Sinistral Hands

There’s a line from Rutherford Craze’s latest note that hit me like a piano tumbling out of a six story building: When we ask Midjourney to draw an ox, it does not think of home. ChatGPT will never invent a new calligraphy technique, because it has no wrists to feel uncomfortable. That link points to Phaedra Charles’s Undercase Type and a beautiful thing she printed called A Guide to Sinistral Hand. It’s a small booklet, half type specimen and half essay, that reimagines type design and lettering from the view of left-handed folks: Left-handed writers have a notoriously difficult time with handwriting, and for good reason: like a pair of scissors, the alphabet is designed for right-handed use. [...] If part of the beauty of handwriting lies in its ability to express the habits, experiences, and perspectives of the individual, why are left-handed people expected to hide their handedness by mimicking right-handed models? Sadly it isn’t in print but the PDF is still available—and beware!…