ImageMember of the Press

Dear Diary:

I was recently chosen for a role as a background actor on “Law & Order.” My part was “member of the press.”

I was sent to the prop truck, where the prop master dumped out a plastic bag and told me to take my pick from the press badges, small notebooks, and pens and pencils.

After settling into the “courtroom,” I began to thumb through the pad I had chosen. Flipping through pages filled with different sets of handwriting was kind of like flipping through a guest book.

I was amused by the notes left by previous “reporters.” Every few pages reflected each person’s take on their experience.

Here, a neat record of long-forgotten plot points; there, an impromptu poem or observations about law enforcement. And then there was the entry that, assessing one of the characters, said people with mustaches were not to be trusted.

— Karen Foppiani

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