Secret Confessions of an Enthusiastic Juror

Jury Duty. I'll admit it; I like it. I look forward to it. Honestly, it is one of the highlights of my year. I know that's a bit weird (although being weird is pretty normal for me), because the majority of adults dread Jury Duty. I, however, enjoy it. The way it is set up in my county (in the beautiful state of California), makes it a pleasure, not a curse. At least, it does for me.

Now, I am aware that there are (many) less juror friendly states, and possibly even other counties within my state, where Jury Duty is not a pleasure to serve. Places where Jury Duty really is a highly inconvenient (at best) experience. My MIL, for example, lives in Missouri, where jurors are "On Call" for Jury Service for a year at a time. For any jury trials that come up in her county during that year, she is called in and interviewed for the jury, and she ended up serving on multiple juries in a single twelve-month period during her most recent Jury Duty installment. I can see how that would be a major inconvenience to the continuity of work or school, or for an at-home parent who has to arrange child care for every trial instance during which they need to be away. However, Jury Duty is much simpler where I live, and that is a major part of the reason I enjoy it.

Jury Service in California lasts one day, or one trial. That's it. You show up, spend the day in the Prospective Juror Waiting Room--which is equipped with free wi-fi, an adjacent TV room, a Juror business center (private work cubicles, data ports, fax machines, and the like), big, comfy leather chairs, an adjacent cafeteria with an in-house coffee shop, a variety of tables and chairs available for working on whatever you have brought with you, and occasionally you get called for a Panel.

Now, when a panel of prospective jurors is called into a courtroom to be interviewed for assignment to a trial, it is fairly likely that that case will proceed to trial. However, nearly 8 out of 10 cases are resolved without having to go to trial, simply because we, the prospective jurors, are IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE to be called onto a panel. The mere threat of actually going to jury trial is enough to inspire the conflicting parties (in a civil case) or prosecution and defense (in a criminal case), in many instances, to come to a resolution without actually going to trial. Which saves time, money and resources for everyone involved. And what do I have to do to help effect these timely and effective resolutions? Take a day out of my life to sit and read all day? Or work on a project or other task I need to do anyway? Oh, and did I mention that KIDS AREN'T ALLOWED? Which, of course, means that whatever I choose to work on while I am here, I will be UNINTERRUPTED BY MY CHILDREN…

I guess I should re-cap about now: I spend a day reading, writing, or working on a project in the Jury Waiting Room, guaranteed to be uninterrupted by my kids while doing so, and my mere presence helps resolve around eight of ten court cases before they even go to trial? Yeah, I will unabashedly admit it, I DO like Jury Duty. Truth be told, I kind of love it.

Of course, it's not all uninterrupted ‘Me Time;’ there have been times when I have been called to a panel, and I do have to pack up my reading or other project to go to a courtroom and be questioned for possible placement on a jury, but, after all, that's what I'm here to do. Eight out ten cases resolved without going to trial does leave a couple of cases that will go to trial out of every batch. And I could get bugged that I have to interrupt my reading to go DO THE JOB I WAS CALLED HERE TO DO, but, for me anyway, that would be ludicrous. Heading into the courtroom to be questioned for placement on a panel occasionally is a small price to pay for an uninterrupted eight hours of ‘Me Time’ once a year!

Death of A Madman

Wow. Historic night. We watched the announcement live with the kids, and made sure they understood the significance, on numerous levels, of the death of Osama Bin Laden and President Obama's announcement of it. We will continue talking about it all throughout the week, I know.
Za Boo was very upset right before she went to bed, and I asked her what was wrong. She was worried about the fact that although it was wrong for Bin Laden and the al Queda to attack the U.S., now that we have killed Bin Laden, they will retaliate against us. "Mama, if they attack us again, then we'll attack them again, and the revenge will keep going. Unless someone can be the bigger person, and say 'It was wrong of them to kill my...' what? Their mother? Yeah, '...it was wrong of them to kill my mother, but I will stop and not attack anyone back.' [If they can say that] then it will be able to stop."

She is right, of course.

I don't really know exactly how I feel. I feel relieved in many ways, although I don't know exactly why, and have no concept of how to articulate it right now. I feel glad about the fact that those who endured the pain of loss due to the events of 9-11 will have a measure of emotional closure. I feel bad at the thought that we had to kill another human being; I would have preferred he had been captured. Because I am a mother, and I imagine I have an inkling for what a mother's love for her child entails, I feel sorrow at his mother's loss. I feel disgust at the cheering and chanting and general lack of decorum being shown by many in the wake of this announcement; we have the right to feel triumph in victory, but I don't feel gloating becomes us as a nation. I am worried about the fact that we will have created a martyr, and I am concerned about what kind of feelings our current ecstatic behavior will inspire in the new martyr's followers. I feel wary about the future, as I have no real doubt that Al Queda WILL retaliate; I feel nervous about the fact that many people and organizations will be hyper-vigilant about their safety and security for the next few weeks, but that the real attack we need to worry about won't come for months, maybe years.

I told Za Boo that she was right about the revenge cycle, it takes someone strong enough to say "I won't retaliate" to stop it; when she said she was not happy about Bin Laden being killed, because "even though he was a bad person to us, his family will miss him," I told her that was okay. Because, I know how she feels. I feel so many different things in trying to process this right now, but the one thing I definitely don't feel, is happy.

What's simple, what's hard and what's worth it...

What's simple about being a parent? Enjoying and loving my kids.

What's hard about being a parent? Nearly everything, nearly all the time.

What's worth it? All of them. Ender, Za Boo, Monkey Boy, and Raven.

Update on Harry and Za Boo!

Za Boo's passion and excitement for reading have not waned a bit since she began reading 'Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone,' five weeks ago! She is figuratively devouring the series, already on to book four, 'Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire,' and I am adoring it all the way!
She received some money and an Amazon gift card for Christmas from a few different relatives, and she is so excited about hte world of Harry Potter that she chose to use them them in combination to order a genuine Gryffindor scarf and a dvd of "Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban," the third Harry Potter movie. She wants to have all the movies (we already have the first and second movies in the family dvd collection) because "Even if it's not that good an adaption, I can't really compare [the books to the movies] if I haven't seen them all." ;)
She recognizes that the movies don't nearly do justice to the books now, but that, again, is one of the things I love about this all! I LOVE that she is loving reading the book, and I LOVE that she is excited to discuss it after reading. And I LOVE that she is recognizing the differences between the book and the movie, and discussing those differences with the rest of us.
I love that she is counting chapters as she reads, and keeping me updated on what part she is at in the books. I love that we are discussing the books as she reads, and that, for the first time, there really is discussion to be had regarding a book she is reading (the 'Jack Russell Dog Detective' books are wonderful beginning chapter books, and she has enjoyed them, but they don't really bring a lot of hearty discussion material to the table!).
I love that she can't wait to get back to her book, every chance she gets, and that she has already read more in the five weeks since she checked the first book out from the library than she read in eight months on the previous novel she completed (Ozma of Oz). At the rate she is going, she may finish the entire Harry Potter series in under three months! We better start thinking about which series to start her on next!

Anecdote: Imagination, Za Boo and Toy Rubber Snakes

Za Boo has always been an imaginative child, but to simply say that she is 'imaginative' would be an understatement of ridiculously epic proportions. And yet, I think her current passion for reading the Harry Potter books has spurred her imagination on to dizzying new heights!

Case in point, while she was playing with a batch of rubber snakes earlier this evening I heard her, as the voice of a rubber cobra, addressing a rubber python, exclaim: "YOU are a LUXURIOUS constrictor, Sir!"