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Did I mention the story above turns out improbably well? For the relative, not for the fate of typewriters, I mean.
Ah, the Old Mill is the name of the place we were, thank you interweb. I hear a recent fire did some damage to the structure.
Enough about me. While we're sitting here drinking moonshine and reminiscing about the year in typewriters, what was your favorite typewriting moment in 2008?
22 comments:
My typewriter moment for this year was actually rediscovering the typewriter. Since then, I've come to have an appreciation for all the talented people who designed these machines, and those who keep them clicking. It makes me a little sad when I hear of people like Mr. Tytell passing, since I know people aren't stepping in to fill their shoes like they used to.
Very jealous over here in Vegas that you have such places around you.
It's a flagrant violation of the anablog code, but my spiffy typewriter moment was when my wife came home from thrift shop trolling with sixteen shiny new elements for my Selectric 72. She hands me the box, with the elements chattering in their brand-new, shiny little bubbles of plastic, and she asks me "Will these fit your typewriter?" She was of course thrown when I hugged her fiercely and then started pawing through them, squinting to read the print in the tops of the elements.
The runner-up has to have been fixing, on my own, the escapement issue that my Lettera 32 all by my lonesome.
Glad to hear that the thing with your relative worked out. makes you really appreciate what kind of time that you DO have...
Is it too cheesy to say my typewriter moment for the year was reading this site? Though I don't own a typewriter (please don't hate me) I find this site fun to read. And I have to say, I have even been tempted several times to actual buy a typewriter (even though I am not a writer) because I want to get in on the fun you are all having.
The moment came to me, after settling in to collect some thoughts at a hard-earned, long-awaited sojourn at the Benedictine monastery in the mountainous woods of Vermont. After 14 years of pilgrimages there, I wanted to blog from the hermitage, and the most natural and most practical thing was to take my typewriter.
(see:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l147/abraham188/rest3.jpg)
The machine itself was my Dad's through much of his career. He recently gave it to me, and I had it overhauled by a typewriter repairman in nearby Biddeford Maine. At that moment of rolling in that first sheet of blank blue paper, I felt the good wishes of my Dad, my friends back in Maine, and Jim the repairman. My sunlit perch caught all the west-facing sunlight, and my typing joined the countless singing birds. In that fine moment I also thought of kindred blogging souls, and was very thankful!
~A.
http://laviegraphite.blogspot.com/
My typewriter moment would have to be relaunching my blog after letting it sit stagnant for over a year, this time primarily as a typecast blog. Thanks to you, Strikethru, for providing the stimulus!
There were minor other moments: coming across the Keaton music typewriter's dust-covered case in the back of a barn, finally acquiring the blue Corona Four I'd lusted after for years, spreading good typing will by giving away or trading several machines, finally fixing the Woodstock #4's escapement after dinking with it off and on for almost five years, every time I read about someone in the anablogsphere coming into possession of some neat old typer they found in a thrift store or garage sale.
It was a good year, typewise.
It did end on a bit of a bittersweet note, as one of my favorite typewriter-using authors, Donald Westlake, passed away New Year's Eve. I have a letter he once wrote me giving some writing advice. It's typed, of course. This morning, I sent off a typed letter of condolence to his widow.
Ah, the Old Mill. There should be several photos around here somewhere of me looking longingly into some boy's eyes standing just in front of the water wheel. I don't belive any one of the boys is the same boy, but the pictures are terribly sweet. I should find them.
Favorite typewriter moment? Giving away that typewriter at the Vortex release party and watching the young winner hug it up close, ready to get back to a dorm room and write some dark, aching poetry. You could see the poet-twinkle in his eyes as he left.
You've reminded me - I need to call our typewriter man and check up on him.
Speculator, I was raised in the woods of Vermont and still hope to head back there someday, typewriters in tow. ;-) Your thoughtful posts and wonderful photography often make me homesick for New England.
My favorite typewriter moment of the year? Gosh, there are so many! Probably lugging home the SG-3 on August 19, through the rain and the dark, and finding that it typed beautifully after a bit of cleaning.
Nup, you know I can hook you up with a typewriter, of course.
typograph, it is your mission to convert others!
Mike, isn't *your* future shop going to make LV a typewriting destination?
Speculator, what kind of typewriter is it? It looks green in the picture.
Olivander, I enjoyed reading all those posts. How are you preserving the letter? I have a letter from Lynda Barry, who is my personal hero, that she hand-wrote on some Japanese stationery.
Elizabeth, I should go back to your site and check... the SG3 is the machine with the robot font, right? Best font ever. Wait, here is a matter of personal confusion... does the word font apply to typewriters? I am not a typesetting expert whatsoever.
Monda, you're cracking me up again. I can totally see such pictures being taken at the Old Mill. For sure. I have a few grumpy snapshots of my dad on the bridge, that's all.
My best typewriter moment took place in the last days of 2008, when I found out about this excellent blog. Strikethru.net is marvelous and informative.
I wrote to Strikethru of my enthusiasm and of a typewriter repair shop that closed two years ago in my home town---it resembled very much the type of shop that Strikethru visited in her latest post.
Yesterday, however, I actually discovered a typewriter shop that is lively and thriving! It is in Manhattan and is named "Typewriters N' Things," located at 56 Eighth Avenue in The Village. Now, there are not any typewriters on view, but the owner repairs both manual and electric typewriters and sells all brands of ribbons and accessories. Within the first few minutes of my being there, he sold ribbon to a customer who owned a Hermes Rocket. (I was struck by the fact that this customer was not even middle-aged but in her twenties!) In addition, this tiny but impeccably neat shop sells the full line of Rhodia, Clairefontaine and other quality notebooks, pads and papers. There is also a large selection of rare Japanese pens and markers as well as half a wall of tools for designers and architects. How so much can fit in this small space and not seem chaotic or oppressive is extraordinary.
In short, there is hope still for this kind of store! It was such a pleasure to find it and then continue my walk through the older streets of The Village, full of cafes and used bookshops...When in Manhattan, be sure to pay "Typewriters N' Things" a visit.
I want to go there IMMEDIATELY! Why am I all the way across the country? Rats.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for your comments. The Maine coast, my home, is in my ears and eyes- and Vermont is, too. Especially the Weston Priory. With no computer or internet access (it is, indeed, a monastic community), typewriting was as practical as it is harmonious in such places.
You'd appreciate this- I hiked much of the Long Trail, and wrote my journal in pen-and-ink, rinsing the copper nibs in streams.
Strikethru, the machine is an Olivetti Lettera 32. My Dad had it customized for his job- so there are some extra keys on it.
Thank you for reading- and for all your writing!
~A
Several big Typewriter Moments I experienced in 2008:
Posting the first 'typecast' on my own LiveJournal, after much encouragement from you all, and especially helpful technical assistance from Monda. I've got a handful of typecasts I need to get scanned and posted.
Seeing the Typewriter Brigade have another successful year, with lots of new faces/names this year. Even though the idea of the Typewriter Brigade was yours, Strikethru, I still think of that loud and loquacious group as my own offspring.
Watching the number of 'anablogs' and typewriter-related sites multiplying has been great, and I hope it continues.
Thanks for all you do, Strikethru, and all you regular Strikethru readers.
And have a wonderful 2009.
The Brigade is definitely under your command-- I wasn't even part of the army! One of my resolutions for next year-- I have to find a way to combine this toddler business with writing 1,666 words a day.
Buying my typewriter for sure. Even if it doesn't work well, and I can't seem to find it...(thank you mom and dad!) It was the most amazingly typewriterly moment in my life. Fixing it will probably be this year's moment. :)
2008 was simply the Year of the Typewriter for me. I went from zero to a baker's dozen in something like four months, and I'm still a little sore from the journey. A mention of the obsession made it into our annual goofy Christmas letter, which may finally nudge my folks into shipping my grandmother's old Underwood portable 'cross country. I played on that old thing in my youth, and the fond memories plus all the little anablogasphere folks just made the obsession blossom and grow.
2007 was the year of the pen, 2008 of the typer, who knows what 2009 will bring my way?
Hi again-
Strikethru, I saw you asked about "font," and in the pre-word-prcoessing parlance, font meant the size (or the "pitch") of the type. A style of type, like Helvetica or Gill, is actually a "typeface." Somehow, the words typeface, letterface, and typestyle have pretty much vanished with the "California Job Case" (that's a wooden tray for metal type fragments).
Mike C., may suggest this be the Year of the Graphite Pencil?
...or the year of the air freshener?
*sniff sniff*
Oh dear, Duffy.
Do I offend?
I'll be happy as long as it's not Y.D.A.U.
Well, I find that my typewriter closet (actually, at the Moon Household, it's commonly known as the Cowboy closet, for a very good reason, a reason which I won't be getting into here) always has a faint old-typewriter smell. So I just figured that, as your collection has grown this year, that might be helpful?
Plus, someone has been reading Infinite Jest, and that makes my heart swell and burst. Wish I was reading it again for the first time.
(actually, no, for the second time. because the first time I gave up in despair. the second I stuck with it and by the end I knew that this was the greatest novel I'd ever picked up.)
a nice autobio about your typewriter. I enjoy the tone.
Firstly: Hi there, Cheryl! I've been away from good ol' Strikethru for far too long (months, it would seem), and I'm finally trying to catch up.
My favorite typewriter moment of the year was probably the free Valentine that I got from some insane guy I found on Freecycle. I had to meet him three times before I got to take the machine home with me. I let the giant turtle sticker he had placed on the case be.
This year has already been pretty good, with a Lettera 22 (first iteration) coming into my possession 2 days ago, with every insert and manual, Olivetti branded dust cover, and a whole package of "Indestructo" carbon paper. A new friend chased it into a dumpster after she saw a man throw it in there. The machine is immaculate, and now I have a sentry at the local landfill rescuing every typewriter that comes through the gate.
Also, Speculator: As a fellow that actually works in a letterpress shop (one of the reasons I've been away from the internet for so long), I can tell you that the use of "font" for a style of type in a typewriter is perfectly legitimate. A font describes a certain size and style in a particular face, and since that never changes in a typewriter, "font" is appropriate. If anything, "font" is even more suitable than "typeface."
And as far as I know re: typography (which increases daily) "Gill" isn't any typeface I've ever heard of. I'll assume you meant "Gill Sans" which was designed by the brilliant Eric Gill. I suggest everyone read his essay entitled "Art" if you can find a copy.
Just sayin' ;-)
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