Craft and Creativity: Reimagining Our Relationships with Writing Technologies
Written on April 23, 2018
MEMORY OBJECT (BOWLING GREEN): “I picked up my Smith-Corona Coronet Super 12 electric typewriter by pure chance. I had wanted a typewriter for years — I’ve always had a fondness for outdated forms of writing tools. I have a quill and inkwell set too and I often handwrite a lot of my projects before I end up typing them up on the cold laptop screen. I stumbled upon this typewriter in a thrift store, sitting next to an abandoned mismatched living room set. It doesn’t work perfectly — it’s badly in need of service repairs — but I didn’t care as I lovingly cleaned each key the second I got it home. It was ten dollars well spent. I love these outdated forms of writing. There’s something about using these tools that connects me to the past of my craft. I can imagine Mark Twain sitting in a room clacking away on one of the first typewriters, crafting his stories for the world to read, but not knowing if they would. I can imagine the office workers and writers in Kentucky’s past who must have done something similar, filling in a report or crafting a tale for an eager audience. Our means of production in writing, and in many other industries, may have changed over time, but I think it’s important to get back to our roots, to polish up what was working well and borrow from that past, let it inspire us, to bring ourselves toward a brighter future. Today, my typewriter often sits in its box with no real functioning purpose anymore, other than to remind me of where we’ve been and to inspire me to keep moving forward.”
“Cold laptop screen”. The words struck me suddenly, and my stream of thoughts stumbled to a halt. Reading the memory object description on my own glowing screen, with my laptop’s fan whirring away (bemoaning my dozens of running tabs) and warmth physically pouring from its sides, the word “cold”, a resonant, striking adjective to be assigned to a laptop, seemed misplaced.
In contrast, the author describes the “outdated” technologies of the past, a quill and inkwell set and a Smith-Corona Coronet Super 12 electric typewriter, and their ability to speak to a living history and a “brighter future”. These contrastive characterizations of old and new technologies seem initially reminiscent of a pervasive dictum articulated by some critics of media: something akin to “children used to play outside in the mud and run free rather than spend all day staring at their screens”.
But the author’s descriptions of these antiquated tools don’t appear to encourage us to reject present technologies and cling to the past. Instead, they encourage us to think about our relationship with all of the writing tools at our disposal. Through valorizing the intimate involvement with the writing process that his/her typewriter provided, the author encourages us to slow down; to remember that writing technologies (whether pen and paper, typewriter, or laptop) support more than productivity — they support craft and creativity.
As I read the author’s description of his/her fondness and love for “outdated” writing technologies, I envision his/her memory object, a Smith-Corona Coronet Super 12 electric typewriter, as an emblem of earnest hope for self and society. As Daniel Miller illustrates in his work, “The Comfort of Things”, we can utilize goods to build our own individual worlds. This memory object author reveals the dual-purpose of his/her world-building materials: to create and re-create ourselves, and to envision changes for the world at large. The author’s electric typewriter serves this twofold purpose of inspiring and sustaining a hope for an individual “me” and for a collective “we”. The typewriter, and similarly “outdated” technologies, become “instruments of the self” (Grant McCracken), as they connect the author “to the past of my craft” and “inspire me to keep moving forward”. Simultaneously, the author claims, “I think it’s important to get back to our roots, to polish up what was working well and borrow from that past, let it inspire us, to bring ourselves toward a brighter future”.
While the author claims that his/her typewriter is tucked away in its box, no longer serving a “real functioning purpose”, it remains an active, dynamic tool in his/her creative life. Stripped of its original writing function, the typewriter remains a tool for building and feeding his/her hope for his/her self, and for a future in which all individuals might reimagine and rework their relationship with writing tools.
Works Cited
McCraken, D. (2005). Culture and consumption II: Markets, meaning, and brand management. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Miller, D. (2008). The comfort of things. Malden, MA: Polity Press.
