Details: Immediacy and Authenticity

Lanning includes a detailed description of the visual cues that stand out in his earliest computer memories, recalling the box-like shape of early 1990s Apple computers, their rectangular mice, and the black floppy disks used by that generation of Apples, calling to the viewers’ minds the setting of the 1990s computer lab he describes. Like Delbo’s references to the sensation of chewing dry, rotting leaves or biting into a tart, juicy orange, Lanning’s reconstruction of the look of a 1990s school computer lab in his narrative invites his audience to envision and enter into the memory he recounts by fleshing it out with concrete details. Lanning’s description of the shapes and colors of the computer technology he interacted with as a child also suggests that the visual may be the most evocative aspect of those memories for him, serving the dual purpose of evoking similar images in the minds of his audience. Drawing attention to the distinctive look of 1990s Apple computers (contrasted later with the sleeker look of newer computer models) helps Lanning distinguish and locate his memory in the early 1990s both for himself and for his audience.