The pen

"Literally, it's the power to control the pen, and the power to control what the pen perpetuates," Sanders said. "People's interest in this debate about cursive handwriting, typing, texting and other incarnations of the language -- this is proof that these things still have the power to move us. It's the surest evidence you need for the importance of handwriting to the culture."

-copied from CNN article.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/IREPORT/08/26/handwriting.history.irpt/index.html