The typewriter

(GLO)- The once familiar typewriters have become obsolete, even disappeared, perhaps only remaining in junk shops for collectors looking to "hold on" to the past.

1. When he was young, my uncle used to type documents on a typewriter. After finishing his high school diploma, his son, Mr. Xuyen, sometimes helped his father type. He was fair-skinned, a good student, had long fingers like a girl's, and typed quickly, which I admired him immensely.

The typewriter is kept and displayed at the Gia Lai Newspaper's Traditional Room. Photo: Phuong Vi

Until one day, the typewriter became obsolete, became “antique”, as a rule of replacement. That was the beginning of the innovation period, computers began to appear. The rapid replacement was similar to the fate of cameras, phones, televisions, and all kinds of record players…

Decades ago, like many agencies, Gia Lai Newspaper's documents were created by typewriters. Official dispatches, plans, decisions, and legal documents were typed, signed and stamped by authorized persons. I was stunned when I looked through the files and papers and saw the decision to accept the teacher to work as a journalist with the agency's seal and the signature of Mr. Pham Thuong Ky, who was then the Editor-in-Chief. The decision was made of thin poluya paper, somewhat faded but the words were still quite clear. It had been nearly a dozen years since Mr. Ky returned to the world of the previous generation of revolutionary journalists of the provincial Party newspaper.

2. The 33 Hung Vuong Collective Area, Pleiku City (the former headquarters of Gia Lai Newspaper after taking over in 1975), after several previous generations of journalists' families, we moved to temporarily reside there. Except for those who were married, we single journalists lived carefree and innocent lives. Our residence was therefore often the "entry and exit" of acquaintances, friends in the profession, and colleagues when they were too busy having fun and forgot their way home or accidentally offended the "roof" causing the rice to not be cooked well, the soup to not be sweet.

Before switching from typo to offset printing technology, Gia Lai Newspaper reporters' drafts of news and articles were handwritten, and after editing, they were retyped on a typewriter before being sent to the Editorial Board for review and storage. This process implicitly required reporters to be careful with their handwriting. When leaders were upset, bad handwriting drafts were easily scrutinized, criticized harshly, or could be delayed and processed... later.

Beautiful handwriting, ugly handwriting, and "scum" handwriting are all there. Most reporters write "sloppily", as if... intentionally making it difficult for the staff and typists.

3. My manuscripts gradually changed from handwritten to typewritten. If I remember correctly, the first time I sent typewritten manuscripts to the agency, among the most active collaborators was Mr. Bach Van Minh. Mr. Minh was a PE teacher, a very active collaborator with the newspaper, writing in a variety of fields. When I hung out and saw him diligently typing the manuscript, I was very impressed. Mr. Nguyen Xuyen in Da Nang, who spent 15 years following Uncle Ho to write about the agricultural cooperative movement, was also a collaborator who sent his manuscripts via typewriter very beautifully. There was also Mr. Tran Huu Nghiem, a Hue teacher in Ca Mau, who specialized in poetry, who also sent similar manuscripts.

Following my brothers, I also found myself a small, pretty typewriter. It was a German-made machine, blue, compact, about the size of two notebooks combined. In particular, the typeface of this machine was not worn out much, the letters were sharp, without missing strokes or marks. Mr. Le Trac Ky, at that time the Vice President of the Provincial Farmers' Association, saw how much I loved it so much that he could not help but give it to me to do the job. At first, I "pecked" like a "chicken pecking at rice", meticulously typing each key, each word, erasing long lines, but then I gradually got used to it. Writing news and articles with a typewriter forced me to slow down, from the layout, the big and small ideas, front and back, word choice, sentence structure or expression, all were careful, attentive, avoiding confusion, duplication, and errors. Needless to say, holding a manuscript with a typewriter, whether short or long, but clean, tidy, and neat, the author is the first to feel comfortable and satisfied. I must admit that my writing skills were honed during this time, and when I switched to using a computer, things got a lot easier.

4. Forgetting, not paying attention and after several house moves, up to now, many documents, images, souvenirs have been lost, lost, some of which are regretful and heartbreaking. Among them, for me, there is the typewriter. The loss deepened when I intended to create a small corner of memories of my career. My intention was not terrible, just a few rolls of film, a Kodak and Konica film box, a Praktica camera that I once borrowed gold from my brother to buy, an early digital camera, souvenirs of business trips... I remember oiling, wrapping the typewriter, carefully placing it at the bottom of the iron cabinet in the attic, and yet! I don't know why, at this time, the small corner of memories of my career with the old typewriter is so valuable.

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/chiec-may-danh-chu-post328934.html