The PENguin Blog

Ahhh, Germany Apologies for the silence, but this has been an exciting few days. Last night at dinner with Knut Dorn, the Director of Sales and Operations for Otto Harrassowitz, and his wife Renata, I explained my appreciation for Germany, which came not only from my love of German craftsmanship, but the friendship of Dr. Ekkehard Jecht in the 1970s. But I get ahead of my story . . . For us, the Köln penshow began Friday morning with a meeting at our hotel in Neuss with Gerhard Brandl, whom I last saw at his home in Regensburg and then at the penshow in Munich almost four years ago. We also remembered Gerhard Baur, who organised that show. Gerhard and I caught up on things and, as it is with those such as us, some pens changed hands. Gerhard has been a great friend to me and it was wonderful to see him. Later that day, Sharon and I visited with Jürgen Kuhse, his mother Hannalore and another pen friend. Once again, stories were told, pens changed hands and we caught up with one ano...

It’s time for spring break. Many of our students have embarked on the customary European tour--Rome, Berlin, Paris. One person will spend two weeks on a communal farm in rural Spain. For us it means Germany. From Bath, we headed to Bristol airport. Given the high costs of British public transportation, getting to the airport cost nearly as much as our flight to Amsterdam. Once there we picked up our rental car, an Opel Meriva and headed out of Amsterdam. After two frustrating hours on the highly congested Dutch motorways we got to the frontier with Germany and onto the legendary autobahn. Interestingly in today’s Europe the crossing from Holland to Germany was indicated by two signs, one in Dutch and one in German telling us we were now entering Germany. Quickly I discovered that the Meriva is not happy at speeds over 160 kph. The question is whether I will try to change it before we head north to Hamburg, Hanover and then Berlin. An hour’s drive and we were in the Neuss suburb...

I only just learned of the death of my friend Rabbi Alan Lew. For both Sharon and me the sense of loss is almost beyond words. In rest may he be as much at peace as he was in life. Our friendship was only brief, we knew each other only for several years, but he touched me (and Sharon) profoundly as he touched all who knew him. Alan Lew, 1945-2009 By Mark Pritchard January 16th, 2009 @ 8:35 PM East Bay Alan Lew, former rabbi of a San Francisco congregation and well known in Bay Area Zen Buddhist circles, died Monday on a trip to the East Coast. Lew , the author of the spiritual memoir “ One God Clapping ” and two other books, was regarded as an innovator for bringing meditation practices into Jewish spirituality. He was a spiritual seeker in California during the late 1960s and early 70s, when he was exposed to Zen meditation for the first time. He went on to practice for several years at the Berkeley and San Francisco Zen Centers, but while preparing for lay ordi...

Just yesterday (or today on your side of the Atlantic if you are American), I had the opportunity to participate in the annual meeting of the Writing Equipment Society, the sister organisation (as it were) of the Pen Collectors of America, on whose board I am privileged to serve. Unlike the PCA, whose focus can narrow, often, to pens and only pens, the WES encompasses a wide range of concerns as its name signifies and as the meeting bore out. I would like to thank Assistant Meetings Secretary Bill Linskey for facilitating my attendance and those who presented for a lively and fascinating program and apologise to those whose names I have omitted. At the start of the meeting, Chairman Michael Woods presents Steve Hull with a certificate affirming Steve's appointment to a new position within the organisation as Vice President, honouring Steve's lifetime contributions to the hobby in the UK. Bill Linskey led off the presentations with talk on the American firm of Daniel Low, headqu...

Thursday’s excursion took us to Portsmouth, to the historic dockyards and a tour of what is still an active port and naval facility. Our goal in undertaking this was, of course, to give our students a sense of history, but also a hands on feeling for the history of empire. We began with the Naval History Museum and then proceeded to the ships, the HMS Victory, Nelson’s ship at the Battle of Trafalgar where he lost his life saving Britain (later we would tour the ship) and the Mary Rose, designed by Henry VIII, launched in 1511 as the first “purpose-built” warship, sunk in 1545 resisting a French invasion force before Henry’s eyes, and recovered in 1982. Currently the ship is undergoing a process whereby polyethelene grycol is being used to impregnate the wood, thereby preserving the ship. It will go on exhibition in 2011 with the creation of a £35,000,000 museum, a good reason to return. A harbour tour of the modern port, a guided tour of the HMS Victory, no photos allowed, and a vis...

Sorry to be so late with this, but I’ve spent the past week clearing up grading prior to spring break which comes, for us, starting the 25th. During break we will be going to Germany for the Köln Penshow and then on to the Pelikan factory in Hanover and from there to Berlin. We spent last weekend with some old friends, Sylvia and Ray Atkinson in Petts Wood, Kent, outside of London. Our friendship with Ray and Sylvia goes back a bit more than thirty years when we first met through our friends, Lynn and Ron Gelfand. After having lost touch for some time, we got back in touch at Lorin Gelfand’s wedding in 2007 and when Ray and Sylvia heard we would be in England they got in touch and we made plans to spend some time together. We had planned to take the train to London, but because that is a heavily used route and we did not book early enough the train actually cost more than renting a car. Since driving here holds no terror for me (other than the habit of slamming my right hand into the...