I made it through high school without a typewriter, hand writing all my essays and term papers with the exception of the senior paper which was supposed to prepare us for creating college papers. Fortunately I had been banging away on old army surplus typewriters since I was in the first grade, so finding a typewriter to write on was not an issue, though it was for many of my classmates!

My entire college career was done on two typewriters; an old Royal that weighed 40lbs and later a portable Smith Corona that was heaven to type on because I could do it anywhere!

But all my papers were written out in my head and journals long before I started typing them. Thoughts, theses and their arguments were crafted and honed long before a key was struck.

I think a lot of this skill was lost when we created an easy way to edit ourselves. The goal was not to train our brains to think quickly and deeply but to create the perfect output.

I meet people all the time and attempt to engage them in public ad hoc improv performances. They don’t know I’m doing it but the ones who are able to engage quickly and advance the performance by being well-versed in obscure references from literature, pop culture, the news, etc … man, that is just a mental orgasm that defies description.

Anyway, thanks for playing along and thanks for the prompt that spawned what I hope is a “yes, and…” comment to your story.