The Selectric
By Gene Aronowitz
My first word-processer was an IBM Magnetic Card Selectric Typewriter. It had a slot to insert a magnetic foil, the same size as an 80-column punched card, for recording and editing typed documents. These typewriters were the first, or among the first, word-processing machines. I loved it. I can’t remember a time during my adult life when I didn’t send a year-end greeting and update to friends and family. That year I did it with my new typewriter. I composed the update and inserted a personal line or two at the beginning before printing each of them. I do this all the time now, but back then, it was innovative. There were no personal computers on the market until five years later. When I printed out the first one, it was too perfect, and I didn’t want those who received my updates to think I didn’t respect them enough to actually type their letter. So, I edited the document, inserting a sentence in the middle that I crossed out, making it seem imperfect. I know that’s deceptive and shameful, but I frequently go to great lengths to have people think well of me.
