20 Apocrypha, 2021

1 comment

1. I saw this as a poster on the wall in the background during an MSNBC interview. … And having an Iowa-class fire 3 16-inch shells into a sea monster DID get my attention.
   I cheated: Listened to Apocrypha 2021 first. …
   So hip me to why i should go back to the first chapter and start from 0,0 in my brain’s random-access-memory.
   And, you never give your name, though i heart Woodie Guthrie. … He was a typographer, also known as a ‘tramp printer.’ They rode the rails between bottles and could work at any newspaper using Linotype machines. That means all newspapers.
   I had the pleasure of learning from the 5-year apprenticeship books of the International Typographers Union – the oldest organized-labor entity in the world. (Now part of Communications Workers of America.)
   A Linotype-set newspaper page was made from molten lead. The keyboardist, the typographer/Woodie, would key in each line of text. The end-of-the page resulted in a still-solidyifying page. If more space was needed between lines, printer/typographers carried a playing card. They would jam the card betwen lines, to give it space, also known as ‘carding.’
   My job at a certain newspaper was in the wake of the death of hot type at a large paper in 1974. In 1980, i knew Jack-shit about typography. But my job was to put hundreds of typographers out of work.
   I am a pro-union blue-collar-raised Appalachian, so i said, “Hell no.” So….
   I went to the ITU chairman and said computers were a Hellbound train. And if he let me learn printing, I’d return the favor with full disclosure. The rest is history.
   Anyway, i was a former newspaper reporter who realized it was not a ‘growth industry.’ So i afflicted myself with a law degree. Your still paid to aggravate people, but you don’t have nearly as much fun.
   What’s your name, Bubba, and where do i start?
   (link to first episode).

   Reply