Trading on up

Author talks about how he started with a paperclip and ended up with a house, By Leslie Sullivan SPARTA — It started with one red paper clip. A paper clip that brought him on a journey, of finding new places, meeting new people, and experiencing life the way most would like to live it. Kyle MacDonald, 31, now resides in Montreal, Canada, with his girlfriend Dominique. Dominique is the reason for MacDonald’s paper clip experience. MacDonald and his childhood friends would play a game called Bigger and Better — a combination of a scavenger hunt and trick-or-treating; the object of the game was to go knocking from door to door asking to trade items for bigger and better items. In his book “One Red Paperclip,” MacDonald tells the story of how a rumor spread that quite possibly in the next town over some kids had started Bigger and Better early and traded a toothpick all the way up to a car. This enchanted MacDonald, though he admits he was never any good at the game. Ten years went by since MacDonald had played, or even thought of the game. He was living with his girlfriend Dominique, who was paying the rent while Kyle was between jobs. While typing up his résumé one afternoon MacDonald lost interest, looked down and saw a red paperclip staring back at him. An idea struck and he posted his red paperclip on Craigslist. “It’s important to stay focused on a goal, but even more important to take that first step,” said MacDonald. The first post occurred in July of 2005. Kyle received several offers to trade the red paperclip and chose a fish pen for the first trade. From the pen, a door knob, from the door knob, a camping stove, from the camping stove, a generator, from the generator up through a snowmobile, a cube van to a recording contract. That became one year of rent in an apartment in Phoenix, which led to an afternoon with Alice Cooper. Eventually there was a movie role, the movie role was then finally traded for what Kyle MacDonald had set out for, a house. The house was located in Kipling, Saskatchewan. MacDonald’s story is one inspiring to all; with a little imagination and a lot of determination you can get to a house from a red paperclip in one year. After hearing MacDonald’s story, Dorothy Talty, an English teacher at the high school e-mailed Kyle asking him to come do a presentation for her students, which he did four years ago. Four years later, on Monday Nov. 15, Kyle MacDonald made a trip back to Sparta High School to share his story with Talty’s current students, Talty gave students a paper clip, an envelope, and an assignment to write a persuasive business letter to the company of their choice to convince them to trade some of their products for the paper clip. Students are receiving objects back for their paper clips. The message is: why not try, ‘cause ya never know. Kyle MacDonald continues to trade things to this day, trading with students for things such as chocolate chip cookies, pens, and books during his presentation for a copy of his book “One Red Paperclip,” which can be found on www.amazon.com. For more on Kyle’s journey visit www.oneredpaperclip.com.