Supreme Ben
Today I got a behind-the-scenes tour of this place called The Supreme Court. You may have heard of it.
Holly Kirk, my old friend from the Alabama School of Fine Arts (Holly, do you realize we've known each other over a decade now? I feel old.), is currently working at the Supreme Court. She's not getting paid and not getting class credit and not actually doing legal work, per se, but who cares? She's working at the freakin' Supreme Court! She's in Sandra Day O'Connor's exercise class!
Anyways, Holly gave me a tour of many of the cool little behind-the-scenes stuff. Like the room where the justices sit and eat. Only 9 chairs there and NOBODY - including the President - gets to sit at those chairs except the justices. I also got to stand in the actual courtroom at the podium where lawyers would make arguments. Apparently you have to wind a crank to move the podium up and down to get it at the right level for the microphones to pick you up...or else the justices will yell at you.
She showed me all sorts of nifty stuff, but I'm really just on a high from having stood at the podium of the Supreme Court. I've stood in the Supreme Court. Have YOU stood in the Supreme Court? It's cool. If I ever become a top-caliber appellate lawyer, maybe I'll stand there and make arguments. (Actually, the way the Court works these days, I'd stand there and get questions shot at me.)
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If you want a preview of what I might sound like at that podium, click here. Scroll down to the event entitled "What's the Matter with Democrats" and click on it. (It might only work on Internet Explorer...it's not working for me on Mozilla. And you need Real One Player.) You'll get to see me give a 3 minute introductory speech before the main speaker.
How did I do? I'd love your feedback. Part of me thinks I sound quite good. The other part is mortified at how I say a few sentences....look down.....say a few sentences....look down. I gotta do a better job of memorization.
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In unrelated news: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - what a freakin' idiot.
Holly Kirk, my old friend from the Alabama School of Fine Arts (Holly, do you realize we've known each other over a decade now? I feel old.), is currently working at the Supreme Court. She's not getting paid and not getting class credit and not actually doing legal work, per se, but who cares? She's working at the freakin' Supreme Court! She's in Sandra Day O'Connor's exercise class!
Anyways, Holly gave me a tour of many of the cool little behind-the-scenes stuff. Like the room where the justices sit and eat. Only 9 chairs there and NOBODY - including the President - gets to sit at those chairs except the justices. I also got to stand in the actual courtroom at the podium where lawyers would make arguments. Apparently you have to wind a crank to move the podium up and down to get it at the right level for the microphones to pick you up...or else the justices will yell at you.
She showed me all sorts of nifty stuff, but I'm really just on a high from having stood at the podium of the Supreme Court. I've stood in the Supreme Court. Have YOU stood in the Supreme Court? It's cool. If I ever become a top-caliber appellate lawyer, maybe I'll stand there and make arguments. (Actually, the way the Court works these days, I'd stand there and get questions shot at me.)
----------------------------
If you want a preview of what I might sound like at that podium, click here. Scroll down to the event entitled "What's the Matter with Democrats" and click on it. (It might only work on Internet Explorer...it's not working for me on Mozilla. And you need Real One Player.) You'll get to see me give a 3 minute introductory speech before the main speaker.
How did I do? I'd love your feedback. Part of me thinks I sound quite good. The other part is mortified at how I say a few sentences....look down.....say a few sentences....look down. I gotta do a better job of memorization.
---------------------------
In unrelated news: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - what a freakin' idiot.
posted by Ben at
8:42 PM
3 Comments:
Ben - took a look at the video clip at Duke, you look great up there! I showed it to Lori a minute ago too. Nice job.
By
Bradley, at 10/27/2005 11:16 AM
That Supreme Court story is freakin' awesome! I look forward to catching the video clip when I get home (to a computer not in a crowded computer lab), and I'll give you feedback then :)
By
Mike, at 10/27/2005 12:42 PM
Ben,
Nice job (and thanks for the shout out!). I thought you used good examples and generated excitement for the upcoming speech.
By
Anonymous, at 10/31/2005 12:12 AM
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