2009 Slingshot Organizer

It all started for me in 2007. That was the first time I put my daily activities in order with the help of the Slingshot Organizer. We're coming up on year three of my making use of this invaluable resource (produced thanks to the efforts of Berkeley, California's Slingshot Collective volunteers), and I cannot imagine going a day without it. The Slingshot Organizer has become an integral part of my life, and I anticipate the release of each new one with the glee of a child counting down the days to her birthday.

My first organizer was their squat perfect-bound day planner, described in a number of places as “pocket-sized.” I'd say you could wedge it in to the back pocket of your pants, or perhaps a jacket pocket. Most t-shirt pockets are going to be too small, though. Per advice offered on the Slingshot website, I plastered the front and back covers with clear packing tape to protect them. For the rest of the year I filled it full with every one of my many obligations. There were so many of them, in fact, that in 2008, I upgraded to the larger spiral-bound day planner. Before I continue, please know that, while this review is based on the spiral-bound day planner, I think they're both great, so buy yours based on your own needs.

Day planning pages are divided with Monday through Thursday on the left page, and Friday through Sunday on the right. Some pages have image themes, and if you look closely you'll find nifty hints and inventions doodled in the margins of certain days. My favorite suggestion involved a charcoal grill, a hairdryer and some bricks to create a fire-free BBQ grill; use caution. Every day includes important dates from traditional, radical, and anarchist histories; for example, on my birth date (6 September) in 1974, “Housing occupations and barricades in Rome lead to legalized squatting.” There are also mentions of holidays both religious (Kwanzaa, Easter, etc.) and secular (Buy Nothing Day).

Every organizer is the same, but different; that is, there are certain elements repeated that nonetheless vary from year to year. Right at the beginning there's something that you won't see in any of the day planners you'd find at your local corporate office supply superstore: a menstrual calendar. That's right, folks. Monitor your menses at the same time you're scheduling your next monthly mountaineering meeting!

Items specific to the 2009 Edition include Critical Mass riding guidelines, “Basic Sewing Stitches,” “Self-Defense Tips,” “How To Start a Food Not Bombs Group,” and my personal favorite, “Know Your Trannies.” Other features are a worldwide radical contact list, an annual reading list, a measurement conversions table, a phone directory, as well as blank pages just itching to be filled. The Slingshot Organizer is chock full of so much radical advice and knowledge that you'll wanna keep it—and learn from it—long after the planner's year has passed.

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