234 Points, Typewriter Hunter

After too many rapid cross country moves, I realized suddenly that my c. 1964 Hermes 3000 was missing - lost or stolen at some point in a move. I'd bought that machine new from a shop as I entered high school, did all my homework on it, typed all my college research papers and my Master's thesis on it, but gradually used it less and less over the years. Still, the sudden realization that it was gone felt like a really significant loss, which puzzled me. Wondering why I was so moved by the loss of something I hadn't actually used in years, I began to get more and more interested in typewriters and the many layers of stories each seems to accumulate. I started to learn a little - just enough to have a chance to find some good machines that I can afford, as I gradually try to understand the (apparently, important) place of the typewriter in my soul.