The Old Typer

The only class I ever flunked was typing.

I didn’t see the point. Didn’t need the skill.  

Less than a year after blowing off typing, I was hired as an 18-year-old reporter for the Bethalto American, a new weekly newspaper in my town. I was issued a Royal manual typewriter and told to produce news copy.

I would write my stories out on a piece of paper with a pen….then….when everyone else left at closing time…..I would sit and peck one key at a time….all night and into the morning until it became second nature. It was painful but I did my penance for being a bad student for Mrs. Coalson, my typing teacher at CMHS.

Lesson learned. Don’t turn a blind eye to learning something new.

I have been placed in a new and challenging job. One that has me working with colleagues who are much younger…and much smarter than this crusty old education veteran. And I am on the cusp of a “significant birthday.” I will become a man “of a certain age” shortly. And that has its own baggage.

At a recent college cabinet meeting, one of my young colleagues (the age of my oldest son) was told that a syllabus had not been changed since 1983. She chortled, “That was the year I was born.”

I snapped back, “I have shoes that old.”

Probably should have just kept that to myself.

I have learned some things about myself over the last nine months since taking my new job as the chief academic officer of a small campus in west St. Louis County. First, the old ways are not always the best ways. This old dog needs to learn new tricks if he is going to make a difference in his new job. Second, I tend to internalize the challenges of the CEO of the college because for 15 years, it was my job to lead. I’ve had to remember how to be a good lieutenant these days. And it hasn’t been all that easy.

Finally, I have been forced to find that metaphorical clutch which should be engaged between my brain and my mouth when it comes to my view on an issue. Not everyone wants my two cents. The clutch needs pumped now and then.   

In many ways it was like being in a typing class led by a skilled teacher back in 1975. I preferred getting more votes for class clown. Will I ever learn?

I used to have coffee in the morning with my colleagues. These days my colleagues prefer a soy latte…and have nothing in common with me besides an office suite. We don’t watch the same television shows and don’t share the same politics. To them, the good old days were when MTV played music videos. For me, it was AM Top 40.  

How do I intend on proceeding? I’m going to scour the ‘net for a Royal typewriter that reminds me of the one I had at The American. Then I’m putting it in my office in a prominent place. The visitors to my office will think it is just a sentimental addition to the dozen or so old radios than are on the shelves.

But I will know the real reason it is there. It will remind me it’s better to listen, be humble, and learn…than it is to be mired in an inflexible mindset that usually identifies folks who have been around for a long time.

A real long time.

Like 60 years….