Red Door #28 - The TYPEWRITTEN issue

EDITORIAL
YOU’RE MY TYPE
The highlight of having an independent magazine
is being able to take it by the hand towards the
subjects one favors. There’s no need for neutrality
here. In my eyes, typewriters are dream machines.
Icons of design and progress, communication and
disconnection, these beautiful objects have traveled
with us through time and helped us tell our
stories, document them and turn them into art.
Typewriters have accompanied me since I wrote my
very first poem as a child, and through time became
a constant, especially since the lucky day when Red
Door correspondent David H.Rambo gifted me a red
Olivetti in New York as he prepared to move back to
Mexico. It was also him who helped me get a custom
painted pink and black Lettera 31 in Mexico and
baptized her “Kitty Olivetti”, teaching me typewriters
had nicknames, like good friends do. Ever since,
I fell down the rabbit hole and now own around 20
Olivettis, an insane number for those outside of the
global typewriter collector club, but quite a humble
number for those within. Then came the typewritten
art and the posters, ribbons and collectible objects,
which now fill my home in Denmark and occupied
my lockdown days with clickety happiness.
When I asked the readers of Red Door to submit
content for this typewritten issue, I fell even deeper
into this ink-stained wonderland, admiring the
many stories, letters, photos and art that arrived,
and the roles typewriters play in our lives, from revolutionary
strategies for reclaiming our privacy, to
aesthetic attraction and mental health support.
These are some of the many ways these analog
machines lighten up our lives, and our pockets. But
oh, they’re worth their weight in poetry.
From aiding writers to focus in their projects and
others to disconnect from the constant buzz of this
current social media-obsessed world, to helping
express art and new ideas, and even serving as a
tool for activism, direct action and poetic existences,
(I read in a sticker they even kill fascists), these
dream machines are keeping many of us sane.
Thanks to everyone who submitted content to this
issue, but especially to Richard Polt, for his interview
on the Typewriter Revolution (a bible for collectors
and dummies alike) and for the beautiful
illustrations that accompany the poetry segment.
Rambo, the Red Door correspondent, patreon supporter,
typewriter collector, poet and photographer
fell endlessly asleep at the beginning of October, so
this issue, which would’ve been his favorite, is dedicated
to his memory. I have lost my great collaborator
and conspirator in all things Olivetti, but through
him I have learned of a world filled with incredible
artists, dreamers and collectors, who keep giving
back and helping me find the way.
To typewriters, to Rambo, to poetry, and to each
one of you: Thank you. May poetry and ink always
be near.
Elizabeth Torres / Madam Neverstop.
06
Madam Neverstop
& “Puma” Olivetti
Photo by Zarko Ivetic.