Going For a Walk

Post-Script: I wrote this on the new (to me) IBM Model 71 Selectric I. The ribbon was nearing the end, hence the poor imprint quality until I switched it out with the new roll supplied by the repair shop. Two aspects of this experience of composing on the IBM come to mind. First, I distinctly noticed the absence of a combination black/red ribbon. Being able to highlight certain letters in red is something I do miss with this otherwise fine machine. Second, there were times when I reached for the platen knob to manually move the carriage back for some needed correction, only to remember that the carriage is fixed, and instead I had to press and hold the backspace key, then impatiently listen to the cyclic kerchunk of the mechanism as it did its backspacing.

I originally thought, when the idea for this piece came to me during my walk, of composing it by hand via fountain pen, then doing the finish work on the IBM; but time was running short this afternoon and I instead composed the whole piece at the keyboard.

I've yet to find my writer's voice doing these kinds of pieces; the sense of nostalgia is too strong. It's hard to maintain some objectivity as an external observer. I consider it an exercise, which I hope you find acceptable.

Casey Rocks the Brother ML100

Y'all probably know this feller by the name of Casey Neistat. YouTube blogger. Co-star of MTV's The Neistat Brothers series. Skateboarder. Drone flier. Father. Husband. New Yorker. A self-made person. He's doing well enough that he probably doesn't need me promoting his videos. But I've linked his Valentine's Day video above, a love-letter to his wife Candice, because it was sweet. And it prominently featured a Brother ML100 electric typewriter.

I liked the sound of the staccato rhythm of his electric Brother through out the video. And as a typewriter collector, I also like the idea that, for Casey, he's not a fetishist or collector. For him, it appears that an electric typewriter is just a practical tool. Like all the other practical tools that adorn the walls of his studio. That's cool, and refreshing. If I wasn't such a typewriter nerd and collector, and didn't like manual typewriters so much, I too might be happy with just one machine, a modern-day electric daisywheel "wedge".

I don't want to over-analyse Casey's video too much, but I liked how the typewriter, a not-nearly-as-glamorous-machine-as-a-black-and-chrome-manual-from-the-1930s, was the perfect tool for writing a love letter, which he then folded and placed in an envelop. He could have - if he had a printer - word process the crap out of a love letter. Or pen it by hand with quill and bottled ink. Unless his penmanship, like mine, is sorely lacking. Typewriters were made for people like us.

Casey's video, I'm certain, will garner millions of views. And those millions of people will be witness to the eminent practicality, in 2018, of a typewriter in one's home, office or studio, a tool ready to do the work of printing directly to paper a brief document, like a love letter.