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I just returned from Portland, Oregon and Reed College. The college holds a "Reunion" for alumni every Spring with lots of programming. Since Stephanie Snyder developed the "Calligraphy Initiative" through the Cooley Gallery, of which she is Director and Curator, Reunions has included special calligraphy events, generally with Reed alumni as guest artists. This year, we had a very special guest. Paul Herrera is a former student, protegé of and successor to Fr. Edward Catich at St. Ambrose College in Davenport, IO. Father Catich was the person who figured out that the monumental Roman inscriptions, in particular that on the Trajan Column in Rome, were executed by painting the letters on stone with a brush before carving them with a mallet and chisel. When I was an undergraduate at Reed, I had the privilege of watching Fr. Catich carve the name of the main administration building on a granite lintel. Like his mentor, Paul Herrera is a calligrapher and stone carver. He is now retired from the St. Ambrose faculty. He is a lovely man, and I enjoyed a couple of long conversations with him immensely. He gave a lecture and demonstration of brush lettering and of stone carving. He brought with him a photocopy of one of Fr. Catich's rubbings of the Trajan Column inscriptions Paul Herrera I had my first experience lettering with a brush and gouache. I'll just say it requires a somewhat different skill set than pen and ink lettering, but I became intrigued with the technique and plan to work on it on my own. Those who attend the weekly Scriptorium at Reed enjoy the gift of available consultation from a couple of Lloyd Reynolds' former students who became professional calligraphers of no little accomplishment themselves. Jaki Svaren is known by a number of members of this forum as the author of "Written Letters," a wonderful collection of alphabets in many styles along with instructional text. I am happy to say, this book is in the process of being republished and will, hopefully, be available again in a few months. Jaki Svaren Anita Bigelow was also a student of Reynolds. Her favorite styles are gothic, as demonstrated in this banner: I had a wonderful time, as I usually do when I can attend the Scriptorium. I hope you find my brief account of my latest visit enjoyable. Happy writing! David