Jury Duty / Meeting a Shadow

This morning I was #3 of the first jury pool called. The voir dire seemed to be very long, and -- especially compared to my experience last year -- seemed focused more on getting prospective jurors to reflect on the role and expectation of a juror than on revealing prejudices and biases that were related to the case. I was also surprised at how many of the questions were addressed to the 24 people who were not in the jury box -- those there to fill in the holes if/when some of the first twelve were excused.

I only had one question addressed to me directly, and volunteered info once about past jury experience. In the end, I was excused on a preremptory challenge by the defense. Afterward, one fellow juror said, "You were obviously too smart." That's when I remembered royalbananafish's caution to me last year that that's what would probably happen. I go back tomorrow morning for another round of jury pool draws and perhaps another voir dire.

( During the voir dire, I was reminded why I have some of the issues I do about stepping up. )

Appalling Official Comic Book Art Statue

Via ravenlaughing

Because a woman's place is doing the laundry in pearls, barefoot, with her thong showing and her butt up and out like a mandril in heat.

See also Devil Doll's post on the subject: http://devildoll.livejournal.com/750924.html


Not only is the statue itself ludicrous and offensive, but the moderator of the board where it was announced has been deleting the comments of anyone who criticises it.

Summer School

My daughter is woefully ignorant of some basic literary, spiritual and historical information.

I suppose it's not all bad that an eleven year old girl doesn't really know what the word "sin" means -- but she needs to understand the concept intellectually if she's going to be able to engage in certain texts and conversations to come. And yes, there are spiritual and ethical issues for us to engage as well. She doesn't know what the Constitution of the United States is. I don't expect her to be able to recite it, but she she should know a) that it exists, and b) what its significance is.

It's my fault -- and her father's -- that she lacks this basic information. Unlike us, she is not a general sponge when it comes to information. When I was her age I had been reading the encyclopedia for fun for several years and had convinced my parents to buy me a book called The Last Two Million Years. I had read most of the Bible and was at least familiar with other religious traditions. I had a general grasp of major events of world history. She is not omnivorous in her inquiries. If it's about animals, she's all over it, but she won't go out of her way to investigate other topics. And I haven't made the time to introduce her to topics that aren't being covered in her classes.

So when regular school gets out this year, she and I (hopefully with the contributions of local friends and family) are going to embark on a Cultural Literacy program.

I have a lot of ideas about what to cover, but would love suggestions of topics -- especially if you have specific books, movies, local resources, or etc. you can recommend to help liven up the process.

I'm also going to make an effort to participate in more activities that she likes, especially things like going to a wild animal park and to a local wolf sanctuary, and do more outdoors things like bicycle riding with her.