(A) list(er) work

I admit it, I am list maker.

It's not that I can't remember things, I am just a visual learner. I absorb more from the written page than from auditory cues. My childhood skills tests prove it. Seriously. I always did exceptionally well on reading comprehension and was well below average on listening comprehension. Guess which skill I've been working on my whole life?

I know what you're thinking, "Miriam, but you've been a community organizer for nearly 12 years! Your whole job is to listen to people and comprehend what they're saying." Yup. I practice. It works.

Back to the lists. When I make lists, I do so with the intention that I will accomplish at least some of the items on it. If I get 1/2 way through a list, that is a HUGE feat. H-U-G-E.

My lists are compartmentalized most of the time into: what to make (foodstuffs), what to clean (parts of the house, or subparts like the coffee table or counters), who to see (Grandma, friends), other household chores (mow, garden, gutters, bills), errands (fill tires, return stuff bought last weekend) and what to purchase (groceries).

Each week, my lists make the all important transfer from one page to the next.

As I was cleaning off the coffee table this week, in order to pay bills (two things crossed off the list in one fell swoop!), I noticed a full notepad of lists. Making sure I had not missed something huge, I found that the notepad was filled with key information from one of my job interviews that will make work more streamlined when I bring it up again, and the name and phone number of the gentleman I met with last summer who negotiated my lower property tax rate for 2011 (more on that at a later date).

Several years ago, I read "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners for Health. It was a book that all of the combined organizing teams read at my job with the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical workers, and it made a huge impact on me. It taught me to take risks in order to change systemic inequities, and to always work for justice. It also taught me about the importance of lists.

Of course, my lists tend to be more mundane than Farmer's. I'm not trying to combat the rise of drug resistant tuberculosis. I'm just trying to keep on top of my dishes and laundry.