After class- 2/9

Today in class we reviewed material from the other day and also got into Chapter 2, which dealt with the alphabet.  We got to see the progression from pictographs all the way to the Greek alphabet, which was very interesting.  

I'm really interested in the Greek rock carvings, especially the Trajan Column.  It's the first piece of typographical history that I have made a connection with because I am familiar with the typeface, Trajan (don't kill me Laura,...).  I feel oh-so-smart now because I know where this font originated from, and it's pretty badass that it has such a significant history.  In all honestly, I thought fonts just randomly appeared because some crazy ninja was bored and created a few typefaces.  Thank God for this class, huh?

During class I was also surprised to hear that in present day some countries/cultures still don't allow everyone the opportunity to read and write.  The leaders want to have even more power over people, and since knowledge is power, they don't want everyday Joe's to be at the same levels of intellectualism.  This is pretty sad because we can all learn from each other in some way, and if you're surrounded by stupid/uneducated/ignorant people, how far can a society go?  It reminds me of the portfolio speaker from the other day- "Work with people who are smarter than you,... always."