Ancient ruins in the Ramapos
Harper shows us how to disappear completely...
...and how she can flare her nostrils
High on life Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Stopping by Woods on a Sunny Day
Ancient ruins in the RamaposHarper shows us how to disappear completely... High on life 
Sunday, March 2, 2008
putting the Marc back into sunnyandmarc
Marc here. I've considered dabbling on our blog for awhile now, and Sunny has heartily encouraged me. So here I go. Reader be warned, however, that my posts probably won't be accompanied by sweet pictures of our cute kid nor by sweet sentiments--instead you'll get my gloomy thoughts. Enjoy!
I had jury duty Monday and Tuesday this week. I was a little bit pleased to go, since I'd have a day or more away from the classroom, and I was curious to experience jury duty. I really hoped I wouldn't get picked.
The first day was uneventful--other than a false alarm where I was about to enter for jury selection and the defendant "decided to choose another route." I enjoyed sitting in the huge waiting room, checking my email, reading, and grading. Just before lunch on the second day I got called with over 100 others to begin jury selection for a robbery case involving a man threatening someone on 2 occasions with a hypodermic needle. At this point on the 2nd day I was tired of the process and nervous about being taken away from my classroom for more than those first 2 days.
At this point the questioning began and the point of this post is this: almost no one wants jury duty. Everyone there was eager to come up with an excuse. But the part that made it interesting was that everyone (myself included) was conflicted by the strong desire to not be there and the equally strong desire to appear fair, unprejudiced, honest and ethical. Every question, however specific it began, ultimately boiled down to this: Do you feel you can be a fair and impartial juror? Strangely, after giving all kinds of reasons why we might be unfair and partial in this particular trial, we were all forced to admit/claim that we felt we would be fair and impartial jurors. The partiality that got me dismissed (I suspect)? I have a general mistrust for police officers. The part that killed me? The judge made me answer whether or not I would afford a police officer on the witness stand the same credibility as someone else. I had to say no, although it wounded my self-image as a fair and impartial person. And I had to wonder if I was just saying that ultimately to go home.
And I have to wonder about a judicial system that counts on people's own estimation of their ability to be fair and impartial, a system that rewards people who lie to get out of jury duty. Clearly jury duty is not for everyone. Maybe it's best that way.
Did I lie to go home? I'm not sure. I tried not to. Feel free to weigh in.
I had jury duty Monday and Tuesday this week. I was a little bit pleased to go, since I'd have a day or more away from the classroom, and I was curious to experience jury duty. I really hoped I wouldn't get picked.
The first day was uneventful--other than a false alarm where I was about to enter for jury selection and the defendant "decided to choose another route." I enjoyed sitting in the huge waiting room, checking my email, reading, and grading. Just before lunch on the second day I got called with over 100 others to begin jury selection for a robbery case involving a man threatening someone on 2 occasions with a hypodermic needle. At this point on the 2nd day I was tired of the process and nervous about being taken away from my classroom for more than those first 2 days.
At this point the questioning began and the point of this post is this: almost no one wants jury duty. Everyone there was eager to come up with an excuse. But the part that made it interesting was that everyone (myself included) was conflicted by the strong desire to not be there and the equally strong desire to appear fair, unprejudiced, honest and ethical. Every question, however specific it began, ultimately boiled down to this: Do you feel you can be a fair and impartial juror? Strangely, after giving all kinds of reasons why we might be unfair and partial in this particular trial, we were all forced to admit/claim that we felt we would be fair and impartial jurors. The partiality that got me dismissed (I suspect)? I have a general mistrust for police officers. The part that killed me? The judge made me answer whether or not I would afford a police officer on the witness stand the same credibility as someone else. I had to say no, although it wounded my self-image as a fair and impartial person. And I had to wonder if I was just saying that ultimately to go home.
And I have to wonder about a judicial system that counts on people's own estimation of their ability to be fair and impartial, a system that rewards people who lie to get out of jury duty. Clearly jury duty is not for everyone. Maybe it's best that way.
Did I lie to go home? I'm not sure. I tried not to. Feel free to weigh in.