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Long Live the Typewriter!

Last weekend I was at the local office supply store, picking up a new laser printer, when I noticed they still sell typewriters. Granted, they are nothing like the old machines I'm familiar with, but I hadn't actually seen one in years. One thing that caught my attention was what someone had typed on a display model: "Typewriters are not obsolete, they are still useful". Though that person may never know, I decided then and there to find a typewriter and pound out a zine the old fashioned way.

So I went out today to try and find a good typewriter, hitting every thrift store within a 10 mile radius, and never came upon a single manual model. The best I could find was a Sears & Roebuck electric from around the '80s I'd guess. It was $4.32 with tax, so that sure beats my $200 laser printer! It needs a new belt (which I'm sure they don't make anymore) and ribbon (I'll probably just re-ink the old one), but I'm sure I can bring it back to life. Maybe the first thing I'll write about is how hard it is to find old junk to make a zine?

I'll still do my other zine (Film Geek) on the 'puter and laser printer, but the new zine will be strictly pre-computer era. I miss doing cut-n-paste with actual scissors and an x-acto! I can't wait to see what this turns into...

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Comment by Robin Layne on August 3, 2009 at 5:30pm: I believe I once replaced a typewriter belt with a rubber band, and it worked like a charm. (Then again, there was also the electric one I found in the trash at college, which didn't work until I opened up the case and then closed it again.)

Comment by Jerrica Therese Lee on July 9, 2009 at 3:37pm: Too bad I didn't know, I had a good one I did my `zine on until maybe 5 yrs. ago I could have given you! I am pretty sure I gave it away though. I'll look in my attic just in case. It has spell check & all.

Comment by Monstress Zine on July 4, 2009 at 10:20am: oh, god, i have such an ambivalent relationship with typewriters. i wrote my damn master's thesis on one in the mid-nineties. on the other hand, they have a rhythm that computer and no crashes. and more oh god, even though i have a pretty nice dell notebook and a relatively modern scanner/printer, i still do cut'n'paste with my zine. some of it is habit. some is probably old curmudgeonliness. a lot of it is concerns about the reproduction quality of my drawings. i wish i had a super fancy canon laser copier. the kind that needs a room.