Heather's Blog: Old School vs. New School

I like old things. I like old movies (late 1930s are my particular favorite), I like old photographs, and I still have a soft spot in my heart for cassette tapes. Don’t get me wrong – I like all the shiny conveniences the digital age has to offer, but there are some old-school things I can’t help but love.

Probably my favorite old-school thing is books. I love the concept of a Kindle – talk about convenience when you travel. But for me, reading is a full experience. I like to curl up on the sofa, under a blanket, snacks and book in hand (snacking is a must). I like the feel of the paper, the smell of the books, especially older ones, the sound the paper makes as I turn the page. I like the peace and relaxation I feel as I sit for a moment, finally still, finally quiet.

I like writing things by hand. All good etiquette experts will tell you that nothing beats a handwritten note. While that may be true, I like handwriting notes because it gives me the freedom to add little doodles and smiley faces as I see fit. (Nothing says fancy handwritten note like a smiley face.) And I like the swooping feeling of signing my name at the end.

Speaking of signatures – what ever happened to cursive? I’ve read a couple of articles that say schools are thinking about not teaching cursive anymore, since it is so rarely used. I always liked cursive, I thought it looked pretty. But now when I try to write in cursive it looks like the writing of a small child. Although sometimes my printing has the same effect. (Anyone else have good handwriting days and bad ones? It’s like waking up on the right or wrong side of the bed. It just happens.)

Anyway, back to the old-school. I mentioned earlier my love of cassette tapes, because they will always remind me of the era of the mixed tape. I still have a few, squirreled away in my room. And I stubbornly hang on to a CD player that also has a cassette deck, just in case. But supposedly the real richness of analog music comes from records. I think it’s pretty cool that records are still sold, and I do believe you get a little bit more of that indescribable something listening to a record that you just can’t get from a CD or iTunes.

And remember photographic film? Even places like Kodak are limiting how much film they produce (they stopped producing Kodachrome). I took photography classes in high school, and spent many hours in the photo lab, painstakingly processing film and prints. It was a time consuming, yet immensely satisfying, hobby (and you never forget the smell of developer chemicals). Today's digital cameras can produce beautiful images, but photographer friends tell me that film still captures that extra something special, much like a record on a record player.

What about you, readers? What old school things do you enjoy?