In the Beginning, It Wasn't About a Typewriter – Toni Youngblood
First
draft of this essay was typed on a Smith Corona Classic 12 typewriter.
April 23, 2023 (My greyhound, Tesla's tenth birthday)
It began
with noble intention. I read an article in the New Yorker magazine:
“Five Ways to Declutter by Reckoning With Your Mortality, Plus One Bonus
Tip” by Annie Mebanne (August 1, 2016).
Decluttering has been on
my mind for quite awhile, especially after having purchased a second
home for the purpose of fleeing cold, snowy winters at the location of
my five-bedroom primary residence. My “plan” was to permanently
relocate to the barely two-bedroom getaway cottage at some point.
Consideration of down sizing was definitely in order. The article “Five
Ways to Declutter by Reckoning with Your Mortality...” seems
appropriate for my eventual move to a home less than a third the size of
the home I've occupied for over sixteen years. The other thought, more
morose, hovered around the vision of relatives (nieces and nephews)
walking into my five-bedroom, fully furnished and-then-some home and
seeing my “collection” of stuff as just a bunch of STUFF. A responsible
Auntie would have a well-appointed will that spelled out any gifts, and
have otherwise organized an estate sale from which proceeds would go to
a favorite charity, maybe nieces and nephews included. I saw the
article as a helpful outline from which to proceed.
All was good in Mebanne's account of her journey to successfully let go of
things. Then she came upon her beloved Hermes 3000 typewriter that she
hadn't used in decades. Many thoughts had turned into words on paper
through her use of this typing machine. She mentioned that Tom Hanks
had this model in his collection of over 200 typewriters, and it was a
favorite of his. At this point, I will say that I did read the entire
article, though I don't remember much more about it. Since her
reference to the typewriter, I took a fast and furious dive into the
world of typewriters, the sequence of the details traveling down that
road have become fuzzy. In case you didn't know, there is a typewriter
revolution going on, and “THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TYPEWRITTEN!” ~The
Boston Typewriter Orchestra.
I found a short YouTube of Tom Hanks
changing the ribbon on one of his typewriters. Then I ran across a
reference to a documentary called “California Typewriter”. Oh, god, help
me, I found it on FreeVee (or some other free film-watching vehicle)
and watched with great interest. There were interviews with Tom Hanks,
of course, but also Sam Shepard, John Mayer, David McCullough, and
others. An opening scene describes the re-creation of an event
involving artist Ed Ruscha, a friend and a photographer throwing a
typewriter out of a car window while traveling along Highway 91 in
California. This event occurred in 1966, was subsequently photographed
(post murder of the typewriter) and assembled into an art book by
Ruscha. I was hooked. Lots more information was shared about
typewriters in the film by owners and employees of a typewriter shop and
repair business in Berkeley, California from which the film title came.
My trip down the typewriter rabbit hole continued.
After
informally, but curiously researching typewriter brands and models by
era and functions, I zeroed in on a model that I believed could work for
me. For what purpose? Writing. WRITING---something I'd not done
very seriously since writing my thesis in partial requirement of my
M.Arch degree, Master of Architecture which I completed in 1990. Other
than that (and descriptions of on-site construction visits during my
architecture career) there was the occasional blog post that included a
bit of research on a topic, and my thoughts on it, for my own
entertainment.
I didn't keep track of the time that went by
before I found the model I was looking for, maybe a week, a week and a
half. I set my sights on the Smith Corona Classic 12. The “12”
describes the 12-inch carriage which allows for an 8-1/2 inch x 11 inch
sheet of paper to be turned horizontally, as well as accommodating a
tabular size sheet of paper, 11 inches x 17 inches, in vertical
orientation. After searching on eBay and Etsy, I found two machines in
good condition at reasonable cost on Facebook Marketplace, one in my
current city and the other in the town where my getaway cottage is
located. I settled on the current city machine, as I could try it out
right away. A day after the purchase, I ran across a list online of
well-known writers and the typewriter models most often used during
their careers. It turns out that Patti Smith used the same Smith Corona
Classic 12 model that I purchased last Sunday. She also borrowed Sam
Shepherd's Hermes 3000, back in the days when they were an item. (Read
her book, “Just Kids” mostly about her love and friendship with Robert
Maplethorpe, for more on that and other meaningful people in her young
life.)
At this point, I must return to the interviews with the
likes of John Mayer, Sam Shepard, David McCullough, and Tom Hanks in
“California Typewriter”. Their views resonated with me concerning my
lack of focus living in our world of the internet, social media
“communications” and the massive distractions they create. McCullough
mentioned the “solitude” of using the typewriter in his work, versus the
inevitable breach of that which comes with word processing on a
computer with internet lurking. Hanks likes to personally type “Thank
You” notes. He despises email “Thank you's” and will delete without
reading! Mayer spoke of the intimacy of writing lyrics on his
typewriter and being able to easily pick up the pages within arm's
reach, instead of storing them on a hard drive which he never looks at
again! Sam Shepard likes that the typewriter forces him to think more
about what he wants to say and how to say it before typing it on the
paper.
In the seven days since purchasing my Smith Corona, I
have happily been practicing typing on a daily basis by copying articles
from issues of the New Yorker magazine that I borrowed from the Little
Free Library on my block (placed there by my neighbor who played in our
local symphony orchestra for more than thirty years). I have also
continued online to search for favored easy-touch machines, as my Smith
Corona manual requires “pounding” my fingers on the keys to elicit clear
type. I never realized how useless my left pinky finger is, until
typing on this machine, although I had similar experience attempting to
hit the lowest notes on my alto saxophone. A positive is that the action
of typing on this machine tends to strengthen my core muscles which
weakened after acquiring a hernia during the pandemic. I had surgery
three weeks ago to fix the hernia and no physical harm is being done by
typing.
Reviews and tips abound on the internet. Anecdotal
accounts by Tom Hanks, as well as typewriter repair persons, and
all-around typewriter lovers describe “flying fingers” and “butter soft”
touch when typing with an Olivetti Lettera 22, Italian designed and
manufactured beginning the middle of the 20th Century. One of these
machines is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art Department of
Architecture and Design, as a fine example of design.
After
seven days of owning my first typewriter in decades, I purchased a
second machine: the Olivetti Lettera 22 from an eBay seller. It will
ship out to me tomorrow, Monday.
How is my own de-cluttering project going?
SCORE
De-accessioned: One coffee mug
Acquired: Two vintage typewriters
