> writing with chalk is slower than with a “smelly pen,”<p>I don't know... I studied theoretical math and my professors were definitely giving me a good workout trying to write down from the chalkboard.
On thing that I never realized is that chalk is much better over longer distances in larger classrooms.<p>When I took organic chemistry in a lecture hall that seated 200, the professor used larger chalk and you could easily see it in the entire hall. A regular marker would be too fine to see. I don't think that you could have a larger marker as the ink reservoir would be large and unwieldy. Plus it would probably drain rather quickly.
Although briefly mentioned on the essay, the Hagoromo Fulltouch Chalk is great. I still have a few boxes of it from the mid-90s. Thing is, I don't have a chalkboard on which to use it.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagoromo_Bungu" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagoromo_Bungu</a>
Oh my goodness, this article misses an unbelievable classic, and from one of the great professors of my grad school youth, A Topological Picturebook, by George Francis.<p><a href="https://a.co/d/8TOdLJE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://a.co/d/8TOdLJE</a>
Smelly pen? When in school, I hated cleaning the blackboard (when it was my turn for the day), because my hands would then smell of chalk (and the disgusting smell of uncleaned wet sponge). So you always have to wash them, and washing hands multiple times per hour isn't very pleasant.
While I don't use chalk, I've found a professional mechanical pencil will usually produce better thinking than figma almost every time. There's an auditory and tactile element to drawing that really focuses my mind, whereas drawing digital shapes seems to feel without consequence.