Jane Fonda is fond of her 

"I'm Fonda Jane" button,

a Pinprick Button Company original

Pinprick Button Company’s roots began in Montpelier, Vt., in 2005 with a handful of pins bearing the-then heretical phrase: “Pave Sabins Pasture.”

This tongue-in-cheek jab was directed at a group of concerned citizens whose whiny slogan, “Save Sabins Pasture,” was a battle cry to keep a privately owned parcel from development.

The local newspaper, “The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus,” wrote about my pins.  As a result of that article like-minded individuals bought them, and the “Save Sabins Pasture” folks cursed me and my blasphemy to no end, hence the slogan: “The Pin Is Mightier Than The Sword.”

 During the past several years I have made thousands of buttons, some humorous (at least to me), some of questionable taste (according to others). 

I made a button for

Mandi Hamlem, the Texas woman who was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane in 2008:  a red slash through a pair of pliers.  I mailed the same button to the head of the TSA, suggesting all his employees wear one as a reminder. Hamlem wrote back, thanking me. I did not hear from the TSA director, but I'm sure I'm now on some horrible list.

We button-wearers are a proud group.

Whether it's an "I Like Ike” or “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out,” a button is a great way to meet people and start a conversation -- in person.

Remember conversations? 

It’s what people did before the advent of texting and all this insincere fawning over each other on Facebook.