This week at LWON we’re digging into the archives to celebrate the uncelebrated: inanimate objects. Many of them aren’t very impressive inanimate objects. And yet we love them.
In December 2014 Nell Greenfieldboyce explained her obsession with paper clips. If you’ve ever worried about the feelings of an inanimate object, or thought about how amazing it is that a manufactured thing in your hand started out as raw materials in the ground–or if you haven’t ever done these things, this essay is for you.
The trouble is, once you start seeing paper clips, you can’t stop seeing them. My obsession with lost paper clips started years ago, when I resolved to start gathering coins. I’d read some article that argued that only a fool would walk past free money and that taking a second to collect a coin meant that, at that moment, you’d be making more than minimum wage. I started scanning the ground for nickels, dimes, or quarters, but hardly ever found any. Instead, I saw the metallic flash of paper clips.
Photo: JF Sebastian, Flickr
I love this post to pieces. Also I need to check my comments notifications.
I love this piece, too! And I got an email about your comment.
I did too and all is well. I hadn’t changed my WP password since 2011 and WP held that against me.