we shall overcome

i headed out to the last (hopefully) of my mentor meetings and arrived (two hours) early so i wandered around downtown to pass the time in the godforsaken heat that is this summer.

as i waited for borders to open, i saw a protest going on down the street, so i hustled to find out what the haps was all about.

getting closer i heard the chant 'you've got yours we want ours' and saw signs proclaiming 'equal rights for adopted people' (i'm assuming it's because of the buses, water fountains, etc.).

it was like any other protest, except not. there were about 25 or so protesters...and no opposition. no counter-protest. no popo. just a group of people with posters, capri shorts, good walking shoes, and a bullhorn...wandering around across the street from the visitor's center downtown.

the woman with the bullhorn tried to hand it off to another woman, and because it was left on, everyone on fourth street got to hear that one woman has issues speaking in public and just can't - NO, she just couldn't do it - 'please, no, janeane, you know this is not something i feel...'

so then it fell into the hands of a very sarcastic young man in a tie-dyed shirt:

sarcastic guy: what do we want?
protesters: our birth certificates!
sarcastic guy: and when would we like to have them?
protesters: now! (the passive aggressive in the crowd shouted 'soon!')
sarcastic guy: is this asking for anything special?
protesters: no!
sarcastic guy: you mean all we want are our basic rights?
protesters: yes!
sarcastic guy: that's too much to ask for, don't you think?
protesters: ...confused shouting...

the main woman took the bullhorn back and tried her hand at it again.

woman: what do we want?
protesters: our identity!
woman: when do we want it?
protesters: now!
woman: why do we want it?
protesters: ...confused shouting...

so, there were a few hiccups with the call and response, but the t-shirt of a young woman summed it all up:

i'm adopted and i vote in NJ.

point made.

(no, this did not occur in new jersey.)

the jury is still out

a few weeks ago i spotted on craigslist an ad looking jurors in mock trials and so of course i sent in my resume (don't really know why they would need my resume). i got an email back immediately with a juror application attached.

i had to answer the expected questions, such as: name of employer (i left that blank), education background, state of my birth, had i ever served on a jury - real or mock (no and no), religious affiliation, and if i or anyone in my family had ever worked for an insurance company. it was difficult, but i passed with flying colors.

i got called for (mock) jury duty on tuesday. i received an email telling me where to go, what time to be there, how to dress, etc. the dress code called for business casual (obviously made clear to the woman taking shots of cherry coke in the back of the room dressed in pajama bottoms and crocks).

we were there for a strict four hours, from 9-1 and in that time both lawyers gave their arguments with photos and drawings, stated what witnesses and defendants claimed, and were very polite to each other. we were even allowed to ask questions throughout.

and then we got to deliberate. oh, the pain. a gentleman with drunk hair and a constant 'wait, what?' expression stated several times that he could rationalize and explain the entire situation with a mathematical equation so everyone ignored him. the group passively selected the jury foreperson on the grounds that the forms sat in front of her at the table - but no worries. the hippie who drank tea (i think) out of a mason jar quickly usurped the position. the hippie and pajama lady both thought the entire thing was bullshit and refused to allot any (theoretical) moneys to the plaintiffs, math guy didn't realize that we stopped talking to him and continued on and on, i realized halfway through the deliberation that there was a baby monitor on the refreshments counter along with a video camera recording us, two women talked about the really cute handbags they wanted to buy (but were way too expensive), and on top of it all we ran out of time.

in the end, i went home and forwarded the job post to a friend of mine in case she wanted to give it a shot.