one typist in the 21st century
Friday, October 18, 2024
Southworth air mail stationery
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Free Thoughts, October 2024
This time I was joined by Sayo, a Xavier student, to type "free thoughts" for the public. We had plenty of requests, and I captured only a few of the results in photos.
Sayo was new at this, but he proved to be a gifted on-the-spot thinker. Afterwards, he said that the experience made him feel like a better person. I know what he means! I recommend giving this a try if you want to create meaningful moments for yourself and for the people you'll meet.
Saturday, October 5, 2024
AI can't generate this (yet)
Several image generators provided by Nightcafe don't do any better. This one is atmospheric and eye-catching, but that's not typewritten text:
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Nadex Pioneer typewriter
Don't waste your money on a Nadex. But wonder, with me, what might happen if someone decided to pour a few million dollars into creating a proper typewriter factory, with high-quality materials and careful assembly. We need a good new manual typewriter for the rest of the 21st century!
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Louis L'Amour on typewriters
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Notebooks I have known
Bob Sassone was curious to know more about the notebooks I use. So here is a rundown—of interest, maybe, to readers who love to write by hand (I suspect there's a significant overlap with typewriter lovers).
My notebooks fall into two groups.
There are the academic notebooks, which I've used since college for class notes (as a student, then as a teacher) and notes from conferences, lectures, etc. These are usually around 8.5" x 11". I am currently on my 41st volume.
Then there are the personal journals, which are smaller, usually 6"x8" or so. I started these in high school and I'm currently on my 19th.
UC Berkeley had a little room where you could buy books to support the library. They were discards or unwanted donations. I found quite a few bizarre oddities here, as well as a few ledger-style notebooks—the kind Bob Sassone says "look like something Scrooge would have used for his business." They had a few scientific notes, written in a fluid and confusing hand with a thick fountain pen. These must date from the 1950s or earlier.
I filled them with course notes (and doodles).
Once the "Scrooge" volumes were full, I turned to unruled artist's sketchbooks, which leave me free to organize text (and doodles) as I like.
For many years I preferred plain, black-bound sketchbooks. There were some exceptions, such as these beautiful volumes. My mother-in-law bought the green one for me in Egypt; I bought the other in Montalcino, Italy.
More recently, I've been using colorful (even a bit garish) blank notebooks produced by Flame Tree. Half Price Books sells these for only $10 apiece.
For the personal journals, I started out in high school with a little, paperbound, lined notebook. All the rest have been nicer, blank journals from various sources. I've gotten several from Epica, which imports beautiful Italian leather-bound journals. Pricey, but worth it.
Moleskine and Leuchtturm 1917 also make good journals, but I've gotten some with thin paper that allows too much ink to show through; in those cases I've written only on the recto (right-side pages).
My preferred handwriting tool is a Pilot Namiki vanishing-point fountain pen. Every year or so, I drop mine on its nib and have to replace it. I'm a klutz.
What if I really want to write something by typewriter? This happens pretty often when I'm preparing for class. I type it up and tape it into a notebook.
There is a lot of satisfaction in working with ink and paper, and filling a shelf with your writing.
What are your favorite ways to write by hand?