Poet Ponders the Digital

Use the best tool for the job. It's a simple saying, and one many writers ignore. Paper and pencil, while often my preferred tools for writing, have not been the best tools for writing for at least a century. Typewriters are better, if you are concerned with speed and legibility. Typewriters with correction tape gave us another reason to prefer the mechanical to graphite sticks and wood pulp. I remember my sense of awe when I saw the earliest word processors. These were typewriters with memory, and sometimes a disk drive. Not quite computers, but certainly something more than a manual typewriter, I wanted one… but never owned one. Instead, I upgraded from a blue Smith Corona manual typewriter to a brown Brother electric. Even after receiving an early home computer, a Commodore VIC-20, the typewriter was the best device for writing quickly. My first real computer, a Tandy 1000, included a simple suite called DeskMate. I used the text editor to write stories, saving the...

Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley April 1, 2014 Deadline May 2014 Issue Tablet Tales: Not Quite Replacing a Laptop Tablets almost, but not quite, replace notebook and laptop computers. That’s my experience after four months with an iPad Air. Bad weather influenced the decision to purchase a tablet. I was using a rolling case for my computer, cables, adapters, textbooks and student papers. Ice and snow made it impossible to roll the cart up and down the hills of Pittsburgh; rock salt jammed the wheels. I attempted to carry my computer and supplies in a large case with a shoulder strap. My back and shoulders weren’t pleased. Trekking through the snow, I decided my computer weighs too much. I love my 15-inch MacBook Pro, the last model available with an optical disc drive and six ports, but all the options add a fair amount of weight. I still use and record discs for projects, and I prefer having a wired network connection at home for extra speed and security. When I lug the system...