Hard as a Rock Writing

Hard as a Rock Writing

Can anyone ever create a “new” writing technology from items found in nature? Is it possible to “invent” something to write with and on that had not been thought of in the past? These were the questions I pondered as I sat outside my house wondering what to do for my “Invent Your Own Technology” project. At first, I thought I would somehow distill the pollen from the daffodils growing in my front yard. Then I wondered, “What could I use to write on with my new yellow “ink”? How long would it last? And what could I write with?”. After that I explored the idea of binding twigs together with weeds and creating letters. I could create a portable alphabet this way. Then again, without a permanent base to affix my letters to, they would scatter with the wind. After yesterday’s wind, I am glad I decided against that idea.

Finally, after much deliberation and searching in my yard, I came upon a lasting idea. I was sitting in the grass and suddenly spotted a very sharp stone. “If only I could find something to etch my words into”, I mused. It was then that I came across a much larger, dark, flat stone. Then I experimented. Indeed, I could use one stone to “write” on the other stone.

The idea was simple. It was almost too simple. My initial questions rushed back to me. Certainly, this writing technology was not new. However, anything I could think of would not be new. It might be a new use of materials for me, but ultimately, somewhere, someone at one time or another has thought to use flowers for ink, dried reeds for parchment, a stick as a stylus, and stones to carve words on to other stones. Even as a child, I remember using shells to write words and draw pictures in the sand at the beach.

Suddenly, what to write became the focus of my internal debate. Then I remembered Mark Twain reminiscing, in his article “The First Writing Machines” about sitting at his typewriter typing over and over, “The boy stood on the burning deck” (501). Could it be that the technology suddenly became more important then the content of Twain’s writing? Was it the same for me, only in reverse? The technology was so simple; I was at a loss for words.