What Are Your Superpowers?

Nancy Daley
5 min readMar 31, 2023

We all have some.

Random diary page. Hard to find one with nothing mortifying on it. (Author’s photo)

Three weeks away from 70, I feel it is time for me to name and claim my superpowers. I would like to be remembered as something more than an artist wannabe who manages to get paint everywhere. So, I thought I’d make a list of favorites.

Great Penmanship

Here’s one that will doubtless stand the test of time. I liked writing long before I could actually make letters. Once I got to kindergarten and they handed out that paper with solid and dotted lines to help us form capital and lower-case letters without having them avalanche off the page, I thought life would be great forever.

I loved printing practice, cursive practice, pencil practice, and the glorious day when we were allowed to copy our pencil work in ballpoint pen. Ah, the Palmer Method! The cardboard alphabet and perfect digits like a wallpaper border in every classroom!

In fifth grade, in honor of Anne Frank (who preferred a thick nib although I do not), I bought myself a fountain pen at the 5&10. Among other things, a fountain pen will slow your hand down and give you time to perfect your writing. Back in the day it also made the nuns happy, a rare delight.

In high school I adored the penmanship of my BFF, and copied her as best I could. (Funnily enough, last week she texted she was copying me!)…

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Nancy Daley

Artist, food-worshipper, grouch, retired psychologist and uni lecturer (Human Sexuality). Currently running for Queen of the Universe.