman”

[Image Howling Dog Press.]

Johnny writes about childhood pencils in MungBeing magazine:

“When I first arrived at Kindergarten, we all had little boxes that we put onto the top shelf of our cubbies, standing on five-year-old tiptoes. In my little blue box that day was a Faber-Castell GOLIATH - a thick, red pencil with soft-feeling lead and a nice pink eraser on the end. Of all the goodies in my blue box - scissors, paste, a ruler, etc. - I was most excited about my big pencil. There were boxes and boxes of markers and wax crayons at the pre-school and even more at home that my parents provided for my brothers and I.. But one pencil, only one. And so grown-up looking! I had just turned five and suddenly felt immensely important that I had been given a single pencil that would allow me to do so much. My introduction to pencils was thus to a quality German pencil, and the rest of my childhood pencilship was tainted by this….

….But I think that what people love about pencils is not necessarily something akin to childhood innocence. I don’t think it’s possible to recover the naivety of the sandbox, nor is it desirable to do so. The responsibility that comes with knowing what we know that we did not know as children - whether we know it from education or worldly experience - is not something that we can shirk off just by using pencils or any other magical tools. The reason pencils resonate with adults is that they remind us of the sense of wonder that we had as children. Only, as adults, this wonder is armed with some degree of practical wisdom in that pencils put us into a position of wonder that is coupled with power and freedom. We look at the world differently when we remember being kids, and we have the freedom to explore our world that we might not have had as school children with homework and parents and curfews. Most importantly, we have the power through what we already know to look in the right places for what we still wonder about as adults.”

Read the rest of the article here.

[Image, J.G.]

If I may wax personal, I want to admit being more than a little upset to learn that a certain pencil I previously enjoyed is made of rainforest wood, not Incense Cedar. I know, this should make no difference. It was hard to sharpen and had no smell before I knew what it was made of, too, and I ignored it. I think I’m upset that it’s maker flaunts it as a great quality pencil (and charges a lot for it) but then won’t pony up and make it out of cedar. There are probably even reasons for this, like a $3 a pencil price tag result, etc. I won’t pretend that I know much about wood or about what works best for what.

But it’s weird that something so small can shake my faith in a pencil. It’s like when you have a pencil you love but then realize that it’s core smears all over or that you have a near-perfect pencil that comes with a terrible eraser that ruins the whole affair. Or, worse, that you have a pencil you love above all others but cannot obtain anywhere.

Is there some implicit search for the perfect pencil, or do we just get jolted when we learn that our favorites could use some evolving? Or do we delude ourselves into thinking we’ve already perched on the perfect pencil and then find out that there’s a glaring design flaw, upon which we get shaken up again?