The Oppenheimer Report 5-13-13

Go Leafs Go!

It’s feast or famine up here in the Great White North. Two weeks ago we were experiencing severe flooding and now there is a fire ban in the area because it is so dry. Half the trees I planted last season have died for lack of water, proving that I truly do have a brown thumb. As I began this report on Thursday morning, the skies were grey and the weatherman was calling for rain from a Colorado low rolling in. On Saturday the thermometer had plunged thirty-five degrees and now there are frost warnings. I make the same mistake every year; assuming that the hot dry weather means that winter is over, I go out and buy a bunch of flowers or put my germinated seeds outside to harden, and then BANG, the weather changes. Good thing I don’t try to make my living as a farmer. Conventional wisdom up here is to hold off planting until the end of May, but nobody ever accused me of being wise.

Murderess Jody Arias was convicted of first degree murder in the killing of Travis Alexander in Arizona. While I did not follow the high profile trial closely, I think anyone on a jury could see that her story did not add up. After the Casey Anthony acquittal last year and the O.J. fiasco back in the 90s, I was beginning to have my doubts about the criminal justice system in America. This time I think the jurors got it right. Back when I still lived in Buffalo, my one and only experience with jury duty was as a juror in a murder trial. Some guy had shot another guy to death in a bar, appropriately named The Peyton Place Lounge, and was pleading self defense. He claimed he’d never used a gun before in his life, yet he managed to shoot the victim in the heart and lung, in a dark bar, from a distance of fifty feet, in the back, with a handgun his girlfriend just happened to be carrying in her purse. First of all, the victim was walking away from him at the time, so it was hard to believe this murder was self defense, and secondly, it’s not easy to kill a man with a small caliber handgun, in a dark bar, from fifty feet. Beginner’s luck I guess. I sat on that jury for over a month, listened to ballistics testimony, and coroner’s reports, and police reports, and eyewitness accounts ad nauseam, and shortly before Christmas, we convicted the guy of first degree murder. Anyone who thinks that sitting on a jury is exciting has never done it. Even though this was a murder trial, it was excruciatingly boring. Ultimately, what sunk the defendant was ballistics testimony, and during jury selection the defense must have overlooked the fact that five of the jurors were experienced marksmen. Thankfully, the DA did a good job of presenting the case against the defendant. Of course, we as jurors were instructed not to watch the news or read newspapers during the trial, but after the trial we found out that the defendant had had a long history of violence. He’d kidnapped women and handcuffed them to the rafters of his attic for days, he probably shot his grandmother to death with a shotgun, although there was not enough evidence to convict, and there were several other suspicious murders that had his fingerprints all over them. In this recent Arias trial, the jurors were allowed to go home every night, and I can’t believe they were able to completely ignore all the press about the case. These days, with Twitter, and cell phones, and the internet, and all the different ways we are bombarded with information, it seems unlikely that somebody on that jury did not hear something from the outside world about this trial. Everybody loves a train wreck. What I found interesting in this Arias trial is that in Arizona, jurors are allowed to question the witnesses, including the defendant.

This coming Friday, I will be performing a few of my songs at The Village Tavern in nearby Burk’s Falls, and it should be an interesting experience. Unlike the noisy open mics I am used to playing, this showcase is a venue where people might actually be listening. I have been writing songs now for well over thirty years, and I think I will play one of the first songs I wrote, one I wrote about fifteen years ago, and one I wrote several weeks ago. The most recent song, tentatively entitled “Better” is in the polishing stage, and the lyrics are as yet unfinished. It would be much easier to play songs I am used to playing in public, but that is too much in my comfort zone. Playing a new song in public will be challenging, but it’s the only way I will grow as a performer. What is it they say … do one thing every day that scares you? I scare myself every day, just looking in the mirror. As I sign off tonight, it is Sunday night, it’s snowing lightly, and the Toronto Maple Leafs just tied up the series with the Boston Bruins 3-3. Do I dare to dream? Game 7 is in Boston Monday night, so I may not be dreaming long, but GO LEAFS GO!!!!

-Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED