6 / matters magazine / fall 2017 READ & RECYLE Featuring Local People, Places and Things that Matter Since 1990 Please address all correspondence to: Visual Impact Advertising, Inc.© P.O Box 198 Maplewood, NJ 07040 973-763-4900 mattersmagazine.com MattersHello@gmail.com MattersMagazine©isownedandpublished by Visual Impact Advertising, Inc., P.O. Box 198 Maplewood, NJ 07040. Published monthly, Matters Magazine is free, with editions directly mailed 7 times a year to the residents of Maplewood and South Orange and distributed to businesses and surrounding communities totaling 17,000. Subscriptions are available to non-residents for $30 (U.S.) $40 (Foreign) annually. No part of the publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written per- missionfromVisualImpactAdvertising,Inc. CIRCULATION VERIFIED BY U.S. POSTAL RECEIPTS. PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ellen Donker ASSOCIATE EDITOR Joanne DiPasquale ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS Rene Conlon H. Leslie Gilman Adrienne MacWhannell DESIGN CONSULTANT Joy Markel COPY EDITORS Nick Humez Tia Swanson CONTRIBUTORS Chris Costanzo, Adrianna Donat, Ellen Donker, Jamie Meier, Cindy Potters, Dorothy Robinson, Joy Yagid FOUNDER & CREATIVE CONTRIBUTOR Karen Duncan Matters heart of the matter O ne of the most useful classes I’ve ever taken was typing class. It was at Schuyler Colfax Junior High School that I learned about the home row method and recited aloud a s d f j k l ;. What a noisy class that was – 25 manual typewriters clacking away at the same time. On Fridays, to reward us for our hard work, Miss Morgan gave us the instructions for typing out a picture or cartoon character. Type x three times, space 20 times, type x 15 times. Carriage return. We didn’t know what we were typing until we got far enough down the page to see it was a pic- ture of Snoopy. I took to typing and in no time could type without looking at the keys. On typing tests that were graded for speed and accuracy, I scored fairly high. There was no erasing or whiteout, so you got points taken off for every er- ror you made. My typing skills served me well, especially when I needed to produce term papers in college. By then I had an electric typewriter. When I graduated in 1983 as an economics major, I moved back home from Chicago and looked for jobs in Manhattan as well as New Jersey. I wanted a job in the business world, specifically in direct marketing (I was enamored of mail- order companies), but I knew my major was more suited to banking, so I explored both options. For the most part, I went through employment agencies, and the first step was always a typing test. Over and over the recruiters told me I would have to start out as a secretary (after all, I was a great typist!). I don’t think my male counterparts were given the same message. When I politely said I didn’t intend to take a secretarial job, the recruiter usually gave me a “Hon- ey, here’s how it works” lecture and sent me on my way. Eventually, I found a few recruiters who believed they could find me an entry-level job in my desired field and I ended up following my dream to work at a mail- order company, which launched me in the field of direct marketing and advertising, serving me well over the years. The world has certainly changed and I’m quite sure that typing tests are a thing of the past. Nonetheless, the skill is needed more than ever. I feel as though I live my life out on a keyboard of some sort, be it my computer, phone or iPad. And it really pays to be able to type fast. When my children started using the computer in elementary school, I en- couraged them to learn the home row method. At the time, they really couldn’t see the point. In high school, though, Christian took a word processing class and finally learned this skill. It was one of those rare times that he credited me for being right, because now he can type like a demon. I know prospects are different now for college graduates, and I hope that a young woman looking to start her career is given the same chances as the young man next to her. If I were to give advice, I would tell both to do what they love and not step back from their dreams. But first they need to master the art of typing. n Career Prep 101 The lessons of typing class live on BY ELLEN DONKER When my daughter Madeline was in 8th grade, she bought this antique type- writer to better understand how we used to "get it done."