Paper before ipad

Words by Jo Stover-Power

Paper is very popular amongst scholars and artists. It is thin, flexible, and absorbs the substances produced by most writing or drawing utensils. For instance, one could send a message to their cousin using a pen and a sheet of paper; this is called a letter. Letters play a major role in communication and business, so paper is in part to thank for the successes of these arenas.

The earliest sheets of paper were made from the papyrus plant by the clever Egyptians. The name by which we know the product today is derived from the aforementioned plant. Modern paper is not made of papyrus, but plants remain an integral part of paper-making along with rags and pulp.
Despite its success as a thin sheet used to bear written, printed, drawn, or painted messages, paper will forever be in dispute with rock and live in fear of scissors. Traditionally, paper covers rock, thereby making it disappear, thereby beating it. Brian Shaw, a second-year geology student at Monash University says he does not resent paper, despite his passion for rocks. “I don’t resent paper. I appreciate it. It’s a very important medium—art, literature, paper airplanes,” Shaw nods, clearly reliving a special paper airplane memory. “Yeah, paper airplanes,” he repeats.
Shaw holds a more compassionate attitude toward paper than most geologists, but he concedes that paper’s supposed predominance over rock is an outrage.

He says, “I know that logically rock is more powerful.”Many would agree that the idea of paper beating rock is not realistic, particularly amongst geology students. Murmurings of a future crusade to establish the superiority of stones hang in the air in the Science Faculty sector of the Monash campus. These whispered schemes added to the difficulty of the past half-century, which has been a tumultuous series of decades for paper. It suffered a clout to its dignity in 1956 when Mistake-Out was introduced to the market. The product became significantly more offensive when its name was changed to Liquid Paper. In the first year of production, one million bottles were sold. The idea of paper in a bottle could be considered preposterous, but the success of the business did not reflect these traditionalist ideals. There is certainly beauty in a clean, solid sheet of paper, awaiting a pen to descend upon it. However, fluidity may be the most advantageous state for paper. It is common knowledge and an accepted fact that scissors can not cut a liquid. And one can not dispute that White-Out can cover a rock with ease. Few realize it, but paper is both useful and invincible.