Two words. Jury duty. Something I’ve aspired to for years and yet never attained. Count today as another day spent waiting. Got a good two hours in working on The Basics of Videojournalism…got bogged down in history, so logically began working on the chapter on legal aspects of the field.
The entire jury pool was called up to the same courtroom – it was packed. And the games began. Nearly half of the pool was gone by the time the judge handed out hardships. These ranged from being a full-time student to financial hardship. Full or part time teachers don’t get that excuse…we are expected to serve no matter what.
Next up – fill out a twenty page questionnaire asking about very nearly everything but party affiliation and sexual preferences. I kid you not. Got some laughs when it wanted me to document each individual law enforcement officer and lawyer I was acquainted with (there were only five spaces to do this on the questionnaire). The answer? Many.
So life is kind of on hold til next week when we all return for the formal questioning phase. Heck – I’m happy. Never even made it this far before. And I guess it’s been kinda hard to do my civic duty when I got rejected every time in the past for being in the broadcast news biz. Nope – they weren’t discriminating. Problem was I knew (as the husband says) where all of the bodies in the county were buried.
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February 15, 2012 at 7:06 am
Steve Sweitzer
Hang the bastards. Last time I was in your shoes, I hash to be excused from the jury half way through the trial. I was outside the courtroom on break & a photog I work with came up and blurted out something he’d overheard the family saying & I wasn’t supposed to know about. I immediately went and told the judge but it was very embarrassing.
February 15, 2012 at 9:13 am
cyndygreen
I think I’m pretty safe…a criminal trial, yes…but the judge said although we were not to read/listen/watch any news about it, he doubted very much if there would be any media coverage. I’ll let you know (a) if I make the final cut and (b) once it is all over what it was about.
February 15, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Amanda
Bogged down with history?
Hmm….I could make some suggestions, but you’d probably drive all the way over here to smack me if I posted them.
February 15, 2012 at 5:01 pm
cyndygreen
Amanda – you are merely covering one topic in a twenty to forty year span. I’m beginning with first oral communication by near-apes thru today. You’re correct in that I might discilpine you. Severely.
February 18, 2012 at 9:39 am
Bobbie Brown
Wow, I’ve never even made it THAT far… this year I actually got some sort of jury duty response form to fill out — a first — sent it in and have heard squat. Wonder what the odds are for the average citizen to actually get called up?Will I hit retirement first?