Why all the hate for Card? I've read 6 or 7 books by him, and it was after I looked him up on wikipedia that I found out his Christian beliefs. Classifying him as a religious nut and then refusing to touch anything he's written is just intellectual laziness.
As a lifetime resident of a small North Dakotan town, I think it's a shame they were treated like this. Small towns, if anything, are "clique-y"; the church groups, the former classmates/teammates, and the morning coffee ritualists aren't eager for new people to wedge their way in.
However, people won't be marked "Outsiders" for life. It just takes a few years of being "seen around" town at the grocery store, gas station, or high school football games for people to let you in.
Finally, I don't think their Italian descent has anything to do with their situation. There was a time where my ethnically German mother wasn't allowed to date boys from the Polish town down the highway, but that just doesn't happen anymore. We have had African Americans and Asian Americans in my town for years without them being excluded, much less Italians.
Interesting, because at my school (NDSU) a ban on laptops in the classroom is being discussed because more people are on facebook than taking notes. Here the paper note-takers are triple the number of laptop users in every class, might I add.
Personally, I can't stand to take notes on my laptop. I find it too restricting.
You can give all the reasons you want: it being antiquated, it being an "art", but it just boils down to whether you write in it yourself.
For that reason, I'm just going to say that I enjoy writing in cursive for myself personally. Is it necessary? Probably not. Is it 'better'? unlikely; my cursive is a hideous, indecipherable script, while my print is at least readable. I use it because it feels more "natural" and I can write faster with it. Simple as that.
However, people won't be marked "Outsiders" for life. It just takes a few years of being "seen around" town at the grocery store, gas station, or high school football games for people to let you in.
Finally, I don't think their Italian descent has anything to do with their situation. There was a time where my ethnically German mother wasn't allowed to date boys from the Polish town down the highway, but that just doesn't happen anymore. We have had African Americans and Asian Americans in my town for years without them being excluded, much less Italians.
Personally, I can't stand to take notes on my laptop. I find it too restricting.
For that reason, I'm just going to say that I enjoy writing in cursive for myself personally. Is it necessary? Probably not. Is it 'better'? unlikely; my cursive is a hideous, indecipherable script, while my print is at least readable. I use it because it feels more "natural" and I can write faster with it. Simple as that.