CL Pauwels at Large

“ZOMG what a tasty burger”

As writers in the modern age, many of us debate pen-and-paper over computer, with a few staunch holdouts for the manual typewriter. The form in which we write affects how our writing process functions. Some swear by the connection of heart-to-hand when writing with a pen, and the portability of a Moleskine or a dime-store notebook. Others feel you’ll pry their MacBook Air from their cold, dead hands (right before the barista seeks help moving the body). We love our internet-blocker apps and our Evernote and our Scrivener. And we cling like a lifeboat to our Times New Roman or Garamond or the swoops of our own handwriting.

What if the very shapes of our letters were controlled, or we didn’t get to pick our own font? Ali Eteraz, a Pakistani-American writer, discusses the media storm when IKEA switched from Futura to Verdana, and…