The Lovely Mix of Old & New

I confess a wicked love for old typewriters. I received my first typewriter as an eighth grade graduation gift from my mother, who thought of the practical uses, that I would use it for all my papers in high school. I did. But I also spent most my free time - when I wasn't in dance classes or rehearsals or reading British novels - sitting on my bedroom floor and typing poems and stories and journal entries and who knows what all else. When I was angry at my parents ( a good chunk of the time like most 15 year olds) I typed list after list of things I hated, things I wouldn't do to my own children (which would be interesting to see now that I am a parent),  the qualities I wanted to have when I was a parent. When I was exhausted from venting and ranting, I'd type a list of the things I loved and was grateful for. It was one of my better self-devised coping mechanisms. There's something gratifying and satisfying about the click-tap-taping sound of typewriter keys. Something about it always makes me feel better.

So being from Portland, where DIY and hacking are both long standing lifestyle choices, it's hard not to love this anachronistic steampunkish mix of old typewriter and Apple computer. When I saw it this morning on NPR's website, I instantly swooned. If I had a home, maybe an office with an old oak desk that would go with my old oak library chair I picked up at a yard sale for $3, then maybe I'd recreate the above.

         Somewhere along the line I loaned my typewriter to a friend, and I never got it back. I still miss it. Even though it's too heavy to put in my suitcase as we travel from place to place as we find a home. Of course now, I want a Olivetti Underwood Manual Typewriter. They sound delightful.