“Most people I’ve come into contact with say my handwriting is bad and illegible,” he told me, more amused than embarrassed. But it’s a weakness P.J. insists isn’t that big of a deal.

But everyone’s handwriting is pretty bad,’” Kerry said. Amanda Rhodes works with a small group of students in her fifth-grade classroom at Clifton School 11.

“The bad handwriting specifically comes from I’m thinking too fast for my hand,” she said. ... Mr. Taby started writing in a journal and joined a Reddit community called Fountain Pen Pals, ...