Getting out of jury duty with Franz Kafka, Philadelphia 1990

In Philadelphia in 1990, I was called for jury duty. I had to miss a Monday-morning class to go to court, where I heard about the case I might serve on, how the jurors would be chosen, and what reasons one could give to be excused — including "education". The trial was expected to take until Wednesday afternoon, and I didn't want to miss a session on Franz Kafka that day, so I joined the line of those wanting to be excused. When I explained this to the lawyers and the stocky, graying, African-American judge, he chuckled and excused me in a deep voice, "Kafka? Didn't he write something about a trial?" (Andrew Shields, #111words, 5 April 2023)