“There’s this thing called a typewriter.”
http://www.ourventurablvd.com/November-2013/Whimsical-Elegance/
(Lisa Cerone at home in Encino…)
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My friend and writing teacher Linda Schreyer met me this morning at the Farmer’s Market up at Beverly Glen. It’s an easy way to shop for fruits & vegetables, support local vendors, and take a pleasant break from the cold, anonymous supermarkets that pretend to care about us but don’t even know our names.
Linda had saved this column for me from the “Ventura Boulevard” magazine. Author Lisa Cerone writes about how we’ve stopped using the phone to text instead. And how she thinks things are about to change. Her daughter said, when asked what she wanted for Christmas, “There’s this thing called a typewriter. It’s a keyboard and printer in ONE machine and it doesn’t need a charger!”
Lisa writes, “I’ve watched hr find cathartic pleasure in literally — physically — banging out her teenaged angst on the noisy, clunky keys. She credits the typewriter for helping her get over a broken heart.”
She’s writing poetry now.
“Without a delete key or the judgy, red squiggly spell-check line, an authentic flow of expression is unleashed. And physically holding her work in her hands somehow makes the words matter more.”
Lisa pulled out old lover letters she and her husband wrote each other. “It … made me realize I need to add a tactile element into the way I communicate,” she concludes. “A decade of electronic communication has left me in a state of sensory deprivation.”
She want s to use her lovely stationery again. And she wants to “bridge the distance I’ve created since we all stopped talking.”
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Lisa, thank you for putting this into words. Next time you want to feel inspired, I suggest you ask your daughter if you can borrow her typewriter for a few hours… and see what happens. I predict you too will find your hand connect with your heart
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This article was my first published article, and the first time I completed anything that resembled an article since high school. I didn’t go to college. You can’t imagine how thrilled I was to read that a real writer and a real writing teacher seemed to enjoy the result. Thank you. Emboldened by your response I have a quick follow up to this article that I’m a little embarrassed to share.
I received a half dozen lovely handwritten notes in response to this article. It seemed to strike a chord when I lamented the fact that our relationships have suffered since we’ve abandoned tactile, thoughtful notes in favor of tweets and posts. I treasure those notes. I tried to write back. I really did. But I realized my creative flow is so connected to the muscle memory of typing on a keyboard and holding a pen in my hand created sort of a dam. My flow was down to a trickle. The letters were dull and clunky and did not express what was in my heart. So, I am still looking at that untouched stack of beautiful notepaper. This morning when we ran out of coffee filters I even thought ,for a brief moment, of giving the notepaper a purpose after all these years. But then, I read your blog. My daughter’s typewriter! It never occurred to me. There may be hope for me yet! Thank you. Your site is such a lovely resource.
Lisa Cerone