By ELIZABETH ROBERTS-ZIBBEL
Zibbel Media/BG Independent News
On Thursday, the staff of BG Independent News sat (and stood) at a table near the Education Building in the middle of the bustling, somewhat controlled chaos of Campus Fest. John, always full of ideas, had suggested finding an old typewriter to display, and if it worked, we could have students type on it and we’d compile their thoughts in a BG Independent piece. The four of us were discussing this via text, our primary means of communication. David seemed the most likely to have one, but he responded, “I don’t know if I have an operating acoustic typewriter.”
But David did have one, though the ribbon was nearly worn out. It had belonged to his 94-year-old mother-in-law, Vi Brown, when she was a graduate student at the University of Michigan in the 1940s. As we handed out our blue bookmark us bookmarks and chatted with people and squinted into the sun, we offered students the chance to type a sentence or two about their hopes for the coming year. John optimistically started us off with “I am looking forward to a great year. _John Z”
The first brave volunteer typed “to have good grades.” Next was a professor. “All my students will use APA and earn awesome grades. -Dr. LLM.” “Get a better GPA,” and “have a good semester” were next, followed by the more expansive “to be successful in all i do” (complete with lower case I).
David, always thinking, realized we’d have a problem if we couldn’t read the sheets later and began scribbling what was being written into his reporter’s notebook. The typed words were becoming increasingly difficult to decipher. The next several lines, however, didn’t make it into his notes:
i lik chicken
hoping to graduate from el chooo
to be the best i can be omg i love this
hello.
I would love to think that someone was hoping to graduate from elf school, but decoding these thoughts isn’t made any easier by the fact that when typists realized the keys were barely imprinting the paper, many probably stopped trying to make sense, which seems like a metaphor. If a sentence is typed but can’t be read, does it still have impact?
“BG Independent News!” Jan spoke hopefully to a group of students. “Online local news and arts coverage, check us out.”
“I follow you on Twitter!” a young woman responded, tucking the bookmark Jan handed her into the bag of freebies under her arm.
“Oh! That’s me! I’m the tweeter,” I blurted before I could stop myself, glancing sheepishly at the accomplished veteran journalist next to me who has published nearly 500 articles on our site since its inception.
“Well good job,” the student said as she walked on. Jan smiled and patted my arm.
i want to make the Dean’s list again. i just want to graduate…
i would like to get all a’s in my classes
to get an a in hdfs 4500
iwant to get all as and graduate
The next several lines appear to all have been typed by one person, Anna, who took the prompt quite seriously.
hello my name is anna
i hope to achieve a 4.0 this semester
i hope to better utilize my resources
i hope to stop procrastinating this year and make the dean’s list
i hope to be more involved this semester.
Good luck, Anna! We could all benefit from better use of resources and increased involvement. She’ll go far in life I bet.
Next page. I’m not sure whether David’s notes or the nearly invisible typing are harder to read.
to finish off senior year strong.
to make Dean’s list top of my class
yay I can use a typewriter
hello people
this is so much fun jordan
Someone wants to create a good programming book, which is a nice specific goal for the year. I couldn’t find that on the typed sheets, but David has it written down. We’ve got that person covered. Maybe another professor? If it was a student, perhaps a bit of an unrealistic aim for this year, but we all must dream.
hello i am mari
just being awesome!!!
I like Mari. You be you, girl.
Following this is a wonderful statement of which I think President Mazey would be proud: “just want to become a better person through diverse learning.” Then the profound philosophical thought “the world we leave behind is the world that defines us in years to come.” Someone after my own heart typed “lots of friendship.”
The last few typed statements of the day are a study in irony. Very dark and clear, blacker than anything typed since the all caps BG INDEPENDENT at the top of the first page, are the words “make money.” That person must have punched those keys hard, emphatic in the need to succeed in a material way. And finally, after one last wish for good grades by an Elisabeth who spells her name with an “s,” this statement: “To meet many new students and share Jesus with them.”
The acoustic typewriter was itself an ironic choice for us to utilize as a prop to draw people to our table. Next to it was a laptop facing out, open to bgindependentmedia.org. Our published stories are not printed. The articles are words on a screen, back linked and shared, easily searched, attractively displayed. No one ever has blackened fingertips after they peruse the Indy News. But the laptop sat relatively lonely in its corner, a ubiquitous familiarity, its screen dark and quiet. Everyone can return to their apartments and dorm rooms with their bookmarks and check out the website on their own laptops. When would they ever again get to record their thoughts using an antique typewriter? And while it’s true that their statements can hardly be read on the page, we are still making sure to represent them accurately before publishing them to the internet. After all, that’s what we do.
