A.E. Matheson: the novel
I am a self-taught book person of all trades. I created my first book when I was five with high quality stick people and line stair illustrations. It was the story of my father’s church: thirteen staircases is not a topic to be ignored. Since then I have, in various combinations: written, illustrated, designed, published, and hand bound, many books. I teach basic bookmaking, repair books, am a founding member of Happy Leopard Chapbooks, and work in an academic library. Life is good.
Luddite Alert
[2009] I do not exactly fit the modern understanding of a luddite. But I don’t use technology the way a ‘non’ luddite might be expected to. “You don’t have an ipod?!!” Nope. Nor did I have a diskman, a walkman, or, if I’d grown up in the 1950’s, a transistor radio against my ear. I prefer to hear the robins sing, the silence falling snow creates. On the other hand, I have had a headset telephone as long as they have been available. Talking hands free works for me.
[2010] Okay, since I first wrote this alert I have acquired an iPod touch. It was an accident, it is not my fault. It was a promotion with the new computer. A friend claimed it would take over my life. He’s not yet recovered from the shock that after he showed me how to put photos on it I put on a whopping 22 images. I do also use it as a recording device for my cello lessons. Which means it gets out the barn about once a week. And yup, that’s it. (The friend, has an iPod and an iPhone and an iPad. And, would you believe it [Bill Gates will be relieved] a PC desktop.)
[2016] News flash. About 20 years ago when computers and laptops where getting serious about invading our lives I looked at them, I looked at the mouse, and I said, that’s nuts. It should be a stylus. You can’t draw with a rock. Any caveman knows you need a stick. This last year circumstances allowed me to be eased into the ocean of iPad with a loaner. I was sunk. So just before Christmas I finally got what I have been waiting twenty years for – a digital pad that I can write and draw on. I hope I am not loosing my luddite status with all this.
[2019] Well, there are things we do for our elderly parents and their peace of mind. I have an iPhone. What is my world coming to?
[2021] I think it’s over. I have an Apple Pencil.
In Praise of Superior Technology,
November 23, 2012
U of S On Campus New