Fresh Ribbon

So You Want to be an Office Gal

2010-09-07T20:24:00.003-05:00

Prelinger Archives

I don't really know where to begin. Maybe with that school counselor...

Mechanical Brides: Women and Machines from Home to Office

2010-08-29T22:10:00.001-05:00

It's like someone was reading my retrotech mind. Washing machines and dictaphones and typewriters, oh my! Never mind that this little ditty was published about seventeen years ago by The Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design, I never saw it so it's new to me.

Mechanical Brides covers all the gadgetry of cleaning, cooking, and rote office work. What I found most interesting is the chapter on office machines (of course) and the feminization of this technology. Turning a male clerk into a female secretary involved separating the act of writing into two distinct jobs: composition and typing. While male clerks had done both, female typists were relegated to writing as assembly line production. Interesting now is that we've come full-techno-circle, because everyone with a laptop both composes and produces "typed" text.

Business invented a middle-woman and then obsoleted her. Not that it was a bad thing, really, but that's a rant for another post.

This book is as much about feminine identity as it is about the machines that defined it. Full of stunning/appalling advertising copy and art, it's a steal if you can find one either on Amazon or Ebay. In fact, I'd like to have a copy just to cut up and frame.

The Dream is This: Poets on the Street and the Roar of a Typewriter Posse

2010-08-04T18:45:00.006-05:00

And this is how to negotiate a poem:

Visit the Poetry Depot page at the Miami Poetry Collective.

Tallulah the Royal Futura

Vintage Typecast: J. D. Salinger

2010-07-14T16:41:00.004-05:00

(Salinger letter via MIT Memorabilia)

Everyday Art: Teaching Momentum

2010-07-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

(In honor of the Smithsonian's "Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists’ Enumerations from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art" exhibit.)

Everyday Art: Birthday List

2010-07-04T12:15:00.006-05:00

(In honor of the Smithsonian's "Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists’ Enumerations from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art" exhibit.)

Your turn.

List-Making as Art

2010-07-03T21:40:00.000-05:00

Ding Ren has the perfect gig: Typing as performance art. She just held an exhibition yesterday, but will perform "Observations with a Typewriter" again on August 20th as part of two-month "Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists’ Enumerations from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art." Here's a description of Ren's exhibition/performance:

"Ren will sit at a desk in the gallery space generating lists with a typewriter. The content of the lists will be gathered through an on-the-spot observation of visitors in the gallery space that is akin to an ethnographer performing a field study. These observations may include, but are not limited to: what visitors are holding in their hands, untied shoelaces, bits of overheard conversations, and the color of visitors’ shirts. The observed content will be recorded through typewritten pages that will spill out onto the floor of the gallery for visitors to read. Like the lists already on display, the lists Ren creates in real-time are meant to highlight potential patterns and find meaning in the easily overlooked, near-nothings of everyday life. Past records kept by Ren include an observation of falling objects, red dots, stray pennies on the street, and other people’s reading material on public transportation." ~ The Pinkline Project

Part one in this series began February 5th, and it looks like the whole collection might be available through September. Fascinating business, actually. Take a look at Smithsonian's online exhibit HERE, or order the companion book, Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists, although I'm sure neither will come close to that live performance. If anyone is handy to DC and can make that trip, be sure to let us know.

As a side note, that folded printer paper is for the birds. Clearly Ren hasn't yet experienced a fine BAROP.

In honor of all things Smithsonian and list-y, I'm proposing we all typecast a list or two to celebrate the everydayness of common writing. Besides, it's an excuse to make lists I don't have to follow.

List on, typosphere!

Nearly Vintage Fountain Pens

2010-07-02T15:06:00.000-05:00

For something to be truly vintage, it has to be at least 30 years old. I'm not sure if that's a hard and fast rule or if I just made that up, but there's something distasteful about using "vintage" to describe anything made after, say, the year I graduated from high school. These pens are nearly vintage, meaning they don't make them anymore and probably haven't for a while.

That hefty monster in the middle is the Monteverde Regatta. Made from pig iron or something like it, it's definitely a fountain pen you want to use unposted. The shame of it is that the cap screws neatly onto the end. This fountain pen is surprisingly easy to move, though. It's a sweet medium nib that's smooth even in the Moleskine. I found this one on closeout at Office Depot for $14. They're getting rid of all their pricey pens at OD, so hit the store soon.

My adorable blue Sheaffer Fashion Rings pen is a throwback to the early 80s when most fountain pens went skinny. The broad nib is decisive - almost a bit much for my thin-lined Moleskine paper, but I don't care. There is no pen faster. It came with a lovely matching ballpoint via Ebay - I think the seller has a few more sets, one in orange.

Ah, the Parker Rialto. I'm addicted to Rialto ballpoints, with their snappy caps and perfect weight. Again, thinnish and 80s to mid 90s, but the prices can be tragic. I was lucky with this red Rialto, which somehow rode under the Ebay radar due to misspellings in the listing. Smooth medium nib even on the Moleskine.

All of these pens came with converters. While I'd love to go crazy buying bottled inks in dazzling colors, there's a three year-old boy in this house and I know better. I'll stick to cartridges for a while.When you see the train coming, it's best to avoid the tracks, is all I'm saying.

Any skittishness in the pencast above is the sole responsibility of this Frost Parch stationery I found yesterday while milling around Little Rock. Pretty parchment, fails to drink the ink for some reason. It's pretty held up to the light, though. At the end of the day all that matters to me is how fast and well these pens write on ruled Moleskine paper, because it's all about actually using the pen. A lot.

Like Lazarus...

2010-06-20T22:04:00.005-05:00

Well, the old blog layout finally self-destructed. Not like I didn't see it coming. I'll miss those tea-stained boxes and funky page-switches, but not enough to build it back. So, the new Fresh Ribbon is a little cleaner, a little more functional.

To put me in the typecasting mood, I've whipped up a page on Facebook. Those of you addicted to FB (and you know who you are) will find this an easy way to keep up. I've slung up a few oddities on there already, so drop in and say hello.

Only a Typewriter Geek Like Me (or maybe you...)

2010-06-18T22:59:00.003-05:00

...will appreciate the bevy of old machines in their seminatural habitats. Nothing like a Navy training film, I say.

And don't you dare stop watching before it's over. There's some mighty fancy keystroking going on there at the end.

When a Lady Drops Her Hankie...

2010-06-07T16:27:00.001-05:00

Yes, with a spritz of starch you can roll that antique handkerchief into the typewriter. With a drawer full of these I've only just begun. These are perfect for lines of poetry, quotes, or cryptic messages. I feel a Silent Type entry coming on, so look out.

Thanks to my friend Stephanie who found the inspiration for this at the lovely blog 52 Flea. Steph knows where the good stuff is and always tells me.

BAROP Update: The Changing of the Guard

2010-02-18T23:25:00.003-06:00

It was only a matter of time, really. Our Writing Center typewriter - a dubious Remington Quiet-Riter - bit the techno-dust and had to be replaced. All that creative effort on the Big Ass Roll of Paper, all those timid hands clacking out their first mechanical writing, well, it was too much for the old girl. She threw a feed roller. Not AT us, mind you, but certainly in revolt.

I went home and made a quick search under the bed for another machine that could take the kind of semi-Kerouacian punishment our writing tutors can dish out. And look what I found.

This sweet Royal was an Ebay chance I took a year ago. I paid more in shipping, and not much there. What arrived was this completely pristine Royal Quiet Deluxe. She's an odd textured green - something between August grass and Ozark moss. The roller had never been struck and all the paperwork sat tucked inside the top of the case.

The truth is, I'd forgotten about this little jewel. And yes, I feel a little guilty about it.

Jennifer and I retired the Quiet-Riter with all the dignity due that toad-colored workhorse. Spinning the BAROP gingerly out was a tad tricky considering missing feed roller and the delicacy of the teletype roll, not to mention the enormous length of the damn thing. It was a two-woman job.

I think I heard "Taps" playing softly behind us, but I'm not sure.

Typewriter Hoofing

2010-01-09T13:59:00.003-06:00

Whippersnappers

2010-01-08T22:03:00.003-06:00

My God. They're typecasting at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. Kinda. I've already left my comment - feel free to dive in and enlighten these gentlemen on the finer points of typecasting.

That is all.

The Prodigal Daughter Returns

2010-01-07T22:26:00.000-06:00

Maybe I Just Need a Better Fountain Pen

2010-01-05T18:57:00.008-06:00

...or, why don't my pencasts look as gorgeous as everyone else's?

VIDEO: The Twenty-Six Old Characters. A history of writing and how to use a fountain pen, brought to you by Sheaffer. Note: I tried to embed this and it jumped out in front of everything, taking over like The Video That Ate My Layout. Scary. Embed with care.

Avant Garde Typewriter Music

2009-11-08T09:34:00.004-06:00

Clearly DaDa never died. The typist/musician is obviously working on his NaNoWriMo novel.

Meet Percy, the First Rooster in the Hen House

2009-11-04T22:52:00.001-06:00

Percy came to me in a dream, almost. I'd been hunting one of these with a vengeance for some time and with no luck whatsoever. Then - just as it happens with true love - I stopped looking and this Royal KHM showed up at my office door with a fist full of road-picked flowers and a shy grin.

It seems he's not from around here. Probably hopped a train from Chicago - I found the barest remnant of it stamped on the shreds of his vinyl cover. You know, I live in a train town and it's not least bit unusual to find a wayward traveler here and there. I've taken him in, promised hot water and hot meals in return for a little office work.

Oh, he's filthy. I knocked out dirt-dobber nests and a couple of spider skeletons. Despite that, I was able to dust him off, put in a new ribbon, and begin typing as if not a day had passed since 1936. A steady, even Elite. This will be my new office typewriter - after a good going over.

Ed, I'm sorry you couldn't get your hands on this one. You would've loved it.

In Memoriam

2009-11-03T21:03:00.004-06:00

I just found out. Ed Cordon, my friend and typewriter repairman at Acme Business Machines is gone. Those interested may want to leave a message here. I'll send a long letter to his wife, typed on one of the many typewriters Ed lovingly resurrected for me.

It isn't enough, though. School began and I was busy. I never called and now I can't.

Ed was a gentleman and a good man, and is missed.

All the Pretty Auctions

2009-10-15T07:04:00.006-05:00

Anyone want to spot me a loan? Cormac McCarthy's typewriter is on the auction block. A friend bought him a "new" Olivetti 32 this past summer for $9 on Ebay.

Miller said that McCarthy does not own a computer, a fact verified by others. In fact, Miller told the story that once while at the Sante Fe Institute, he kidded the author about not using a computer.
"About an hour later, lightning knocked out power at the institute," Miller said.

As scientists wandered the corridors, Miller said all they could hear were the click, click, clicking of McCarthy's typewriter, the only machine working in the building.

Which one of us bid against him, I wonder?

National Novel Writing Month: Plotting in the Dark

2009-10-10T21:10:00.003-05:00

I've made the commitment, and sworn to do my duty as a NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison. No going back now - I'm writing a novel in "thirty days and nights of literary abandon." Why am I doing this to myself? Because last year I wrote over 50,000 words in thirty days and it made me happy.

It was the finest writing experience of my life.
I found out just how far I could push myself despite grading and conference-hopping and other general must-do business.
The mad month redefined me as a writer and forced this poet to sling out a story that held together.
At the end of the month, I had a novel in hand and the giddiness of it floated me until, well, just now.

I'm exactly where I was last October - no plot, no plan. Just a character I've been carrying around with me for a while. My strategy is simple: Start writing and let the character tell you the story.

I do tend, as I slam the thing out, to have an idea for a direction or scene. In order to keep those handy, I create a file, name it, then close it and get back to writing. When I open up the Novel Folder each day, the scenes are listed right there. I simply click on one of them and begin. At the end of the month, I piece the puzzle back together and it's ready for rewrite.

That's it. No note cards or agonizing character outlines. No plotting maze. I let the characters be and they go where they wish, committing all manner of lovely and unlovely acts. The critters walk around with me and whisper in my ear all day. By the morning write, there's story.

I can't wait to see this year's novel roll out from under my fingers. I'm not sure I have the muscular fortitude of the Typewriter Brigade, a stealthy group of miscreants who manage to produce their NaNoWriMo Novels purely on typewriters. I'm going to slam out part of it on the old manual machines, though, as long as my fingers hold out. We'll see how that little experiment works.

If you feel you can join us, do. If you can't, grab some pom-poms and start cheering on November 1st.

Silent Type: A Retrotech Journal

2009-10-04T08:49:00.004-05:00

If you listen very closely you can hear a collective oooh-aaah in the typosphere. Strikethru Publishing's first volume of Silent Type: A Retrotech Journal made its way to the mailboxes this week and I'm beside myself with typewriter love. Forty-three pages of full-color photography and divine collage in addition to fiction, poetry, and essays - in full typewritten glory.

It's a strong read and a stunning tribute to the retrotech in all of us. Strikethru, take a bow.

No, take two.

Volume I ran out as quickly as it was printed, although there's talk of a second printing and a nudge here and there toward Volume II. If you can't live another minute without having a copy in your hands, let Strikethru know. Tell her Monda sent you.

Writing Center BAROP Project Update

2009-10-01T16:10:00.001-05:00

Today we've got a little student noir on the Writing Center BAROP. You never know what you'll find, or what I'll post because...

Monda's got a new phone that takes great photos and cool video just like (snap) that. The perfect mix of tech and no-tech. It's a beautiful thing.

The Quest Begins

2009-09-25T23:24:00.006-05:00

You know Margaret Mitchell. Gone With the Wind is a classic both in print and in film and she had her fingers on the typewriter keys for both. This post is not a tribute to this Southern scribbler, there are tributes aplenty across the internet and mine wouldn't do her justice. Fine Literature? Not really, but she wrote an irresistible story.

I accidentally found this picture of her at Born Today as I cruised the net for something else. I find a lot of fine things that way, but this one stopped me cold. Bless her heart, Margaret's not much to look at in this photo. It's the brooch she's wearing that nearly killed me outright.

There's no mistaking it. That's a typewriter ribbon done in pearls.

I. Must. Have. It.

All I Want for Christmas

2009-09-24T21:44:00.000-05:00