Of pens, pencils and social media

pencils-pen

I’ve always loved pens.

I just met Phil. He gave me a pen. (How cool is that?) He told me about the Levenger Store at Macy’s – a few blocks from the conference I attended over the weekend. Normally Levenger will assemble a small notebook for you to try out their pens on. Sadly, they were out of the paper, so I couldn’t get one. I did test drive a few of their pens. Nice. My budget wouldn’t quite stretch for the one I liked, but I did buy some pencils! My buddy Jon is analogue enough that he likes pencils, so I shared my pack with him.

One of the reasons I enjoy the social media community is that they’re very open-handed and friendly, as evidenced by Phil and Jon. Even though Chris has more than 66,000 followers on Twitter, he greeted me like a long-lost friend. (That was our first time to meet in person, though we have known each other through blogging for almost four years.) Jon, Becky, Sheila, NEENZ and I were good buddies by the end of the conference.

The social media community is a huge contrast to the graphic design community. When I finished college, I started work in Dallas. I went to several professional designers’ meetings. They seemed to be centered around achievement and ego. I never fit in. But the social media community celebrates those with disabilities that some may look down on. How refreshing!

And the pencils and pen are nice.

Takeaway: what are some ways you can be open-handed today?

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4 Replies to “Of pens, pencils and social media”

  1. i’m not sure about openhanded, but I did have my hand closed around a levenger pencil today. Very, very nice.

    And you are right about the frequent openness of the community.

  2. It was my pleasure to share a pen…and some conversation…with you Paul. It’s the least I could do to keep the conversation alive.

    Looking forward to more conversations in the future.

    Open handed? How about open arms…like with a big HUG!

  3. I don’t know what I would do without my Rotring and SaraLee note pad! I use them everyday.. My friend Paul cartee gave me the pen for my birthday and my brother gave me the note pad from his PepsiCo days.. Ahhhh Thanks for reminding the world how important the pen really is.

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