Is Shorthand A Dying Art??

I decided to write about shorthand since most of us had taken shorthand in high school.  I am sure many of you will relate to this and recognize the script or may even be able to read it.

I was first introduced to shorthand in my junior year when I and a group of other girls entered into the Pre-Tech program which required us to take business courses and office skills.  The Pre-Tech program consisted of a 2 year study of shorthand, typing, and academic studies needed to complete in order to fulfill my grading requirements and continue to the next level of my studies. With the completion of the 2 year program we would be able to attend a 2 year community college. We were the first group to enter into this program. You might say that we were the ones that were the test group being the deciding factor whether this program was going to continue depending on the success of the program.

I can recall how exciting it was to learn shorthand.  I also knew that once I understood it that other people would not be able to read it.  Everyday we learned a new

consonant

vowel

punctuations. 

It was a fun class and I learned alot.  Here is a video of the introduction of Gregg Shorthand Dictation.  You will have to mute the music on the right side Ipod in order to hear the video.  As the man is talking, he or she is writing it all down in shorthand. 



Here is an article about a woman who translates shorthand from documents and it is titled Miss Stevens, can you take a letter? Shorthand skills dying out   Her name is Letha Sanders and she is a shorthand translator and she has turned it into a business.  Here is her website Shorthand Translation Services.


How many still use shorthand at your job or in writing your journal?  Has court stenography replaced shorthand? Would high schools bring this art back into their curriculum? For anyone who has been through this program and remembers shorthand, let us know what you think about this.  Are you or have you used shorthand at your present or previous jobs?  You can leave a comment on after this article.

References:
Gregg Shorthand - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_shorthand
Gregg Shorthand on Facebook "like" page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gregg-shorthand/106179482745866
Gregg Shorthand Dictionary - http://books.google.com/books/about/Gregg_shorthand_dictionary.html?id=J5kLAAAACAAJ

The Apollo Theater

How We Remember

We all know that the Apollo Theater is still there around 125th Street,. but it brought some memories back for me.  Jean Moriwaki and I had tickets to go see Cousin Brucie at the Apollo..WOW!!..yes WOW!!. First of all I never attended a concert or seen Cousin Brucie other than hearing him on my transister radio that I would carry with me.  This was a highlight of our high school years. Jean and I both bought dresses that were just alike..meaning only the style not the pattern. The dress was called a tent dress and it was the in style in 1967.I bet most of you do remember this dress. I remember it was around Easter..either before or after. It was a beautiful spring day but a bit windy because the dress would blow up from the wind and I remember having to hold the front of my dress down as we walked. When we arrived at the Apollo there were many people waiting to get in. We received free tickets. I don't remember how or why but we both had tickets to see the show. My parents would never let me go to any concert let alone by tickets. There was no money for that kind of luxury. But, nevertheless, we both had tickets in our hands and we were on line to go in. The seats were on the lower level and we both had good seats. It was not close enough for me. I wanted to be in the front row.  

I remember Jefferson Airplanes  (once called Jefferson Starships) were there, James Brown and Aretha Franklin making up the motown group including The Supremes and Marvin Gaye.  There were others, but it has been so long that these are the ones who stand out in my mind.  The concert was not that long because when the concert was over it was still light outside.

Did anyone attend a concert at the Apollo?  Were you at the concert at the same time?  Write down in a comment and share it with us.