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D'vorahDavida
Yetzirah

Diary Of A Prospective Juror
Tue Nov 04 2003

Sounds like a good title for a book eh?


8:15 AM In the jury pool room. (No, there are no pool tables)

I am the most fortunate of jurors. I have secured a lovely spot at a table in the corner where my back is safe and I can survey the room with some kind of anonymity. Urbane people sit near by, reading. I am among the bookish. One man is reading 4 Blind Mice by James Patterson, another man reads the newspaper, and a lady next to me is reading French. I'm telling you I am among the eggheads in this room.

Other prospective jurors file past clutching their summons in sweaty palms on their way to checking in. People that come in all shapes and sizes, colors and occupations, for I suppose this is one place that knows no prejudice. It's too bad that this same quality does not spill over into the jury room. For my earnest friends, it irks me to no end how juries are selected these days. Seems to me the first 12 people who show up that don't know the lawyers or the litigants, get the job. But since I don't run this show (more's the pity) I have to go through the agonizing process of watching this game play itself out.

But for now we are the brotherhood of the many, the varied, the disgruntled, and the anxious in jury waiting room number 203.

Later:

There are TVs hanging off the walls in here, but the sound is completely off. We're watching Fox News Channel and only get to see the scrolling bad news at the bottom of the screen and some concerned looking reporter standing in the dark on the other side of the world.

My goodness there's a petite lady that has brought her fringed pillow with her to court. Looks like it came off her couch. I almost thought it was a stuffed animal at first. It must be her security pillow, her pillow away from home, her soft place to land, her…. (okay I’ll stop)

There are students and retirees and a man in the black corduroy suit standing in line. And one industrious person sits with his laptop plugged in at the next table. It's open and he has his cell phone glued to his ear. This means something, although at this moment I'm not sure what. It's tempting to begin my recurring techno-rant, but I'll resist this temptation today. There are too many other things to think about at the moment. I could start writing on my novel, but I'm going to wait for the big instruction speech that is promised in five minutes if we are very good boys and girls.

Post Speech:

This room is becoming way too crowded! I find it amazing that they cram so many people into this space. I think it would be really fun to start mooing and see if we all could get in the act. A sort of juror’s mooteny. If I can do laugh sauna in yoga, I could start the mooing. What is laugh sauna you ask? Well it's something Sarah has us do in class, usually near the end. You lay on your back and kick your feet up in the air kind of like you were bicycling and punch your arms sort of like you are throwing a tantrum, and then you laugh. You just start laughing and you keep laughing for about a minute and a half (that’s our record) I'm sure the people out in the weight room at the gym think we have all lost our minds. But boy is it fun and you feel so relaxed and happy when you're finished.

All right enough of this I am going to start writing some on my story.


After lunch.

I have written for several hours solid. The time has flown by! (You were right Solo) I have filled 18 sheets of binder paper! Woo Hoo. Of course I will have to type this all in tomorrow, but I had a blast. Actually I will use Dragon Naturally Speaking to do the bulk of it and clean it up as I go. Dragon is good, but far from perfect.
It doesn’t know the difference between to and two, or their and there and lots of times it just makes stuff up. Just to see if you are paying attention.

I also got into a courtroom to hear the interesting news that the trial is expected to last about 4 months. No one is on the jury yet. We all had to fill out a questionnaire and come back on the 5th of November. So I will have a day off to work on getting my words in the computer on the novel. The REAL business at hand !

Whew! Enough already….!

And in honorable mention as second best thing of the day…. Viva la Light Rail System!
The downtown traveler’s friend. No traffic hassles and parking nightmares. They even gave me free tickets at the window in the jury waiting room.

You will excuse me now, I have to go ravish my husband who has just gotten home from being out of town for four days…. Byeeeee !


9 Comments
  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Nov 04 2003
    This should be interesting if you get on the four-month trial. I shudder to think of the state of your house and sanity. And *gasp* what if the jury is cloistered--no that's not the word. Sequestered. Oy-oy-oy! To say nothing of GEVALT!

    Well, isn't that nice of them to give you light rail tickets. They didn't do that when I was called in. Maybe someone has figured that jurors don't need to add to the traffic and parking problems of downtown and encourage you to use the light rail. Someone may be thinking!

    This is going to be interesting.

    Shalom!
  • From:
    Palimpsest (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Nov 04 2003
    I am ashamed to admit that I'd not even heard of Baraka until you mentioned it in your comment to me. I've looked it up on the web, and it does sound intriging.

    I hesitate to suggest Koyaanisqatsi to anyone because it is such an idiosyncratic film. There are times I'm not even sure *I* like it, and I've seen it three times (back in the pre-DVD days). It can be visually disturbing, although it's quite provokative as well. If I don't know someone's taste in films well enough, I figure I'm lining them up for a major disappointment if I suggest it!

    I just wish there was a place near me that carried such titles to rent. One by one, all the art and alternative video stores have folded, pushed out of business by Blockbuster and Hollywood and Video Update.

  • From:
    Bookworm (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Nov 04 2003
    I'm enjoying all this about waiting for selection, so on, at court. Oh, hope you had a ravishing time with hubby. ;-)
  • From:
    Parett (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Nov 04 2003
    As soon as you are through ravishing your husband, I suggest you write a short story about the 'jury room'. (Since you don't smoke!!!):o}
  • From:
    BillyTeabags (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Nov 04 2003
    Jury duty sounds a lot like sitting in a room. I'm not sure I'd like that.

    That yoga thing sounds crazy. It would be neat if you could record yourselves and then use it as a greeting on an answering machine.
  • From:
    ShadowRose (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Nov 04 2003
    I've wondered what it would be like to go through the jury process ;)
  • From:
    AeolianSolo (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Nov 04 2003
    Jury duty is comprised mostly of waiting. Every so often (if you're selected) you will sit in the courtroom and hear testimony. All of the interesting lawyer-stuff you see on TV will happen after the judge excuses the jurors back into the jury room while the lawyers go at it, and you will miss it. W-A-I-T-I-N-G. That's it. Then, you will get some pig-headed jerk on the panel who makes up his mind after the opening statements and wastes the rest of the members' time while they try to convince him to look at the FACTS and the LAW instead of holding fast to his own opinion. B-O-R-I-N-G. The only thing you will most likely get form the experience is experience, so definitely use it as writing material. Even as an excited law student, I quickly became jaded by the process. The only good thing is that Elliott Bay Books gives active jurors a ten percent discount, and you'd better believe I took advantage of that!!

    --Solo
  • From:
    AQuietEvening (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Nov 04 2003
    I served on a federal jury once. It was actually pretty fun for the people watcher in me and a little irritating for the intellectual. I could hardly believe people could be so stupid..and the rational they use to come to a decision...oh my! At any rate, it's bound to be an interesting journey.

    ~QE
  • From:
    RealmOfRachel (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Nov 04 2003
    Wow! I've always wanted to be on a jury, I always pictured American juries to be like 12 angry men or a John Grisham novel, from your experiences I would guess it's not that exciting I blame a childhood of Nancy Drew for my expectations.

    AHh how I have missed your words.
    Hugs
    Rach xxx