Blackwings in the New Yorker’s Comma Queen Series Premiere

Yesterday, the New Yorker launched Comma Queen, a web series “devoted to language in all its facets” starring none other than New Yorker editor and Blackwing aficionado Mary Norris. The inaugural episode is dedicated to the series’ namesake, the comma.

In the episode, Mary’s desk is littered with pencil artifacts of all shapes and sizes. In her hand rests a Blackwing 602, which she deftly uses to slash commas throughout the video. After Mary attended the Blackwing Experience we held in New York City, she professed her love for pencils and, specifically, the Blackwing. This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to see her and her beloved pencils in action, however.

As an English major, I obsess over the comma. It is, in my opinion, the most powerful punctuation mark in the English language. One misplaced comma (or one missed entirely) can derail an entire sentence, crush an idea’s momentum, and stifle a brilliant thought. Thankfully, Mary is here to teach us the nuances of this seemingly simple squiggle.