Veronica, official daughter-in-law of NewMexiKen, sent me a link to this intriguing article about Bill Keaggy and his fascination with other people’s grocery lists. The article appeared in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine.
The collection, which now numbers more than 500 lists, is strangely addictive.
The lists elicit twofold curiosity — about the kind of meal the person was planning and the kind of person who would make such a meal. What was the shopper with vodka, lighters, milk and ice cream on his list planning to do with them? In what order would they be consumed? Was it a he or a she? Who had written ”Tootie food, kitten chow, bird food stick, toaster scrambles, coffee drinks”? Some shoppers organize their lists by aisle; others start with dairy, go to cleaning supplies and then back to dairy before veering off to Home Depot. A few meticulous ones note the price of every item. One shopper had written in large letters on an envelope, simply, ”Milk.”
See the actual lists here.
”You can see their lives from these lists even if you haven’t been in their houses,” Keaggy says.
Which bodes poorly for the the individual who wrote: ”Shell corn, bind holder, belt, knife, coolers, map, cellphone, hunting license, say goodbye to wife, kill deer, Mt. View Motel, kill deer.”