What is court reporting?
When I was in kindergarten my class played what was called “the Operator game.” The teacher whispered a set of words into the first student’s ear. Each student one by one turned and whispered the words into the ear of the student sitting next to them in our class of 22 children. The last student was asked to repeat the set of words. Lo and behold, what was uttered by the last student was not the original set of words whispered into the first student’s ear. Court reporters safeguard the accuracy of what is spoken by capturing a verbatim record of what’s being spoken using a form of shorthand on a steno machine. By capturing accurately the spoken word, the actual record of what transpired during a proceeding is safeguarded.
What was your most interesting assignment?
As a mother, I’ve tried to instill in my two boys that although celebrities and athletes have a skill that can be admired, we live amongst people who are doing admirable things every day but in a less visible way. Over my 30-year career as a court reporter, I’ve participated in the depositions of thousands and thousands of people. And of all of those depositions, I’m left with the memory of the testimony of only two people: a nurse and a firefighter. The testimony of these two individuals redefined for me what heroism actually looks like. I’ve also participated in the Veterans History Project. This is a project where the stories of veterans are recorded and transcribed into booklet form for archiving purposes at the Library of Congress. My children do not have to go far to see what heroes look like. They are living amongst us.