I'm sitting in the PLB Activities Center in observation mode. I often like to watch people and how they interact with and in public. Right now there are two gentlemen working on their laptops. One has head phones on, tuning out the world and the other is deeply focused on what's on screen. One of my favorite places to people watch is court houses. The only time I'm anywhere near a court house is for jury duty. What makes court houses particularly interesting is that people are there for a specific reason. You can tell what their purpose for being there by their body language. For example, the lawyers carry themselves with a sense of purpose. The defendants seem to drag themselves around. Being in a jury assembly room can offer a fascinating study of humanity. Usually, the Los Angeles Superior Courts call a wide cross section of residents. The idea is to get a diverse group of people with different backgrounds and philosophies to spend a very long day as potential jurors. Some potential jurors are happy to be there. Others, like yours truly, just want to get it over and done with. The jurors in waiting come from all over the city and county of Los Angeles and bring with the their own agendas. For the most part, those agendas stay hidden until a jury pool is called for selection. That's when things get interesting. Once, the wannabe jurors are questioned by the attorneys, then the true colors come out, on both sides of the jury box. The attorneys reveal their biases as do the jurors. Sometimes the attorneys ask the dumbest questions in the world. Other times, it's fun to watch potential jurors try to back pedal their answers.
Back at PLB, most of the inhabitants are older folks who just want the human contact. There are elementary and middle school students who come with tutors for homework help. Still others just need a place to work. Yet they all find a way to interact with each other in some fashion. Usually these interactions are brief and courteous. I've never seen two people get into an argument over a computer or anything else. Mostly, everyone keeps to themself. Like yours truly.
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