Glass from the Past

I rolled into Daniel Anderson’s office with two simple goals: Get in and Get OUT. But no sooner had I entered the Elon University administrator’s workspace when a certain dusty relic rendered me inert. There on a back shelf sat a freakin’ RCA TK-76, all retro-logo’d and beautifully battered. It made my shoulder hurt just looking at it. Forgetting instantly why I was even there, I stumbled toward the bookshelf and reached out to caress That 70’s Cam. Full of sharp edges and muted metalwork, this earliest of portable recorders thrummed with the energy of countless newscasts past. I reached out to lift it from its perch and the incredible heft humbled me. Leaning into its pitch black viewfinder, I imagined all the polyester clad passion plays that had appeared on its milky screen. “D-a-a-a-a-m”, I heard someone say - before realizing it was me. That’s when I sensed a presence behind me.

It was Daniel Anderson and to my instant relief, he was totally cool. In fact, the Director of University Relations positively beamed with delight at my enthusiasm. Finally, someone who could fully appreciate his fossilized fancycam! What followed was a history lesson of sorts, in which Anderson explained how he used to sling a similar lens back when he was a young one-man-band shooting news in North Dakota. Many years later, he fished this holy trophy out of his old station’s dumpster and gave the broadcast artifact a special home in his Elon campus office. Far more stoked over the history it witnessed than the dimension of its lens, I smiled and nodded as Anderson ran down the schematics. I never shot with a TK-76 myself, but the landmark model was a fancycam legend and should it ever go missing from Anderson’s possession - well, you’ll know where to bring the search warrant.

I just wish I could remember why I went to dude’s office in the first place…