One technology that rekindles thoughts from the past is something that I use on a daily basis-the copy machine. I usually take for granted the ease of making copies of documents I need for my students or for personal matters. The machines today are so sophisticated that they can copy on two sides, staple, collate, shrink, enlarge, and perform other functions that I haven't yet discovered.
Thinking back to when I was a little girl in elementary school in the late '80s-probably in third or fourth grade-being the teacher's pet that I was, I often had to make copies for the teacher. Back then it was not as simple as pressing a button. The teacher had to first hand-write or type (with a typewriter) the information that needed copying on this messy blue carbon paper. Next I would take the carbon paper to a big machine with a round drum. I remember ripping the top sheet off the carbon paper and laying it across the drum. Then the drum had to be rolled one time to make a master. The machine had to be filled with a smelly, clear liquid in order to work. Somehow, once the master was made, the machine was ready to roll. I would make copies, in blue ink, and you had to stand there and count the number of copies you needed. The earliest machines I remember had to be cranked by hand. I think we later got automatic machines. What a process!
