Fountain Pens and New Friends
By: Sherry Cheng
This summer marked the start of my rapid spiral into the world of fountain pens.
At first, fountain pens seemed like far too much trouble for what they were. But when my boyfriend haphazardly bought me a $15 Pilot Kakuno, there was no way he could have known the descent he started me on.
A quick dip into the massive ocean of fountain pen YouTube content available and I am now eyeing the enticing array of bottled ink colors I can expand into. If I want to upgrade from the basic ink cartridges to bottled inks, can you guess what I need? Another pen. A more expensive pen.
When I offhandedly mentioned my pen dilemma at a company barbecue, the person beside me lit up. I felt that instant thrill of running into another person with the same interest. He happily brought me deeper down the rabbit hole of nibs, product brands, and his top choices. It was the real-life version of the Spider-Man meme as we discovered we had visited the exact same corner of the internet.
That effortless transition from high-level small talk to hyper-specific personal interests forged a fast friendship. Since then, my friend and I have delighted in sharing the latest fountain pen developments. We’ve stepped out of the office to visit a nearby stationery store and spent thirty minutes trialing pens. Our fellow intern listened, both confused and amused, as we rambled on about how it could have been the paper quality that drove the lacklustre pen performance in-store.
Shared interests frequently act as an instant bridge between people. At a networking dinner, I mentioned I was considering going to see The Rocky Horror Show. The partner sitting next to me paused mid-bite, positively giddy. He shared that he and his wife were longtime fans, and how his basement wall was lined with Playbills from decades of shows. Networking, often described as uncomfortable and artificial, suddenly felt more sincere.
As I plan a stationery crawl through Chicagoland for the upcoming school year, I’m encouraged by how genuine commonalities can foster camaraderie. Whether it’s the Pokémon charm on a work bag that breaks the ice or a Legally Blonde small-group dinner that brings together new people, our passions, however niche, allow us to flourish authentically.
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