The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 65

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2001 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE TBO.com 11 a Ik III sfM Tribune photo by JIM REEL) David Randall of Tampa gets steady business at his service and repair shop. Big companies and "die-hards" still use typewriters, he says. By ASHLEY M.HEHER Tribune correspondent TAMPA Literary legends wrote masterpieces on typewriters, page by typed page, slamming their fingers onto tiny black keys. Ernest Hemingway wrote on a 1936 Royal Deluxe. Henry Miller used an Underwood No.

5 Upright. Tennessee Williams alternated between a Remington No. 5 Portable and an Olivetti Studio 44. And Jack Kerouac, with lightning fingers, wrote "On the Road" with an Underwood Standard Portable. Back then, the methodical clicketyclack of a manual typewriter gave a cadence to writing, providing a soundtrack to the creativity of authors young and old.

Then computers came. The world fell But not forever." For some, using an old manual typewriter is a subtle kind of cultural rebellion. Others find peace within the clacking and dinging of aging steel machines. "There's a certain comfort, for me. in hav emington.

Royal. f) Underwood. ing them around, enjoying their beauty, JUDY HILL Columnist jhilltampatrib.com When Others Help, We All Learn A Lesson In the first letter I received from Ana Artze, about a year ago, she gently chided me for a column I had written about impatient people forced to wait in line in the post office. A particularly harrowing wait at my own postal branch harrowing not because of the time waiting but because of Miss Petulant, as I had described her led me to conclude that many of the impatient folks seem to think they're too important to stand in line. Since they want to be sure everyone knows how put upon they feel, they fidget, roll their eyes, sigh.

They even assume others are just as irritated and complain to line mates, not all of whom are so busy and important that they care about a few minutes in line. Artze suggested another scenario one in which the presumably impatient person was actually in pain. The retired teacher was, of course, describing her own experiences. An accident 13 years ago left Artze, a widow with grown sons, with severe back problems that intensified so much that her physical activities were seriously restricted. Although she tried to time her visits to the post office, bank's and so forth so she wouldn't have to stand for long in line, occasionally she would have to wait and end up in extreme pain.

So I wrote another column describing Artze's perspective, which I hadn't considered when I wrote the first column. The New York Experience About a month ago I received a second letter from Artze, a Tampa resident since her retirement from the Chicago school system in 1992, bringing her story full circle. On Sept. 7, she had an endoscopic lumbar decompression and spinal fusion at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. When I talked to her the other day, she said the surgery was almost miraculous.

Although she still has to wear a brace and occasionally use a walking stick, she now stands tall. After her rehabilitation is complete she goes to physical therapy several days a week she looks forward to resuming swimming, tai chi and the long walks she used to take on Bayshore Boulevard. She's particularly eager to go dancing again at one of her favorite places, Skipper's Smokehouse. But that wasn't all she wanted to share. Artze and her "significant other," Bob Brown, were still in Manhattan on Sept.

1 1, when the World Trade Center towers were felled in the terrorist attack. "We smelled the acrid smoke from the disaster when the wind blew it our way and heard the sound of fighter planes patrolling the skies over the Big Apple." The couple left New York for Tampa on Sept. 15, the first full day air traffic resumed. The Kindness Of Strangers At LaGuardia Airport, Artze, just eight days past surgery, found herself in need of the restroom but too stiff and sore to attend to it by herself. Twice she struggled and twice a different Tampa-bound passenger stepped up to offer help.

"Modesty went out the window," says Artze. "We were women helping women." As so often happens in these types of siti tations, Artze didn't get the women's names. Although their assistance to her was private, she would like to publicly thank them. They both brushed off her thanks at the time. "It's the least I can do," said one of the women.

In the wake of the disaster, she added, "We should all help each other." Yes, we should. Jiulyllillcanhereachnlat (813) 259- 78 1 2 or try writing her cJo Tiie Tampa Trihww, P.O. IUx 191, Tampa 1133601. ii. i Mrnfnirriiif in 1 If those brand names make you fondly recall clicketyclack sounds, you are not alone.

LULU WU VVUlIViilUll ship that doesn't exist today," says Anthony Casillo, webmaster for the Internet site www.typewritercollector.com Whatever the appeal, many typewriter users find their way to Richard Ponce's typewriter repair store on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, which is a jungle of gadgets and gizmos. Typewriters more than a cen Tribune photo by FHED FOX In 40 years as a typewriter repairman, Richard Ponce has amassed a collection of 800 machines. He runs a repair store on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg.

"Typing on the computer, it's just my mind On the typewriter, it's almost a Zen thing. I'm not lulled to sleep, but it's almost a meditation. 7:35. earing the keys, you establish tury old line the shelves. At least 300 machines overrun corners and tables.

Another 500 lie in waiting in a nearby warehouse. M2Je In four decades as a type- vviiit.i icLauuiaii, untc jEti yt i if has witnessed the evo- a txnain rnyinm. xou reauy -so lution of typing feel the sense that you're gy- He has -physically writing the stuff." become a beacon for locals in search of the sometimes forgotten machines. "We have people that love them," says Ponce, 70. "They want what they KEVIN MCGOWIN Typewriter enth usiast "I think people get to the point where they get a little tired of inhuman, uniinmediate, bloodless technology," says McGowin, who lives in New Orleans.

"People like the feeling of going back and doing something they can feel." very week he gets e-mails from typewriter enthusiasts seeking I See VINTAGE TYPEWRITERS, Page 8 Computers haven 't made them extinct. had when they were children. This is something that puts them back in thai time." Kevin McGowin, a fiction writer and former English professor at North Carolina State University, has other ideas about why peo Mian, i tm iiaatMmaY'mMmillmWm Uw UMiti ill ple are drawn to the old typewriters. Card Companies Roll Out Sentiments For Tough Times niark subsidiary. "Something terrible happened to us, but we're not going to let it get us down." The new products aren't intended as sympathy cards for raw CKv Cb: those directly affected by the terrorist attacks, and they aren't just about flag waving, although some depict cute children and teddy By RICHARD M'JRY The Washington I'ost Proving that every single human emotion can in fact be reduced to a Hallmark sentiment, the greeting card industry has rallied to help Americans cope with the terror wrought on Sept.

11. Cards stressing patriotic and comforting themes, priced at 1 .99 and up, were rushed into production and began reaching stores in mid-October. The nation's major manufacturers of both poetic and aphoristic sentiment say they're proud to have designed and distributed their new cards in record time. "We're just trying to boost our self-esteem," says Sheila Gerhcr, editorial manager at Sunrise Greetings, a I lall- bears doing just that. These greetings fall into what the industry calls the "support and encouragement" category (further subdivided into "hope and "Hallmark very acutely understands what Americans are like," says company spokeswoman Rachel Bolton.

"When things get tough, when the words are hard to find, people turn to greeting cards. They're tangible: You can touch them, read them, save them, tie them with ribbons antl keep them for your grandchildren. That's the kind of See COMFORT CARDS, Page 7 Artists, writers spurred to action..