Day 311: Today, I’m ruminating upon the typewriter. I have a fascination with typewriters. They are a seriously cool invention. Unlike most of our modern conveniences, identifying the inventor of the typewriter has proven difficult. There is controversy. It seems there were more than 50 inventors across the world ruminating upon the subject at the same time. I know what you’re thinking: If only there had been Shark Tank back then, the investors would have straightened it out in one episode.
I’m just glad I get to enjoy the result of their efforts. Mom was a typist at work, and a typist at home, whether it be genealogy charts, or life histories, or preparing my dad’s patriarchal blessings to be delivered to their owners.
She taught me to type on her Smith Corona typewriter, but I still took a typing class in high school, because Mom said “If you can type, you will always be employable.” It was her version of “Give a man a fish.”
She was right, although the skill transformed to keyboarding, and literally everyone on the planet now needs to know how to use a QWERTY keyboard. Being a typist will no longer get you the job, but NOT being a typist can surely lose you the job.
Knowing how much I love typewriters, my thoughtful husband gave me this wireless Bluetooth keyboard that looks - and feels - just like a typewriter. It is the coolest ever, and helps me get in my Write Zone. But I don’t have to change a ribbon or use White Out to fix errors. My words appear on the screen with ease. And I can even choose a “typewriter” font so it looks like I’ve hammered out each letter. Isn’t modern technology incredible? The best of the old with the best of the new. (The only thing I’m missing is that satisfying sound as I type the final period and slide the carriage return to the next line to type THE END.)
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