On the second day of the FEST, I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast on a downtown sidewalk with poet Albert Goldbarth, author of Ludd Light (right) and poet and musician Joey Lemon (left). Note our QWERTY caps!
We walked to the beautiful Milwaukee Public Library, where there were a variety of talks on historical and typewriterly subjects. Bob Marshall (Typewriter Muse) told us about his experience writing a book, American Roadrunner, about what it’s like to participate in an illegal coast-to-coast motorcycle race. He likes to work on one or two typewriters plus a laptop, simultaneously.
Bob inspired everyone to type about their ideal writing space.
Later that afternoon, I presented a talk on uncommon portables. You can download a PDF of the slide show here.
The QWERTYFEST Schedule tells you about more of the talks, if you’re curious.
And then …
Voices from the Animal Kingdom was a unique concept spawned by the fertile mind of Anja Notanja Sieger, aka La Prosette, shown here with some of her artwork.
Visitors were given a “passport” on which they would write a question. Mine was stolen from Leibniz and Heidegger.
We then entered a dim room where no speaking was allowed. We handed our passport to various typists who were representing different animals (some extinct).
We still weren’t near the end of this busy day. After a Thai dinner with Albert and Joey, I headed to The Newsroom Pub. This beautiful bar features an amazing collection of celebrity autographs, and doubles as the headquarters of the Milwaukee Press Club.
No journalist’s haunt would be complete without …
There was storytelling, chatting, typing, drinking, feasting, and merriment.
Some attendees may even have gone dancing afterwards.
But QWERTYFEST was not yet over …
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