MacGyver Challenge: Dead Pens
Have you ever wondered where pens come from? Of course you haven’t, because you already know: the office supply closet at work, where boxes and boxes of black Uni-balls and stalwart Sharpies lay in steady supply. Of course, over time these cartons are endlessly emptied and replaced as their contents are depleted and, because pens are disposable, inevitably thrown away. I can surmise that most of these abandoned tubes of plastic and metal are idling in landfills, awaiting discovery by bored archaeologists of the future. “What was with these people and their obsession with disposability?” they’ll ask. It’s a reasonable question. Is the ink incredibly difficult to refill? Does the process require sophisticated algorithms and n-dimensional physics? My guess is no. But until these questions are answered, it’s up to you, dear readers, to chart a new course for these inky vessels [Deadline: July 31, 2007]. The best penmanship wins a subscription and a ReadyMade T-shirt.
Send photos or projects to: MacGyver Challenge, 817 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94710 or articles [at] readymademag [dot] com.
Text by our resident MacGyver, Anthony Discenza.
