Momentum lost?

Today was my last day of jury duty. Or, I should say, jury-related duties, as Monday was our last day of actually hearing cases. We wrapped up with only a slightly complex one that involved burglary (which by the way, is not necessarily breaking and entering or stealing, but only entering a place you know you are not supposed to be and either committing or intending to commit a crime there), menacing and trespassing. Today I went to work for three hours, then biked downtown to sign my last indictments and meet the other jurors for a sort of celebratory lunch. Actually, only five of the seven of us attended. The other two did not attend, and coincidentally or not, they also happened to be the two frustrating jurors who voted according to their personal opinions and not according to what they were supposed to be considering. Coincidentally or not, these two jurors also happened to deeply resent, perhaps even hate me, as foreperson. But these other four jurors were great people, and very kind, and I was happy to meet and work with them. And we shared the occasional laugh at the expense of the other two jurors (not in a mean way of course).

All in all, the experience was very educational and even fun at times. I was a little sad it was over, though I am looking forward to sleeping in a little and a weight has certainly been lifted. I was a bit more stressed this month, not being able to get as much done at work and also being frustrated by the two problematic jurors. Not to mention the cases. Though the majority of them were fairly straightforward, they were all sad, and all the various facts of them tend to settle in the back of your mind for awhile. One of the other jurors had a good idea that it would be interesting to attend some of the trials for the individuals we indicted, if only to just see that side of the system.

So today we handed over our notes for filing and were formally discharged by the judge. Then we parted ways. A major thing I consider valuable from this experience was that it was an opportunity to meet and work closely with people I would never have crossed paths with otherwise. We exchanged a few cards but of course I doubt we'll ever cross paths again. Though one of my favorite jurors is the chaplain at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, which is predominantly a women's prison. As chaplain he oversees a lot of the volunteer programs there. Maybe once I get my driver's license and can do the commute I'll try some volunteering there. I think it would be another educational experience, and a nice excuse to connect with him again.

So as the title of this post implies, I'm concerned I may have lost some momentum, what little momentum I had, on this blog. But I expect that as my free time starts to accumulate again, I'll find more time to post. Another interesting development, that I'll have more news on this weekend, is that I'll probably be starting a very part-time job with the Community Alliance of Tenants, doing research and surveying regarding apartment habitability. So that will be fun, and a little extra cash, and something to write about. I'm debating about whether or not to continue volunteering with the Immigration Counseling Service, or to try something a little different that perhaps utilizes me a bit better.

By the way, a few weeks ago we had our NCI Board retreat, which is an annual meeting when all the Board members come to Portland, and I had a chance to chat with a board member who is an environmental lawyer and has decades of urban planning and international-related experience. As expected, he told me I shouldn't become a lawyer, and that the urban planning degree will actually be more useful for what I want to do than the law degree. I had begun to suspect this, although my original motivation for going to law school was the impression that it would open doors for me, so to speak, and so it was interesting to hear that law is not actually as useful a degree as it used to be. It also is more competitive and less lucrative than it used to be. But, of course, after telling me I shouldn't study law he allowed me a series of caveats that ultimately only strengthened my resolve. Curiously enough, at this point my idea of what I want to do, ultimately, with my life (originally, it was do urban planning abroad) has become fluid, and studying law for the sake of studying law, because it actually interests me, has become a higher priority.

To bring it all full circle, it was interesting to hear what some of my fellow jurors volunteered to me on one of our last days. One of the ones I get along with (the guy who's my age, has a newborn son and digs graves for a living) told me I should go to law school. One of the jurors I never could get along with, who told me I was on a "power trip" (who happens to be a female, middle-aged neuroscience researcher at OHSU) concurred, and told me I was very analytical and would be good at law. This was very nice to hear, since I hadn't told any of the jurors I was interested in law, afraid that this might taint their perspective of me as foreperson. And though I never though I would ever want to work in criminal law, I found our work very engaging, and even caught a few of the D.A.s on missing or incomplete charges. Our system of legal statutes is sort of like a strange puzzle (I'm picturing Tetris, where certain pieces fit with other pieces to clear away obstacles). I'm not saying it's the best game in town, but perhaps one worth learning.