I also passed notes to my friend sitting next to me. One asked, "What's wrong with that woman sitting in front of us?" She was dressed like a man and had her legs extended and her feet up on a chair during the entire lecture. She also brazenly read from a novel while the D.A. spoke. How bizarre. After the D.A. finished his lecture, another attorney gave one about civil litigation. This time, I took no notes but did write one to my friend: "He has a very small head."
All this note passing reminds me of eleventh grade, when my friend Caroline Beaumont and I passed notes back and forth while sitting in Mr. Rork's American history class. Mr. Rork was a colossal man with bushy red hair and mustache. One day, Caroline created a "BOYCOTT VEAL" sign and pinned it to the bulletin board next to her seat while Mr. Rork looked the other way. Days went by without his noticing the sign. Delighted, we experimented with other signs (such as, "Greenpeace, an organization to be revered" and various quotes from the Communist Manifesto), but these signs were always removed. Once, we posted a sign which read, "PLEASE DON'T REMOVE THIS SIGN." It was gone by the next class. Another time, when Mr. Rork sported emerald green trousers, Caroline passed me a note which asked, "Can you imagine mounting him?" Gosh, no.
The Veal sign was the result of my being an anti-vivisectionist and pseudo-vegetarian for about one year. On the afternoon we won the the girls' state basketball championship, my parents took a bunch of us to The Fireplace in Paramus. Momentarily forgetting my convictions while being caught up in the whirlwind of emotions brought on by that momentous athletic victory....and wanting neither onion rings nor fries, I ordered a strawberry milkshake and a hot dog, both of which I devoured while wearing my suede fringe coat (which I still have), and my vegetarian days were apparently over. After that first bite, there was no turning back.
To this day though, I won't eat veal and disparage those who do.
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