It's so Hard to Let You Go

Over the past six years, we've accumulated three typewriters, all Smith Coronas.

A Sterling:


A Galaxie II:


And an SL 480 (electric!):


I took these pictures today for posting on Craigslist. Because, my friends, this is the first time I've taken them out of their cases in the time we've owned them. Sad, I know.

We picked up the first - the Galaxie II, I think - outside of Toronto on our Canada trip. I was just 6 months out of school and wanted to get back into making zines. On a typewriter! So original! I wanted to make something like Doris, but that never happened. Porkchop used the typewriter once or twice; it sat in a closet the rest of the time.

While at a church sale in Jonesboro, we found the Sterling for $5. It came home and sat in a closet, too.

Then Porkchop's grandfather gave her the electric one. It, too, has sat in a closet.

I was all ready to post them on Craigslist today, but then I put a piece of paper in each one and typed some garbled lines. The Sterling needs a new ribbon, but the funky sorta sans serif font on the Galaxie is quite clear.

And then there's the SL 480. It. is. awesome.

Not only can you do sub and super script with a touch of one key, you can also do bold type. For emphasis! Bolding on the typewriter means that the metal thingie strikes the paper 5 times. You can also do a variety of accent marks.

The typewriters remind me of my high school keyboarding class. Yeah, we learned on typewriters...electric and manual.

Anyway, I don't know if I can get rid of these machines just yet. Maybe I'll wait another 6 months.