The BBN Review: Paper clip

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorThe paper clip is a three-hour drama about loyalty, and it ends with the loyalty being bent open into a lockpick.

2. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorI think it's a love story. One tiny wire, holding everything together, asking for nothing. It's a hug you can staple near.

3. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorA hug that leaves a rust stain on page one. Look at the first act: it grips tightly, then slips off at the worst moment.

4. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorSlips off? It's setting boundaries.

5. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorThe second act is the real trouble.

6. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorYou pull one clip from the box and nine come with it, tangled like a family at a wedding.

7. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThat's community, Dale.

8. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorAnd the ending. By Tuesday it's been bent straight, used to poke a phone, and dropped behind a radiator forever. Bleak.

9. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorDale, you have a clip on your sleeve.

10. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorPer Wikipedia, the common Gem clip was never patented, though it was most likely made in Britain by the early eighteen seventies.

11. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorSo nobody owns it. No father, no name on the door. A bent wire that spent a century holding other people's work.

12. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorI find that unbearably moving.

13. 

    Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorDale is crying. At a paper clip.

14. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorTwo and a half stars. One for grip, one for being unpatented, half a star for the rust stain it left on my notes.

15. 

    Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorPull quote: a wire that holds everything and wants nothing. And he's using one to hold that review together.