Whiplash: An injury to the neck caused by an abrupt jerking motion of the head, either backward or forward; And in the case of writing or speaking, can be caused by a rapid change of topic without prior notice.
Whiplash! – “J”walking is a ticketable offense while reading this blog
Did you ever think about the criminal law amendment that guarantees you the right to be judged by a jury of your peers? That is a general statement when it comes to how you pick a jury. You get summoned every 5 or 6 years and you as an ordinary citizen get to go to court and wait until you are summoned for a case. Then the judge tells you about the case and the lawyers question you and if they feel you would be unbiased (meaning that you’ll favor their client) you get selected. Sitting in on a case can be interesting. But picture now if the law was taken literally.
If there was a woman on trial, shouldn’t a jury of her peers be all women? How about if you were a thief or a murderer? Shouldn’t a jury of your peers be 12 thieves or murderers? Get where I’m going? Suppose you are a 90-year-old crotchety old man or woman, who’s hard of hearing. I’d love to see the trial in which the jury of their peers were all old, crotchety and hard of hearing. It would certainly make the jury selection and subsequent trial much more interesting to follow and see it played out.
Whiplash!
I started keeping journals when I was a student teacher. My supervisory professor asked that I do it. When I graduated and began teaching (after 6 months of being a stock boy at J. C. Penneys) I decided that I would keep up the practice of keeping a journal about teaching. The first year it included not only information about how I dealt with kids but also gripes about my working conditions and the people I worked with. My second year, in a new school district, I vowed only to focus on my teaching and the kids. I would start each year’s journal the night before school started with goals, fears, and expectations. I would write when I could and then at the end of the year, I would re-read my entire journal and write final thoughts of the year and thoughts about the upcoming year. This continued for the 33 years that I taught. I wrote about my journals in my first A to Z Blog Challenge in 2016: http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=511
I encourage all teachers to keep journals. For me, it’s fascinating to return to those journals at times and read how idealistic I was as a young teacher; or how inventive I was, and for whatever reason, stopped doing things that worked.
It’s also interesting to hear from ex-students when I see them or friend them on Facebook to hear their perceptions of me. When I go back to my journals, their opinion doesn’t always match.
Whiplash!
Junk Food…Got a problem with it? I’m all for healthy stuff, but I’m not willing to give up all those things that are considered junk food. Remember: One person’s junk food is just another person’s snack! ‘Nuff said.
Whiplash!
So if you had to go on trial and got to pick a jury of your peers, who would be in that group? Do you keep a journal? If so, what do you use it for? Would you be willing to give up all junk food so you can live longer, or would you rather die happy?
See you in a bit – O“K” I’m finally getting used to this…not another change!
