Melinda Palacio, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate 2023-2025
I had the pleasure of offering a writing workshop to teenaged poets who are part of Simon Kieffer’s Teen Arts Mentorship sponsored by the Arts Fund. All county students aged 13-18 are eligible for the teen mentorship. A wide variety of arts professionals are on hand to show youth the ropes of living an art-filled life. With typewriter mentorship in mind, I shared some writing exercises to help get the creative inspiration flowing. A popular questions remains, ‘how do I get started?’. I often find that it is easier to complete a poem, chapter or writing assignment when I come to the computer with words or ideas that are first written on paper. In this case, students were working on typewriters.
There’s an added challenge when composing on a typewriter. Most of the students had never used a typewriter. Unlike a computer, a typewriter requires physical force and effort just to type one letter, let alone a few words or entire poem. Simon showed the teens how to load the paper into the typewriter and how to return the carriage and use the backspace button. He suggested typing with two index fingers, think of Snoopy, the beagle author. We had a good laugh wondering how a beagle uses a typewriter; Charles Schulz somehow made it happen.
I recall a very different method for typing. This is where I date myself. When I was in Junior High School, I took a typing class and learned touch typing. I can still hear the teacher singing out the letters. You would hear, ‘J, J, J, J,’ over the clatter of 30 students pounding on typewriters, drowning out the teacher’s soprano voice that was somehow off key. The repetitive pressing of each key several times over helped our fingers memorize where the letters were on the typewriter’s keyboard. Speed and accuracy gave a student the better grade. Speed is no longer as important as it used to be, especially when composing poems.
Simon does a great job explaining the ins and outs of typewriters to the teens. I was impressed by how quickly they learned how to compose on the typewriters. While I spent a whole semester in Junior High learning how to touch type, the students were able to quickly get the hang of typing within minutes. Of course, knowing how to use devices, such as a computer and cell phone, with built in keyboards helped their swift learning. Even more impressive were the poems they came up with during our session together. How I wish I could share the wonderful poems they wrote in my workshop, but I respect their privacy. Although a few offered to send me their poems, I have yet to receive them. Maybe, next time. I am happy that they wrote on both paper and on typewriters. I look forward to seeing their future work. I could tell that they will all be wonderful poets.
This post is also published in the Santa Barbara Independent.
