Have you ever seen a Linotype machine? It’s a big cast iron frame with letter and
symbol keys on three levels. A cup of
melting steel on the top of the machine drops hot metal down to a magical place
where letters keyed in by the operator form words, then sentences, that
ultimately become ideas or comments on ideas. It seems now like a medieval
device sitting in the dark furnace rooms under the control of Linotype masters.
I started my writing
life proofreading the pages for newspapers in Detroit that were formed by the
great word-makers. It seems as if I am confessing how very aged I have become.
But really the Linotype monsters lived like giant healthy dinosaurs until
suddenly sometime in the last quarter of the last century (about the time of
our Crunchy Granola life) a cosmic swirl created another way to type, copy and
print at the same time: the computer for the masses.
By 1977 the Linotype submitted to sleek little machines with
names like Vic-20 and Mackintosh. Yes there was a lot in between, the Remington
and Selectric and other typing machines, but these, though very useful tools, were merely transitional.
The computer has truly changed everything as we surf the cyber seas to even
more adventurous devices – tablets and mobile phones that themselves will merge
into even more and different means for our communication. With respect to
electronic devices, the times really are a-changin.
This is all very hard to explain to the children who have
never even thought about the production of typed words. And why would I even
try? The children have other things on their minds, they are too busy changing
the words to fit their own little tiny micro micros – omg lol. We certainly have come a long way. It is
interesting to still be young enough to observe the journey. I can’t wait to
see what is next.
Well, I’m going to make a peanut butter honey sandwich,
would you like one?
Thanks as always for stopping by. Please check out A Homestead Decade, How Crunchy Granola Changed My Life, $2.99 Amazon Kindle (wow talk about changes). If you like it, we’d
appreciate a review and thank you for sharing it with friends.
Love,
Helene
