{"id":137,"date":"2015-01-10T00:01:34","date_gmt":"2015-01-10T08:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/?p=137"},"modified":"2015-01-09T22:53:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-10T06:53:26","slug":"that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/","title":{"rendered":"That Summons for Jury Duty — An Invitation to Be Here Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"A<\/a> Want to practice mindfulness \u2013 being fully present and aware of the here and now and nothing else?<\/p>\n

Then get yourself called up for jury duty in Judge Harbin-Forte\u2019s courtroom at the Hayward, California, Hall of Justice. There, you\u2019ll spend a couple of days in a context \u2014 a culture \u2014 where the norm is to actually listen to what other people have to say.<\/p>\n

During jury selection, for example, your job as a prospective juror is to pay attention and listen carefully to other prospective jurors as they answer questions about their life experiences \u2013:<\/p>\n

The potential juror whose father was killed in a hit-and-run accident. The one whose mother was struck by a cement truck and is still in pain. The woman who had three back surgeries. And the jock who, fearful of losing his scholarship, played college football despite a painful knee injury.<\/p>\n

The Courtroom as Zendo<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a setting as quiet and orderly as a Zendo, and the jury duty experience is an exercise in mindfulness. There are no distractions. Cellphone use is not allowed here. Neither is eating or smoking. And, while the court is in session, there\u2019s absolutely no reading, no texting, no googling, no conversation.<\/p>\n

\"Potential<\/a>
Potential jurors waited in an orderly line outside the hall of justice. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You are to pay attention in Judge Harbin-Forte\u2019s courtroom. The mind is to be alert and focused, starting right now, with jury selection. No daydreaming. No thoughts of yesterday or tomorrow. The judge\u2019s instructions \u2013 the law \u2013 require you to pay attention.<\/p>\n

I was not selected as a juror, so I was excused on the second day, as soon as a jury was empaneled. But those two half-days were a nice little vacation for me \u2013 from home, work and the computer keyboard. It was relaxing. So nice to be allowed \u2013 required \u2013 to pay attention to just one thing at a time.<\/p>\n

Unlike the antic graphics of \u201cThe Colbert Report\u201d or our kitchen TV screen tuned to CNN with its multiple scrolling messages and talking heads drowning each other out \u2013 one and only one person at a time was permitted to voice his or her thoughts in Judge Harbin-Forte\u2019s courtroom.<\/p>\n

Minding My Manners in Scottville, Michigan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Life should be more like this, I thought. This is civilized. This is a set of norms I\u2019ve experienced only rarely since I sat in my Aunt Ruth\u2019s living room in Scottville, Michigan, one afternoon many decades ago.<\/p>\n

My nonagenarian grandmother<\/a> was there; so was a sprinkling of farm-bred aunts and uncles. I\u2019d flown in from California, where my very coastal young friends were in the habit of getting together to talk \u2013 all at once.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Downtown Scottville, Michigan, 2013. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My relatives, on the other hand, had seated themselves, not in several small conversation clumps like my talky friends, but around the periphery of the room. Everyone could see and hear everyone else, and no one seemed to be in a conversational rush. One person spoke at a time, and if something funny happened to be said, there was time to laugh before the next person spoke.<\/p>\n

Of course, one might argue that retired Midwestern farm folks are not so much laconic as short on material. Aside from fishing and eating pie, there\u2019s not much to do, let alone talk about, in Scottville, Michigan. Somehow you\u2019ve got to make your stories last till suppertime.<\/p>\n

A Nearly Forgotten Social Skill<\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth is, I think my country aunts and uncles were on to something. My friend Jake \u2013 a super sophisticated LA type who advises big political muckety-mucks \u2013 once gave me some advice to take along on the promotion circuit that\u2019s coming up for my book, Wrestling with God<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m being interviewed, he said, listen to the question. Give it my full attention; don\u2019t get caught up in preparing an answer while the question is still being asked. And then, before speaking, take a couple of seconds to organize my thoughts. What is it that I truly want to say?<\/p>\n

Judge Harbin-Forte, my Aunt Ruth, my friend Jake \u2013 the message is the same. Do I really want to load the dishwasher, talk to my husband, watch \u201cProject Runway,\u201d and wipe the chicken grease off the floor all at the same time? Or would I like to see how it feels to do one thing at a time? Maybe, for example, keep quiet and listen to somebody else talk until they\u2019ve actually finished saying what they have to say.<\/p>\n

\u00a9\u00a02015 Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

A version of this essay first appeared on <\/em>www.BarbaraFalconerNewhall.com<\/em><\/a>, where Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life, family, books, writing, and her rocky spiritual journey<\/a>. Her interfaith book, <\/em>Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith will be released early 2015 by Patheos Press.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want to practice mindfulness \u2013 being fully present and aware of the here and now and nothing else? Then get yourself called up for jury duty in Judge Harbin-Forte\u2019s courtroom at the Hayward, California, Hall of Justice. There, you\u2019ll spend a couple of days in a context \u2014 a culture \u2014 where the norm is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2144,"featured_media":142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[49,48,51,44,45,46,50,53,54,47,52],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-be-here-now","tag-conversation","tag-here-and-now","tag-jury-duty","tag-meditation","tag-mindfulness","tag-small-town-mores","tag-small-town-norms","tag-the-art-of-conversation","tag-zen","tag-zendo"],"yoast_head":"\nThat Summons for Jury Duty -- An Invitation to Be Here Now<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Want to practice mindfulness \u2013 being fully present and aware of the here and now and nothing else? Then get yourself called up for jury duty in Judge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"That Summons for Jury Duty -- An Invitation to Be Here Now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Want to practice mindfulness \u2013 being fully present and aware of the here and now and nothing else? Then get yourself called up for jury duty in Judge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wrestling with God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-10T08:01:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-10T06:53:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/512\/2014\/12\/jury-duty-summons.0001-2-580x485.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"580\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"485\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Barbara Falconer Newhall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Barbara Falconer Newhall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/\",\"name\":\"That Summons for Jury Duty -- An Invitation to Be Here Now\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-10T08:01:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-10T06:53:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/#\/schema\/person\/8b41c8ce91e7e1b7dbd79587bbc79609\"},\"description\":\"Want to practice mindfulness \u2013 being fully present and aware of the here and now and nothing else? Then get yourself called up for jury duty in Judge\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"That Summons for Jury Duty — An Invitation to Be Here Now\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/\",\"name\":\"Wrestling with God\",\"description\":\"Riffs from a life of doubt and faith\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/#\/schema\/person\/8b41c8ce91e7e1b7dbd79587bbc79609\",\"name\":\"Barbara Falconer Newhall\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/011e3aa8b6129291d00ef08350eff48c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/011e3aa8b6129291d00ef08350eff48c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Barbara Falconer Newhall\"},\"description\":\"Journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall's book, \\\"Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith,\\\" has just been released by Patheos Press. You can find it at WrestlingWithGodBook.com. She blogs about her rocky spiritual journey and her life as an empty nest mom at BarbaraFalconerNewhall.com\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/BarbaraFalconerNewhall.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/author\/bfnewhall\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"That Summons for Jury Duty -- An Invitation to Be Here Now","description":"Want to practice mindfulness \u2013 being fully present and aware of the here and now and nothing else? Then get yourself called up for jury duty in Judge","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"That Summons for Jury Duty -- An Invitation to Be Here Now","og_description":"Want to practice mindfulness \u2013 being fully present and aware of the here and now and nothing else? Then get yourself called up for jury duty in Judge","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/","og_site_name":"Wrestling with God","article_published_time":"2015-01-10T08:01:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-01-10T06:53:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":580,"height":485,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/512\/2014\/12\/jury-duty-summons.0001-2-580x485.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Barbara Falconer Newhall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Barbara Falconer Newhall","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/","name":"That Summons for Jury Duty -- An Invitation to Be Here Now","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-01-10T08:01:34+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-10T06:53:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/#\/schema\/person\/8b41c8ce91e7e1b7dbd79587bbc79609"},"description":"Want to practice mindfulness \u2013 being fully present and aware of the here and now and nothing else? Then get yourself called up for jury duty in Judge","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/01\/that-summons-for-jury-duty-an-invitation-to-be-here-now\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"That Summons for Jury Duty — An Invitation to Be Here Now"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/","name":"Wrestling with God","description":"Riffs from a life of doubt and faith","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/#\/schema\/person\/8b41c8ce91e7e1b7dbd79587bbc79609","name":"Barbara Falconer Newhall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/011e3aa8b6129291d00ef08350eff48c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/011e3aa8b6129291d00ef08350eff48c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Barbara Falconer Newhall"},"description":"Journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall's book, \"Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith,\" has just been released by Patheos Press. You can find it at WrestlingWithGodBook.com. She blogs about her rocky spiritual journey and her life as an empty nest mom at BarbaraFalconerNewhall.com","sameAs":["http:\/\/BarbaraFalconerNewhall.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/author\/bfnewhall\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}