Jury Duty!

This post could also be titled, "What I am doing to avoid recognizing that I am sitting in a stark room full of strangers for eight hours." I had a mild heart attack the first time I receive a jury summons at the age of 22. It was not the thought of fulfilling my civic duty that created apprehension as much as it was the idea of being forced to decide the fate of someone who may or may not be guilty of a heinous crime. I believe I was also equally apprehensive about the thought of missing days of school and work, as I have always been quite the workaholic.

So, instead of subjecting myself to these various scenarios, I wrote a strongly worded letter explaining that missing even one class in a graduate program could significantly diminish my ability to successfully complete a course of study. Whoever read that was either deeply moved by my eloquence or just didn't really care much about who got out of jury duty. As long as he or she had made the effort to write a letter in the first place, why not let the concerned citizen (me in this case) get out of serving at this time. The second time I received a summons, I threw it away, believing that just feigning ignorance or claiming I'd moved would be enough to fend off possible repercussions....as far as I can tell, I was right.

When I received my third summons a month ago, I resisted for a moment, recalling previous fears, then just said, what the heck, might as well see what this whole civic duty thing is all about. After a mild panic session upon hearing a rumor that I could NOT bring my laptop, I did a bit of research and found out that while I am not allowed to bring a perfume bottle over 4 oz (that is a butt load btw...), I am allowed to indeed bring a laptop. And, so I sit and write this from a sterile room full of strangers, some sleeping, some working, a few playing Scrabble... one gentleman sternly told a repeated wrong number to please stop calling, then called his provider to block the number and would not tell the operator his social security number because he was, "in a very public place....the jury room actually..."

(What I secretly hope happens....)

I have been using my morning to work on the upcoming 20 minute slide design boot camp/overview I am presenting to the English department in a few weeks. After running a few ideas by friends, faculty, and students, I decided to structure the presentation around 10 dos and don'ts of slide design, focusing on the areas audiences often have the most complaints about and that educators can apply easily, without advanced knowledge or experience in Keynote or Power Point. Here is what I have come up with so far as a rough outline. Look for a first draft by the end of the day....that is, unless I get called up to serve on the trial of the century.


Title: Tweak your Slides! Ten Zen Design Principles for Educators

Do Not
Use bullets
Do Use Text Purposely

Do Not
Use templates
Do create your own

Do not
Use clip art
Do use images that are emphasize realism

Do not
Crowd your slides
Do provide visual breathing room

Do not
Confuse your viewer
Do use contrast to increase understanding

Do not
Use animations without purpose
Do use animation for a reason

Do not
Forget an extra slide costs nothing
Do use the medium to its best advantage

Do not
Confuse your audience
Do create a unified theme

Do not
Make your slides the focus
Do detach by reducing, recording, repeating

Do not
Use a visual medium to convey a textual idea
Do apply the picture superiority effect