Mimeographs

[Mary Ann <macloudt@yahoo.co.uk>]

Bboy Steve wrote:

> As a side note, does anyone beside me remember what a freshly
> mimeographed sheet of paper smelled like? I remember teachers 
handing
> out tests, and the first think every student did was smell the
> mineograph paper. Used to drive some of the teachers nut. They would
> look out over a sea of faces and see the whole class sniffing their 
tests.

I spent two years in a private school in the early '80s and every 
sheet of paper we received in class was mimeographed.  While I don't 
remember the smell of the stuff I do remember how difficult it was to 
read.  Specifically, my grade 7 English teacher handwrote all the 
stuff she mimeographed and used different coloured inks, especially 
pink and light green.  She may have thought this was pretty, but all 
I could see were lightly coloured blobs.  It used to drive me and my 
classmates up the wall.  At least most of the other teachers would 
use dark purple ink, which we could read.  *Everything* was 
handwritten; obviously none of my teachers could type.

What confuses me is that there were several photocopiers in the 
school.  I remember seeing one in the secretaries' office and there 
was even one in the library for use by the students for a 10 cents a 
sheet or so.  But the teachers obviously weren't allowed to use the 
photocopiers for general class use.  I don't think cost was an issue 
because this was a private school and the tuition fees were 
ridiculously high.  Very strange.

Mary Ann
(my brother likes to remind our parents that our dad paid all that 
tuition to Mother Johnson to turn me into a lady, and that dad should 
demand his money back)