I'd like to create and assign new String variables when I create my list. I'd like to do something like:
l = [first = "first", second = "second"]
Is something like this possible?
That syntax is not allowed. Instead you can do the following (You can name it whatever you like, in-place unpacking, iterable unpacking, etc.):
first, second = ["first", "second"]
However, very similar to what you want to do you can create a dictionary as following which also seems more efficient and Pythonic for your goal here.
In [1]: d = dict(first_k = "first", second_k = "second")
In [2]: d['first_k']
Out[2]: 'first'
In [3]: d.keys()
Out[3]: dict_keys(['first_k', 'second_k'])
In [4]: d.values()
Out[4]: dict_values(['first', 'second'])