La Plume Etoile

I have sent several shipments of my unneeded pens to the great charity, Pens for Kids.  Pens for Kids (PFK) provides pens to children in Africa to help them enhance their educational experience.  Many of these children do not even have pens and pencils, which makes learning and doing homework extremely difficult.  I found this cause to be extremely important because education is what saves many of these children in their poverty and disease-stricken communities.

In addition to pens, PFK accepts monetary donations that are used for postage to ship pens to Africa.

I spoke with Linda, the Executive Director of PFK, about whether they are getting enough pens and money to adequately serve the children.  She told me that:

“Getting pens donated is not problem (we’re currently receiving about 2000 pens a month from all over the world including a pen company in the US, but the issue we have is paying to ship them to Africa. We receive about $200 per month in monetary donations and we pay for the balance needed personally.  Right now we are collecting pens to personally take . . . a couple friends and I are going on a safari and are trying to get the airlines to let us take extra bags.”

Even though PFK gets a good number of pens, there are still not enough pens for all who need them.  Linda also told me, ” These countries are poverty stricken and dealing with child AIDS, malaria, infant mortality, corrupt governments, lack of food and clothing etc.   School is TRULY a luxury and the one area that we chose to focus on to make a difference. Education is the only way to solve the other issues.    We are a grassroots effort and 100% of what ever is notated - pens or cash for shipping  - goes directly to the kids.  We have no paid employees and are only a group of 6 people around the world slowly making a difference.  So, the short answer is no, we are always under-supplied but $$ is the bigger challenge.”

It is truly touching that people like Linda make these trips and personally supplement PFK’s financial deficits to help children in need.  Please visit www.pensforkids.com to learn more about how you can help.  You can ship pens to PFK’s Long Beach location or directly to Africa.  You can also send money to help PFK ship pens to Africa.

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Appearance: The Diplomat Excellence B is a very classy looking pen. It is a pearlized white with silver trim and clip. The section is black.

Nib: The nib is stainless steel, etched with the Diplomat logo and the words “DIPLOMAT Since 1922 F.” The nib is connected to the section, so if for any reason you change nibs, you change the whole section piece with the nib, not just the nib itself. My nib often has nib creep, but that does not affect the performance of the pen at all.

Opening and Closing: This pen has a pull-off cap that removes easily. When capping the pen, the cap seals with a satisfying click and stays on securely.

Size/Weight: This pen is a good width, neither too skinny nor thick. It is comfortable for me to wrap my fingers around when writing, but someone with very large hands might find it small.

I find the pen to be well balanced and I prefer to write with it unposted because the pen’s body is slightly heavy for me, even though it is not really a heavy pen. It feels substantial in the hand. Despite the fact that the B’s weight is heavier than pens with which I normally write, I have comfortably written with this pen for several hours at a time.

Posting the cap requires a bit of pressure. If the cap is not pressed down enough to post properly, it will flop around and fall off, so I advise making sure it is on good.

Writing: Writing with the Excellence B is smooth and easy. Like I said, I have comfortably written with it for long periods of time.

Ink: This is a cartridge/converter pen and I have been using it with a converter. The flow is also quite wet on this model, which adds more shading to my ink — a feature I like. The ink used in the photo below is J. Herbin’s Vert Olive (a favorite!).

Other Considerations: Like the Diplomat Esteem I reviewed before, the Excellence B has not given my any problems with drying out after leaving the pen sit for a while. I actually had not used this pen for a couple of months while I was busy with other projects and it was still fresh when I picked it up again! I do not know of many pens that will maintain a good flow without drying out after several months.

The Box: The Excellence B’s box is also quite nice. It has a satin pillow patterned with the Diplomat logo and a little piece of ribbon to hold the pen in place. For some reason there is a bit of lint in there which does get on the pen, but is easily wiped off. Then the box comes with a metal top that slides over the main box and then fits in a regular Diplomat cardboard box.

Overall: Diplomat’s website at www.mydiplomatpen.com, accurately states their products are “Fine German Writing Instruments.” The Excellence B is one of the more expensive pens in the line, but it is one of my favorite modern fountain pens and I highly recommend it.

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