The Needle and the Damage Done

You've got me on that one. If we have them, I don't know about it.

Those are probably racier styles than what you're showing on the runway.

Probably.

Will you be modeling?

No. I'll be emceeing.

Lest We Forget

In 1997 Bill Keaggy discovered a discarded grocery list in a south-city Schnucks. Ten years later, Keaggy has published his first-ever book, Milk Eggs Vodka, documenting some of the 1,700 grocery lists he has collected since. Last week Keaggy took time off from his day job as a photo editor for the Post-Dispatchto discuss the book.

Unreal: OK, first question: Why?

Bill Keaggy: It started small. I found that first list and thought it offered a little peek into the life of whoever left it. By 1999 I had about 30 different lists that I'd found and made a Web site (www.grocerylists .org). People started sending me lists from all over. You know how the Internet is — once people find something stupid, they want to be part of it.

Are grocery lists windows into our souls, or our stomachs?

I think a little bit of both. I don't want to be too philosophical about it, but I think they do offer a glimpse into private lives. You can tell if someone has health problems by what they purchase, or if they're planning a party and are happy. That said, the book is not intended to be an academic treatise on the deeper meaning of grocery lists. I just think there is a certain entertainment value in this type of trash.

The index lists five alternate spellings for yogurt: yougart, yohurt, yoguret, yogert, yogart. Before beginning this project, did you have any idea people were such atrocious spellers?

No. It's kind of scary. At first I was amused by the spelling mistakes, but deep down it's sad. Of course, that doesn't stop me from making fun of the list makers in my book.

What's next? A book on spam e-mail? Maybe a compilation of waitresses' order pads?

I don't know. I'm working on a portfolio of photos of "sad chairs" that I've found abandoned in alleyways and fields. But right now I'm just trying to get through this. Can you believe that I have twenty radio interviews set up this week to discuss the grocery lists?