In response to the ongoing debate about calligraphy ( is it art or craft; is illegibility okay? what about formal vs. handwriting?),  I wrote the following, part of which I recently calligraphed in my class in California:

Ecclesiastes of Calligraphy

For every piece there is

a time to rule up

a time to jump outside the lines

a time to be formal

a time to improvise

a time to be legible

a time to be illegible

a time to use nibs

a time to use chopsticks

a time to use color

a time for black and white

a time to doodle

a time to put well-behaved lettering on the lines

a time to be silly and fey

a time to be ominous and serious

a time to use gothic

a time to use your own handwriting

For every piece

There is reverence for the client who appreciates fine work:

there is hope that art will bring healing into the world

there is joy for being gifted as an artist,

for making things that matter

there is an honoring of posterity in making artifacts that can last beyond our years,

there is love of humanity for our ability to express ourselves through art

there is payment which goes beyond the money we receive;

for every piece there  is an opportunity to express our uniqueness, to dance with lines and color on a multitude of surfaces, to seize the moment and truly LIVE