Sunday, May 13, 2012

Tuesday morning I ran from the voting out near my house to the courthouse in downtown Asheville for jury duty.  I amused myself by sketching and writing, as you can see here.  There were several curious things that I noticed and/or overheard.  One curious thing was that when we were sworn in, we could choose to not use a bible.  Those non-bible swearers also had the option to say "I do affirm" instead of the "So help me God" that people say in films about courtrooms.  I can't believe this is a North Carolina innovation;  it must have come down from the feds. 
Today is a lovely soft rainy day, and the cows at the end of our road looked like ships in waves.  Some were sitting down so that only their heads and shoulders stuck up.  Others were standing around nursing babies, and one large and confused-looking cow was mounting other cows in a sort of playful manner.  The babies were romping around like large dogs.  We went for a walk in the woods that border the cow field.  Back home the flowers were drooping in the drizzle. 

14 comments:

  1. The affirmation is a long held tradition that respects those of other religions who hold different beliefs and have different Holy Books, and for whom swearing oaths is against their religious principles. We have this practice here in Australia, and I'm sure its used in most democratic countries where non-Christian religious beliefs are not discriminated against.

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  2. Though I have been in the jury pool a great number of times, I haven't ever been there for a trial. My husband spent a couple days last week as an observer at a nearby murder trial, and I contented myself with his colorful debriefing of the proceedings. Interesting observations about NC's decisions about marriage. There is little enough love in the world as it is, I think.

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  3. Thanks for both your comments. I was very interested to learn the option to the bible has precedents in other places. North Carolina is not the most liberal place in the US, and it was nice to learn that even here there is now more acceptance of varying beliefs. The last time I had jury duty, a number of years ago, there was not the option.

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  4. gwen, this is amusing in several ways...i especially love the image of g/l cousins queueing up and out the courthouse doors, down the sidewalk...
    but most i love the image of cows in waves of green. (that poor cow...she was in heat and trying to sort it out!)

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    1. Thanks, Velma! I am a city person having my first extended rural experience! I am still pretty ignorant about cows and their habits!

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  5. i've been a journaler all my life, on and off, and i've just discovered art journals. i have a question - does your new book The Complete Decorated Journal still have a chapter called The Reluctant Bookbinder in it?

    many thanks,
    Michelle

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    1. Yes! And there are additional bookbinding instructions, for the Butter Box book.

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  6. Hi Gwen,
    I'm aware that this comment is going to sound a lot like spam, i promise it isn't. i just don't know how to go about getting in contact with you.

    I love your Art Journaling books. I bought the new one (the compendium) the second it was released on amazon. your first book has been my inspiration for the past 5 years...even though it was out of print, i think i wore out the library copy. so glad to have a copy of my own now.

    I would love to chat with you about publishing, and your journey. it would mean so much to me if you would email me at lauraharmz at gmail dot com. i realize everyone's lives are busy - but a friend told me recently that you'll be surprised what can happen if you only ask... and the worst that can happen is that she'll say no.

    thanks again, for all you do
    Laura Harms

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    1. Laura- Be sure to email me if you have more questions. I hope what I sent you helped.

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  7. Hi Gwen - I tried to see who won the butter-box journal and a copy of your book. Where would I find that? or you could reply here. Thanks, Barb

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  8. The winner was a woman named Kathryn White. I asked my editor to publish this info on the Lark website too.

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  9. I dont know if it is specifically about us, but Quakers do not swear oaths. That was one of our founding beliefs in England in the 1650s. There is a passage in the bible that says *let your Yea be Yea and your nay be nay* The idea is that we dont have two standards of truthtelling, one for when we are *sworn* and another for when we are not. While Quakers would not be alone in refusing to swear an oath, I am sure we were amongst those causing trouble about it from the beginning. So most places have the option for a person to *affirm* that they are indeed telling the truth, not because they have sworn an oath, but because it is their own word. I was able to *affirm* when I got a passport in rural Penna in the 1970s. And also have had that option on jury duty here in California. Thank you for doing your civic service I always enjoy the time away from my usual life. A sort of enforced retreat. :-)

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  10. Thanks for this, Rachel. The more I learn about the Quakers the more I respect and admire them.

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  11. Yes, places that were settled with a substantial Friendly influence tend to have a legal option of affirmation rather than swearing. I know that that is true in Pennsylvania, and true in my area of North Carolina (the Triad). I don't know about other areas.

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