The Line Writer Returns?

Post-Script: Here are the two poems Noah wrote today:





It's easy to see coincidences where there perhaps aren't any, but earlier today I'd posted a video and blog article about the first in a series of Typing Assignments. Do things like this blow on the wind, like pollen or dust? The very day when I issued this first creative writing assignment, my grandson returns to the typewriter after a long hiatus. All we can do is count our blessings - and keep writing.

Here's Noah's blog.

The Value of a Virtual Community

Post-Script: Noah is now in his own room at the hospital, and is mostly sleeping. Skin grafts will begin in a few days. Thank you all, near and far, for your thoughts and prayers.

I sat out on the back porch this afternoon, Olympia SF in my lap, typing while smoking a cigar. I hope this typecast isn't permeated with the aroma, for you sensitive nonsmoking readers. I observed that, while the last round of adjustments seem to have mostly fixed this machine's line spacing issues, there's a bit of wonkiness on the first letters after a carriage return. So not 100% yet. Repairing these entirely mechanical devices is, appropriately enough, an analog function. It's not like it's either entirely broken or entirely perfect, a Boolean logic function, but always somewhere in between, in that fuzzy gray area of real life. Such it will be with Noah's recovery, too. We'll give him all the support he needs. Best of all, the body has built-in healing systems of regeneration, unlike this inanimate assemblage of metal.

I feel the need to get at least one video produced this week, but haven't settled on a topic. And I need a haircut, and the barbershop doesn't open till tomorrow. Maybe something to do with reading through the archive of Noah's old typings, and the value of getting kids started with typewriters - even though, in his case, he really hasn't been using a typewriter for a few years. Still, there's something about these strictly mechanical devices as enablers of creativity, for this generation of millenials who didn't grow up with them as a regular part of their lives.

Regarding the top photo of Noah's car, I wasn't certain about posting it online, but there it is, in all its ugliness. I don't intend on keeping this blog entirely focused on this family issue, but I'll keep you updated as events warrant. Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers.

The Line Writer Rediscovered

I want to publicly thank all of you who have offered support during this difficult time period. As you may know from reading my previous entry, my grandson Noah, a.k.a. The Line Writer, was involved in a serious car wreck yesterday evening. He was ejected from his car at highway speed and the vehicle ended up on top of him. He is conscious and fairly lucid, with a bit of short-term memory issues. He has a broken shoulder and burns to his face, other shoulder and torso from being pinned against the car's hot exhaust pipes after the wreck. There are also bad abrasions from "road rash," along with major bruising. He is expected to be hospitalized for several weeks while he undergoes skin grafts for the burns. Then will come a lengthy period of rehabilitation. But we are only taking this day by day.

Today, after returning from a hospital visit, I was leafing through a folder of Noah's old typings and unearthed some short pieces that were never published to his Line Writer blog, which I have now done so.

I was reflecting on these short typings, many just snippets no longer than a Tweet or Facebook posting. Yet here they are, some seven or so years later. The lesson I take from this is to never underestimate the power of planting a typewriter in a kid's life, even if he does lose interest in it after starting puberty and the only remaining evidence is a folder of these paper scraps. Plant the seed, water it, give it some light and stand back, because you never know what might spring forth, perhaps many years later.

Today at the hospital Noah was asking if I'd draw him some mazes for him to solve. Sure, I said. But now, as I sit here typing, I'm think that this marvelous kid probably said that as much to make me feel better as for himself. That's why he's such a great person. I suppose now I better get busy drawing. As my friend Michael told me today, "God's got this." And I believe him.

The Prodigal Hermes

Post-Script: Here's a close-up of the left front corner, adjacent to the space bar, where the two body halves had once been glued together. A small c-clamp will served to hold both halves together tightly, but it gets in the way of my left hand while typing. Yes, I could just wedge a piece of craft foam in the gap between the two halves, while typing, to keep it from rattling; and use a belt or strap while lugging the machine by its clam shell's handle for transport. But I'm really intrigued by the idea of removing the chassis and mounting it, naked, to a nicely finished base of plywood. What do you think?



And what do you make of the font style? I love it; another reason to keep the machine and try to make it more usable.

Photo via Lumix G5.