Typewriters

Purple cornflower 6/19/24 dwm

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Do you remember that sentence? 

When I took a short course during junior high, that was one of the first assignments we learned to type.

There weren't many boys in the class, I also took a course in shorthand. I remembered how to write my name that way for a couple years.

By the end of the class, I could type more than 40 words a minute. What stuck with me is the familiarity with the QWERTY keyboard.

I didn't know then I would be typing most of my life. Personal computers weren't a thing and phones weren't smart, they were tied to the house.

For most of my journalism career, until I got to WISC, I had a manual typewriter. The physicality of writing a story had a rhythm of starts and stops as I composed, corrected, and yanked paper to throw away.

The computer keyboard I use now is handier than a heavy typewriter, which I couldn't balance across my knees. It uses an electronic connection to put letters on the screen and when I make mistakes it's easy to erase.

Sometimes I'd like to have one of my typewriters. The old machines are collectibles. The first typewriter was invented back in 1575 when a machine pressed letters into paper. 

The old typewriters forced people to learn where the keys were instead of using the 'hunt and peck' method of keyboard navigation.  Our smart phones have reversed history with most of us typing with our thumbs.

Happy National Typewriters Day!