For A Life Check

            While considering each form or design that a language would use to record sounds or thoughts, I was interested in what is actually considered writing.  For example, hieroglyphics are collections of picturesque symbols that are meant collected together to make meaning, which isn’t unlike the system of writing that the Japanese use in their characters. Like McCloud’s book “Understanding Comics,” I would like to explore the medium of writing that exists beyond the surface stereotypes that are established through the record of language.        

            Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines writing as “something written as letters or characters that serve as visible signs of ideas, words or symbols.” When considering hieroglyphics as a type of writing opened my mind up to the fact that writing could made up any type of form that could be represented as characters. Characters could be dashes, pictures, circles, etc. as long as together they could be interpreted as an idea.  I then researched more about the forms of writing in different languages, including Sanskrit, Laos, Arabic and cursive English to consider further how each used different symbols to create meaning.  Looking over these types of writing, I noticed that each had a certain rhythm to them, which reminded me a heartbeat monitor.

            I was especially inspired by the writing on the Declaration of Independence, seeing the highs and lows of the letters separate in each line to express not only the work of 56 delegates, but also the vision they all had in their hearts for the future of the United States of America.  Their writing was representative of the lines generated by a heartbeat monitor, not only in their form but also in the content.  Applying this to myself I thought I would create a record of my own heartbeat almost as a journal entry of my heart “thoughts.”  What this writing would communicate is my activities throughout the day, if I was nervous, resting, running, excited, and so on, depending on the rate of my heart.  Now what is special about this type of writing is that it transcends all languages, because all of humanity knows what the rhythm of heart means to them.