My First TV

I graduated high school in 2002. My folks bought me a lot of odds and ends for my first year in college- sheets, a hamper, plastic shelving unit, flip-flops- but the big purchase, my graduation present, was a 20" Toshiba TV with three AV hook ups. It was my first substantial possession. Under my lofted dorm room bed I had my Toshiba set up with speakers, PS2, VCR, and DVD player. Lived like a king.

My college roommate Bob and I used that TV for two years in the dorms, when we moved into our own apartment we upgraded to his much larger TV. I used the old Toshiba on and off during the last couple years in Chicago. It was never high end but it was always reliable. I've lugged it from Rockford to Normal to Chicago and as the years past it got lighter and more retro. Now a tube TV seems almost as antiquated as a bag-phone. The tube Toshiba is extinct, like the dinosaur.

Over the weekend Nicole and I got a flat screen complete with WiFi hook up. It's a wonderful and long overdue upgrade. But. I am an analogue man. I love mix-tapes, VHS, land lines, and when fast forward made noise. I love rethreading cassettes and blowing into VCRs. It is high noon in the digital age and analogue has almost completely vanished. It is a fast-moving, info-steeped, high-resolution culture we live in. Which is great, don't get me wrong. Things are easier and more accessible.

Putting the Toshiba out on the curb though, I was a bit nostalgic. For a time before cell phones, when rewinding necessitated a separate machine.