The typewriter revolution

     Like so many things as a kid typewriters were a curiosity. We had an antique Royal that I was totally fascinated with, it had beautiful beveled windows in the side that you could see the inner workings. It was replaced with a cheap nasty plastic suitcase typewriter that just wasn't the same. But progress being what it was the Royal had a date with the dump, I was sad and totally broken hearted when it made the crashing tumble into the "pit". We attempted recovery not realizing how special it was to me but at 5-6 it was an immovable object and was so mangled and broken it would never work again.

     My handwriting is terrible, always has been. I started to learn to properly use a typewriter in about the third grade. Right about the time computers were starting to come into use with their nasty, noisy dot matrix printers. In middle and high school I only used the word processor as much as I had to, still preferring the typewriter.

    I think it's the immediacy, your thought are just there. Not on a screen where you can easily delete, cut, paste, copy, spell check... Just a raw what's on your mind. The digital realm has made things easier, faster, cheaper but the editorial is lost. Photography has suffered the same devaluing, an endless stream of images that can be deleted and edited at will, no longer a mere 24 that the photographer has to make count and can't take back. The typewriter is the same you better have your thoughts in order because it's a monumental effort to take it back once it's on paper.

    After finally giving into word processors many years ago my I hadn't given the typewriter much thought until recently when I came across a late model IBM selectric III. In those intervening years I've done a bit of experimental script writing in Celtex and wondered how'd they do it in the old days. Well looks like I'm going to find out.

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