Typewriter Club

One of the reasons that I initially took an interest in photography is because I much preferred to be located behind the camera rather than in front of it, even at the young age of 8 years old. Similarly, I learned to play guitar by way of the fingerpicking style to compensate for the fact that I don’t like to sing (or can’t sing as the case may be — my singing voice is beyond repulsive). While corresponding with others by way of a typewriter doesn’t generally offer the same level of anonymity as conversing online with others (with self-assigned user names), it does afford someone the opportunity to compose their thoughts and commit them to paper at a time, place and pace of their choosing without the need to meet someone else’s schedule. This fits in well with my lifelong status as an introvert.

I’ve always been comfortable spending large quantities of time by myself and have little trouble keeping myself occupied with a large variety of things. Overall, I’m pretty content in “my own little world” (that includes my family and our dogs of course). So I surprised myself when I joined the Typewriter Club a couple of weeks ago. This online gathering of typewriter enthusiasts is actually titled ‘Typewriter Club LIVE’, but I like calling it the Typewriter Club, or just TCL for short (yeah, I know that the world already has more than enough acronyms as it is, so I’m not exactly proud of this). At any rate, TCL was started by Gregory Short (of Poor Typist fame). In the face of the COVID-19 virus and the resulting pandemic, Gregory decided to put together a virtual gathering so that fellow typewriter enthusiasts could gather for the purpose of discussing typewriters and all sorts of typewriting-related stuff, free any worries about social distancing requirements.

The weekly meetings take place on Sunday mornings at 8:00 a.m. (Pacific Time). Currently they are streamed live via Zoom and the recorded meetings are posted to YouTube later on for all to reference*. (That’s a good thing if you’re into typewriters because there is a wealth of typewriter knowledge shared every week at TCL.) You’ll find all of the information that you will need to join Typewriter Club LIVE over on the Type Pals website.

I’ve participated in the live event via video for the past two weeks and I’ve got to say that I’ve really enjoyed myself despite my introverted tendencies. Obviously as a lifelong introvert, such an activity is well outside of my comfort zone. Yet in my experience, the group of people that assemble at Gregory’s meetings each week to talk typewriters have proven to be incredibly welcoming (not to mention talented, creative, intelligent, innovative and humorous). I’m guessing that as you found this blog and have read this far into a post, you might well have an interest in typewriters. If that is the case then I would highly encourage you to check out Typewriter Club LIVE.

I would note that there is a chat component available as well so you can still watch the discussion and communicate with the others without appearing on video if that isn’t your thing. Ironically for me (as noted at the beginning of this post), I’ve found that it is the face-to-face aspect of these meetings, even if it’s just in the virtual sense, that I enjoy so much. It is impossible to predict just what kind of staying power TCL will enjoy, but my plan is to take it in as best I can while it lasts, as often as possible. I’m grateful that Typewriter Club LIVE exists, especially in light of the pandemic that we currently all find ourselves in. Maybe some of you who are reading this will decide to join us.

(Typed using a 1972 Olympia SG3.)

*UPDATE: Gregory has informed me that the feed from the Zoom meetings actually appears live on his YouTube as well. So those wishing to watch the Typewriter Club LIVE meetings without accessing Zoom can do so via Gregory’s Poor Typist YouTube channel.