You can whisper the answer if need be (do you still write with pencils?), but I certainly hope you will enjoy this article, which is both an essay accompanied by stunningly beautiful photographs, and a lesson in the art, craft and history of pencil making, by the General Pencil Company of New Jersey. I have dozens of pencils (ok, more than that perhaps – including an array of colors) and rather than tip tap on a screen all day, I still, I will say this “out loud,” write longhand, in cursive script no less (I am assured no one does this anymore but we know this not to be the case), and best of all, I use pencils, with erasers – oh joy – it is true. Please do not stop making pencils or I will have to hoard them, along with dark chocolate (also headed for extinction, but due to “climate change” rather than, why – perhaps fingers in future will no longer be capable of holding a writing instrument – and add the Montblanc pen to the list – it is always with me).

• Inside One of America’s Last Pencil Factories – A photographer captures a colorful world of craft and complexity. Photographs by Christopher Payne – Text by Sam Anderson, January 12, 2018.