In the current issue, which hits local newsstands tomorrow but is on the Web now, I contributed an essay of sorts that I find quite amusing (yes, shameless self-promotion to follow). It deals with the joys of jury duty and draws from my literary past. It's called One Day, One Trial, One Bounced Check. Here's a small taste, but please do read the whole thing if you find the tease worthy:
On a crisp early morning last April, I made the trek down to the Daley Center to perform a civic duty that fills most Chicagoans with more dread than pride. I had been summoned by the Court to sit through a process of jury selection that seems patterned after the most angst-inspiring metaphors of our best existential writers.
Our County of Cook has christened its system “One Day, One Trial” based on the fact that you need to endure either a single day of rejection or the more dire sentence of empaneling on a single trial’s jury. The solitariness of the moniker is fitting, as the whole experience engenders feelings of isolation and anxiety.
3 comments:
I'm so glad my experience with jury duty in Chicago was less financially stressful. I remember the unending wait to be called into the court room, the questions, and then... HORRORS!!... I was picked for jury duty. But it turned out to be a semi-interesting murder trial. The defendant was guilty as heck. I'm pretty sure we deliberated for less than five minutes. Justice was swift that day.
I miss living in Rogers Park, so I'll watch for your newspaper's web editions so I can feel homesick. :-)
I have also made the trek down to the jury duty waiting room...but never got seated! I miss living in the city...except in the hot weather! Good luck on your newspaper!
@Kelly I didn't realize you lived in Rogers Park... it's a small world. Thanks for visiting, and checking out the paper!
@WillOaks Thanks for the well wishes. I was very relieved I wasn't picked. Maybe if I had an employer who paid for time spent on jury duty, my attitude would be different :).
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