Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Yes, I found it on the internet

Because I do not spend internet time in places that annoy me, even to the most microscopic degree, I find it a rich land where the good-of-heart nourish and encourage each other.  We pass along the most choice morsels we find here, and go about our day with greater wisdom, a fresh outlook, new intention.  With passionate thanks to Lisa Hoffman and, by extension, Mary Ann Moss, for the following video and the worlds to which it introduces us.

ink&paper from Ben Proudfoot on Vimeo.
It is not exaggeration to say these are my people, my places. I am shocked to learn that I live perhaps 25 minutes from these businesses and did not know they exist. They speak to me of early childhood, visiting the back shop of the second newspaper where my father worked, after the war, after college. The ink and metal and paper smells mingled. They spark memories of my first job at the Huntington Library, running departmental errands to the bindery in the basement, Italian marbled papers - talk about love at first sight - also letterpress, leather, glue. There was a clerical job at the Washington Post in which I kept records of typesetting production statistics, followed later by a feature writing position for a local daily that had not yet transitioned from hot to cold type. I loved proofreading almost as much as writing, getting to stand next to the aproned men in the composing room as they discarded the metal equivalent of lines I'd just deleted from a story. No wonder I became a fool for rubber stamps. Alphabet sets, almost like letterpress, cardboard, learning the weights and finishes of paper, inks. Look, I'm a cottage industry.

8 comments:

Antares Cryptos said...

Thank you for sharing this ode to analog technology and paper.
I hope that these places stay around for decades to come. Creativity needs them.

In a moment of synchronicity, I stumbled across some very inspiring art that I think you'd appreciate, if you happen to wander.
*Nudge* ;) here:
http://antarescryptos.blogspot.com/2013/02/incredible-and-innovative-art.html

Kass said...

Kindred spirits are everywhere if one is open and aware.

Thanks for sharing your awareness.

susan t. landry said...

thank you! wonderful....

Marylinn Kelly said...

Antares - Fingers crossed for their enduring. A linotype! What bliss. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction to see the collected, innovative works at your blog. xo

Marylinn Kelly said...

Kass - Quietly keeping the fires going, against enormous odds. And here they are, just down the road from me. Lucky, happy. xo

Marylinn Kelly said...

Susan - Saw you shared. Thank you. xo

Anonymous said...

MLK,
I love it when we ALL wave the magic wand. True though, we love to find our own Tribe and when we do, we find that word travels fast over the beating of tom toms, the flight of the carrier pigeon from one camp to the next....sky writing, Goodyear Blimp.....we get the word out knowing that if WE were excited, our own DNA-sharing peeps will need to know as well. Thank you for spreading the word.

Marylinn Kelly said...

Lisa - We DO have to keep the word moving, hand out the leaflets on street corners. How fortunate we can now do that in our so-called house clothes from the dining table. Words worth spreading. xo