Contributor Biographies #19

 

Philip S Ferris

I am a 37 year old Cornishman married to Cathy. We live in an old cottage that was once part of a larger building.

It could be said that I am quite parochial. I live in the village I was raised in, in the cottage my mother and her mother were born in, and into which my great grandfather moved in the 1890s.

We do not have any children and are reluctant to indulge in pets, such as a cat, due mainly to a busy main road that runs nearby. We are lucky as the buildings in the vicinity form a courtyard and shield us from the noise of the traffic. There is nothing I like more than coming home on a fine evening, sitting under our old apple tree with a fountain pen and some paper, and maybe a single malt or banana juice by my side.

For all my local connections I do like to travel. At present this has meant largely moving around parts of the UK but we do hope to visit family/friends abroad.

I am particularly interested in all things Greek, and in the culture and life in Japan. I collect books but have had to ease back as we have no space anymore. I am an occasional 35 mm photographer and enjoy walking the coast of Cornwall and the moors of Devon.

My family has run an ice cream business in the local area for around 80 years, but I teach IT applications in a nearby town. Modern competition and legislation has meant it is uneconomic for me to move into ice cream; the business fades with my father who has just retired. Most of my family, my father (for half the year) included, are farmers.

I am currently a huge fan of the Parker 51 and Parker pens in general. My favourite vintage pen is an excellent medium nib aerometric, burgundy Parker 51 I obtained from Nikos at Food & Pens in Berlin.

 

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Sergio Valencia

I am a new convert to fountain pens, having started collecting only the past few years. I started using a Parker Vector pen in high school and it introduced me to the joys and pains of fountain pens.

After college, I really started becoming interested in fountain pens. However, it has only been the last few years that I have been able to start collecting and learning about fountain pens. Currently, I have accumulated over 20 pens, mostly new pens with a vintage or two. A few are gold nibbed, nothing expensive. However, they are much preferred over ballpoints or rollerball pens. I do keep a few of those around just in case, though.

I work in the internet community so I spend all day typing, but when I do have to write, I have two desk pens, a Scheaffer and a Parker 21 that I use. When not browsing the net for pens, I love to read fantasy, Science fiction, horror, thrillers and mysteries. I also DJ on occasion and am learning a couple of instruments.

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Michael Scharf

Hello, my name is Michael Scharf. I'm 45, a British national, father Polish, mother Swedish. I was born in Rome, Italy and lived there until the age of 12 - after which I went to the UK for secondary school in London, and to Cambridge University to study Medieval history and Philosophy (graduated 1978 from St. John's). After graduation, I came to Brussels, Belgium for the summer vacation not really knowing what to do next (my father worked there at the time). I've been there ever since (22 years). I started in press agency journalism, reporting on the European Union and then found it hard to make ends meet so I joined the corporate world and I have worked for computer and chemical companies ever since, in marketing and sales. Products I sell include resins for inks! I'm married to Rosaria (Italian but came to Belgium as a child) and we have two children, Marianna (12) and William (9). The kids go to French speaking school and speak French to each other. Rosaria speaks to them in Italian, I in English. They answer back....in French.

My hobbies include listening to music (anything by Bach, Purcell, Victoria and Palestrina) and I just took up the recorder with my son. I also try and keep up with medieval studies - I sometimes regret not having gone into the academic life. On the sporting side, I find that long distance brevet cycling provides a wonderful vehicle for meditation, apart from the physical benefits.

I've loved pens since I got my first Osmiroid italic when I was 10. It seemed like a Rolls-Royce then, with hindsight, boy was it scratchy! When I was 16 my grandfather gave me a Sheaffer PFM. The gift of King Arthur's Excalibur wouldn't have blown me off my feet like this did! This pen saw me through high school and university exams, and I still have it today. When I started work I purchased a Lamy 2000 - similar size to the Sheaffer but attracts much less attention. I now have three, with different nib widths, including the anniversary version in steel (don't buy it, the black Makrolon plastic ones are much better balanced!). Over the years I have picked up various other 'big' pens for use at home (note taking while studying, letter writing): the Montblanc 149, the Waterman Man 100 and a Sheaffer Legacy (the PFM is retired from active use). I just recently acquired a Pelikan M1000 after hearing everyone on the web raving about it; I wish I had done this years ago. I don't aim to have a collection, just chunky pens that I can pick up anytime and use for long periods without my hand getting tired.

Two weeks ago I visited my first pen show ever, in Brussels, and joined the Benelux Pen Collectors Association!

My latest craze is inks. Yesterday I started using Herbin green. My family is a little bemused......

Thanks to Pentrace, a whole new world opened up! Look forward to getting to know all of you better!

Michael

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John Morgan

My name is John Morgan and I'm a professor of Economics. I've gota wife, Heather, who I adore, and a child (as yet unnamed) coming soon. I also have a guinea pig named Licorice.

I came to fountain pens when I was extremely young and became fascinated by my mother's Esterborrks from her high school and college days. Being about 8 years old, the intracacies of the lever fill mechanism and the opportunity to "stress test" said mechanism by repeatedly pulling the lever proved irresistable. I also loved writing with her pens -- the glossy finish of the wet ink and the fact that it was so different from the usual way made the whole experience irresistable. Unfortunately, the wear and tear of an 8 year old combined with a few ink related disasters eventually caused my Esterbrook privileges to be revoked.

I would pick up the No Nonsense fountain pens my mother had around and play with them from time to time during high school and college, but I was only amused for short periods. After college, I went to work in an accounting firm with strict rules about dress, comportment, and so on. Faced with these restrictions, junior accountants sought out ways to express individuality at the boundaries of the rules. I fell in love with splashy socks, splashy ties, and for the first birthday I celebrated after marryinh my wife, a splashy Montblanc 146. While I did not know a heck of a lot about pens, I liked the empowerment of having the same pens as the partners of my firm had. I may not be able to afford the $1500 suits, but dammit, I can afford thesame pen. I loved the pen though it was a disaster with the Montblanc ink it came with. It had a bad habit of "sweating" ink all inside the cap lid and thus causing me to revisit my ink disasters of yore -- only now in the public sphere of meeting with clients. The discovery of Waterman ink cured this problem.

I went on to graduate school happy to have the Montblanc but not really bitten by the pen bug. After graduating and getting my first professorial job, my wife got me another birthday gift, a black lacque Parker Sonnet. The semi-flex (or squishiness depending on your perspective) of the nib was a real eye opener. I absolutely loved this pen. Then I asked for a Pelikan. I remembered from work the endless debates about the virtues of Montblanc versus Pelikan (at the time I was on the dark side) and wanted to explore the other side of the debate. Once again, my enabling wife produced a marbled blue M200 which, at the time, I thought was even more fabulous.

It's been a downhill spiral since. My collection -- though I don't like to think of it that way -- consists mainly of modern pens. My favorites right now are a pearl and black international Duofold, a green striped M600, and the wonderfully retro Waterman Opera. The Montblanc still has a special place in my heart as well.

When I was learning about pens, I found it incredibly frustrating to troll a million internet archives to get reviews of those that caught my eye. I also didn't like some of the reviews in magazines because it seemed like they though every pen was good and, being a good pessimist, I just flat out didn't believe it. So, I set up oPENions: The Site of Fountain Pen Reviews. (http://go.to/openions). This is the site that I wish was around when I first got interested in pens.

Apart from pens, my interests include hiking, birding, and rotisserie baseball. I've also written several virtual volumes of poetry from the point of view of another guinea pig I had, piggywig. You can read this as http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/minogues/107/.

I have a number of pet theories about fountain pens. Specifically 1.Nib break-in period is a myth. 2. That changes in pen design had less to do with fashion than people think; and 3. That folks who think that fountain pens will be rediscovered by the populace at large and return to popularity are nuts. I defend these vigorously on Pentrace, where I post simply as "John." Eventually, I'll post essays on my theories to oPENions.

That's about it. If you have pen reviews or other pen related rants, feel free to e-mail me at piggens@hotmail.com and I'll post them to oPENions.

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Darrell Tyler

I'm Darrell and I was one of the first seven or so snailers. How the list has grown! I took an extended break from the group but now I¹m back, and I really ought to let you all know who I am.

As of the end of 2001 I¹m 35 years old and married for eight years to my lovely wife Cynthia. My little boy entered my life three years ago now, and we call him Jonah. We all live in the southeast suburbs of Denver, Colorado USA where I make my living as a teacher and my wife as a school social worker.

I earned a BFA in theater performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and my MA in education from the University of Colorado at Denver. My wife and I both work for the Cherry Creek school district, but I also have a part time job at the Paradise Pen Company, known formerly as the Colorado Pen Company. It is a bit like letting the alcoholic manage the bar, but I¹ve been a good boy to this point.

I used to be quite an athlete. I earned a divemaster rating when I lived in Saipan. I climbed many of Colorado¹s high peaks, particiapated respectably in triathalon, 100 mile bike races, and my main love, playing hockey. But I went into the boards the wrong way once and ended up with a spinal injury. I was layed up for quite a while and found an old BBS called Iconpen. I loved communicating with people from all over the world and when the snail group started up I joined right away. Though my injury is mostly better, I have to be cautious about what I do, and I do get occasional numbness in my limbs. But I still lift weights (very carefully!!!) and hike a bit when I can. On my son¹s third birthday I took him to climb my favorite trail in the mountains just west of Boulder.

Pens are a great outlet for me. I have a modest collection of modern and vintage pens, some of which I¹ve fixed myself, some of which I¹ve screwed up myself. Oh well, learning curve I suppose. I write to my boy almost every day the things he did, the things that go on in our family and the events of the world. I also will be writing lots of snails hopefully very soon.

Another outlet for me is my religious beliefs. I'm a conservative Jew who tries to study a lot and be involved in my synagogue as much as I can.

Thanks so much to all the tracers for bringing so much richness to my life, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

 

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