Choose a Font

Wikipedia has not validated the following.  I just needed a beginning first paragraph. History began with writing.  Words you have heard in a distance class like hieroglyphics and cuneiform. They counted as communication, yet their meaning is mostly available to ivory tower professors who have uncovered means of decoding. After chiseling information in stone passed, early monks wrote mostly in Latin by hand on treated sheep skins.

In 1439, Gutenburg invented a printing press, and the availability of messages took off.  These new writings ranged from Bibles to incitements of rebellions. To incorporate pictures or vary types of print required effort by several individuals.  Eventually, the next step forward led to me.

A copy of this poem was sent to me by my daughter-in-law.  It was written by her grandfather who lived from 1870-1943. While the words are tender, the type was my draw to an earlier time.  Instantly, I knew it was not written on a computer, not even the first ones that I knew. It was a typewriter.  I was 17 and taking a typing class. All machines clattered, and a bell and a slam told when a line was finished.  I was responsible for noting when a word needed to be hyphenated, when a ribbon needed changing, and for living with mistakes or laboriously trying to correct. All in all, the skill of its use was probably one of the more important ones of my education.

For years, a Remington reigned.  I struggled up stairs in a dorm to have one on my desk. I earned $0.35 a page typing for spending money. Mystery novels discovered who wrote the ransom note by the nicks on a lower case e, and movies had scenes of reporters typing news of the hour in a smoke filled rooms.

When change occurred, it was with the rapidity of watching a tennis match.  The first question my students would ask was “Can I change the font?” Pica and Elite of the typewriter were nothing compared to Algerian to Trattartello in various sizes and colors and a choice of bold or italic. Images could appear with a click.  It took a strong will to enforce the idea that content counted.

John ends his gospel by saying that the world could not contain the books that might be written about Jesus stories,  Even if that is the case, font and presentation are not important.  Only one thing matters.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  John 1:14