Welcome to the first edition of the Grand Jury Files. For the next five weeks, expect to hear about lessons learned, observations made and my usual rant of the absurd as observed from this Grand Jury Member. Of course, the content of the grand juries themselves are secret so I won't be sharing any of that (get off my back, big brother), but this extrovert needs a release valve of sorts so I will write about a bit of my experience from the back row of the jury room (Thanks to Nathaniel for advising me to claim a spot there where the outlets live.) I didn't write yesterday b/c I ended up going to a play and got home very late and now I feel like I have a backlog of blogworthy stuff. I will try to save some for tomorrow (it's our day off), but excuse me if this is a bit lengthy.
Yesterday was an amazing day of people-watching. Grand jury is a very interesting thing in that it throws 23 people together in a room that would most likely never meet otherwise. Young, middle-aged, old, white, black, straight, gay, professional, blue-collar, DC natives and recent transplants. We are a motley crew of sorts. And, if that doesn't create enough to observe, we are all strangers adapting to this new situation in our own way. Some came in mouth-first, some haven't said a word in two days. Some cordially introduce themselves to those around them, treating it almost as an extended networking event. Some immediately draw themselves to others that look like them. One even decided that we should all introduce ourselves. (I'm kind of hoping that she doesn't decide we should do an icebreaker later. I'm also trying to prevent myself from being that person.) It was fascinating to watch the dynamics as we chose leaders, learned about the process and got settled in.
It is also an interesting angle from which to view my own persona. When we were selecting the four people that would have leadership roles on the jury, I had to practically sit on my hand to keep from volunteering. I hate not being active in any process, but I know that I need to be working every minute we're not hearing cases... or situations as our Sargaent of Arms so tenderly calls them. "Be sure to be back by 11:00. That's when we'll be hearing the next situation." I want to be friendly with my fellow jurors, but I will admit to being a bit stand-off-ish when the cute blonde with a sizable solitaire on her ring finger attempted to strike up a conversation with me about shopping. I like shopping. I do. I just don't find it necessary to buy clothing for jury duty. It's ok preppy, stylish girl... I promise to be nicer next time. Just give me a second chance.
Well, I think that's enough for volume one. More insights and lessons learned tomorrow.
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