My Civic Duty

It is Tuesday and I have finished doing my civic duty. I served on jury duty for a total of 2 days and I didn't even get picked, well, sort of. My name was pulled out of the infamous metal box at about 4 yesterday afternoon but it was for a civil case and they were only going to need I think a total of seven or so. We went into the courtroom where the names were again thrown into another metal box and drawn out. Well, wouldn't you know it there were only two names not called, the other guy and myself. They proceeded to talk to the prospective jurors and one guy said he could not be objective on the case so he was booted back down to the jury pool. They drew one of the last two names and again I was left sitting. I ended up back in the jury pool. Today I again made my way downtown to the parking garage and hoofed it to the back entrance to spend the day in a chair waiting. They only called two jury groups all day long, I was not one of them. Finally, about 3:30 today we were released for good. YIPPEE!

I so wanted to get on a jury, to be a part of the process. Maybe I'll be called again. The two days was not time wasted for me though. I got to the middle of a book, finished a baby afghan and today got half-way through another one. (Check next post about a giveaway.) I also saw a few people I knew and got to visit with them. The first day though when I walked into the room I saw a sharply dressed black man sitting on a couch. I walked over to sit in the chair by him because I recognized him immediately. I asked him if he was the author and he said indeed he was, Mr. Clifton Taulbert. I have two of his books, "Once Upon A Time When We Were Colored" and "The Last Train North." They have been sitting on my very top shelf of books I want to keep forever. I've read them but it has been years. The first one has even been made into a movie. I was thrilled to meet him and for two days off and on we chatted. This morning before I left the house I went into my room and with something to knock the books off the high shelf and I took them with me for him to autograph, which he did. It was exciting to see his face when he opened Once Upon a Time and have him see it was a first edition. He commented that he didn't even have a first edition. I was a very happy girl right then. This afternoon he spent a few hours working on his laptop writing. I got to watch a published author actually write. When he was through he then shared with ME what he was doing. He was editing some pages of the next book he is writing and I was absolutely honored that he shared a bit with me. He even got a little teary recounting the story to me. OH MAN I WAS ON CLOUD NINE!!!!! Cool! Awesome! EGADS!!! The passion that he had telling me his story was so wonderful. These past two days were just perfect for me and not a waste at all.

On another note. For those who have not served jury duty in Tulsa County, don't listen to the ones who call the room a black dirty hole. It is not a nasty place at all. Granted there are parts of the room where the lighting could be, well, lightened but all in all the room was fine. And people, when you serve, remember you will be sitting for hours and days at a time. Don't get all bent out of shape because you are bored. You were warned! Bring something to do: read a book, crochet, crossword, sudoku, laptops, music, upload a movie on your IPOD. Don't just sit there and stare into space. Good Grief!