About the diary writer
- Barbara McDowell Whitt
- Kansas City, Missouri, Alexandria, Virginia, United States
- ~ About: A 1961-65 Park College Diary ~ As a high school girl and then a college coed in the first half of the 1960s, I wrote nightly entries on the pages of one-year diaries. In January 2010 I began transcribing the entries into a blog and gave each one a title. I grew up on three farms within 30 miles of Iowa City and the University of Iowa with its Iowa Writers' Workshop. As the oldest of four daughters, in my diaries I sometimes referred to my sisters as "the kids" or "the girls." We helped our parents, but we also had good, wholesome fun - a characteristic I took with me to Park. Park is 300 miles southwest of West Chester, Iowa, in Parkville, Missouri, on the Missouri River 10 miles northwest of Kansas City, Missouri, and across the river from Kansas City, Kansas. In 2000 Park College became Park University. Today Park's flagship campus is in Parkville and there are an additional 41 campus centers across the nation. Park was one of the first educational institutions in the United States to offer online learning. My last post was on May 22, 2018. I may be followed on Twitter @BarbaraMcDWhitt.
Seniors Go to Court Day - Monday, May 1, 1961
Jerolyn started my day by getting me up at 5:45. I didn't sleep very good last night--had to go to the bathroom twice. Anyway, our families told little white lies to [one of our classmates] for our sake so we wouldn't have to take her with us to Court Day. We felt awful, but we didn't want her trailing us all day. Court Day was interesting. Lee, Arthur, Jim Slockett and Fred got called for the jury. Lee and Jim were on it--also Linda Crile and a lot of kids I knew. I went to an Honor Society meeting tonight but just got there in time for adjournment.
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6 comments:
Barbara, this is such an interesting idea for a blog. I love how the dates correspond to your journal entries from 50 years ago. I'm curious, what exactly is Court Day?
We didn't have Court Day, that I remember. And I think I would.
According to Wikipedia, "On February 8, 1958 President Eisenhower recognized the first Law Day when he proclaimed that henceforth May 1 of each year would be Law Day." (He wanted to change the name from what was previously known as May Day which he thought sounded too communist-my paraphrase from the same site.)
To continue the Wikipedia site commentary, "He stated, 'In a very real sense, the world no longer has a choice between force and law. If civilization is to survive it must choose the rule of law.'"
It is incredible that on May 1, 2011 President Obama was able to tell the American people and the world's citizens that "Justice has been done," in announcing the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
In answer to your question, Court Day was a day for seniors in
high school in Washington County Iowa the opportunity to observe a mock jury trial conducted by lawyers at the court house.
Ron, it was probably discontinued by the time you were a senior.
Very interesting, Barbara! I would have enjoyed that when I was a senior in high school. I wanted to be a lawyer then.
Jen, it is interesting the way our ideas about what we think we want to be often don't turn out that way.
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