And I have to ask you, whom else than my fellow board members to answer this question? Because it has vexed me for years. It also might be a good question for a lawyer, especially one who has been to court a time or two.
Anyways, in Fall of 1981, I was just starting my eighth grade. And we took a field trip to the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in downtown Detroit. Now just to repeat, it was a field trip. And I was only 13 years old too.
Yeah, it was an interesting experience. But at one point we got to sit in on an actual trial (I believe that’s why they call it ‘open court’). Interesting case. It seems these Lesbians were living together. And at one point one of them attacked the other with the intent to kill. At one point a little boy associated with the case was on the witness stand. And he was about to mention a crime unrelated to the one at hand. ‘I object! I object!’ the defense attorney screamed, drowning him out. You just can’t pay for an experience like that. Am I wrong?
Anyway I was merely a young spectator, as I said. But at one point the court reporter started leering over at me, as she furiously typed something down. I was embarrassed beyond belief. But even other people in the court were interested. What did she see in me?
Now just to be clear, even at that age I was introverted and very well-behaved. I certainly wasn’t causing a commotion.
So why was she looking at me? And what was she typing down? I’ve literally wondered all these years.
There was an enormous booger hanging from your nose. She wasn’t leering, she was thinking of the chestburster scene from Alien. I still, all these years later, can’t believe you didn’t notice.
Back in college I used to be the goto person to type papers (as in, someone handwrote it and I’d type it for them). The question I’d always get when I was done was if the paper seemed okay and everyone was always confused when I’d reply ‘I dunno, I didn’t read it, I just typed it’. And it was true, I really wasn’t consuming the materiel, it when from my eyes to my hands. I could usually even carry on a conversation while I was doing it.
@pulykamell Well, you could certainly speculate . And as I said, maybe someone with trial experience (like a lawyer) could then take an educated guess.
The OP should just get his hands on the unredacted transcript. It likely includes the court reporter’s flow of consciousness in-between reported court speech. I expect this one includes “A little boy is staring at me for some reason. I stared back for quite a while as I was too focused on recording the blathering of the defense attorney to remember moving my gaze appropriately around the room.”
Once when I was in university, I was sitting in the cafeteria reading or working on a problem or some other scholarly thing. As I was looking up from my books and working the problem over in my mind I noticed the woman at the next table facing me get up, walk around the table and sit with her back to me. Rather pointedly, I thought.
I was obviously staring at her and didn’t realize it. Can’t blame her for thinking I was a creep.
I was about to start my post with “meanwhile, on another message board…” but I doubt she’s still thinking of you, even if she’s still alive. So let’s instead imagine a bar in downtown Detroit in the fall of '81, where a court reporter is enjoying an after-work cocktail with some colleagues.
“Hey Karen, how’s the killer lesbian trial going?”
“You know, it’s weird. We had some middle schoolers watching today, and one of them just kept staring at me.”
“Boy or girl?”
“Boy, maybe 13. They called the victim’s kid to testify, the defense had a meltdown, there was all this commotion, but this kid was just staring at me the whole time. I just started staring back at him, and he didn’t even blink.”
“He probably just had a crush on you. Want to get another round?”
