Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
One of my best friends in elementary school, Aaron Gilmartin, left Washington DC in about 5th grade. That was about the same year that Stephanie Kolman, who some thought to be the prettiest girl in the class, left for Florida. In retrospect, it seems unlikely that I would remember their names, much less think to look up where they might be today.
Aaron and I should have run into one another. We experienced what George Carlin jokingly referred to as a series of “near misses.” For a while Aaron attended Boston’s Berklee College of Music when I was a student at Boston University. And later as I was packing up my books and other effects in Berkeley in order to move to Davis, Aaron was beginning school at CSU Hayward, now CSU East Bay. Like most Americans, neither of us owned computers during those short geographic overlaps.
Because of Facebook, Stephanie and Aaron found me, or I found them. I see that Aaron has toured the world as a classical and Flamenco guitarist – evidently he’s big in Germany, where in some cities Nazi bunkers that have resisted demolishment (for that was their function) have been turned into arts centers and performing arts venues where Aaron performs. And Stephanie studied art (among other things) at Yale, and has sold a great number of paintings. All three of us have been deeply influenced by our Waldorf education’s approach to the arts and to creativity.
Because of Facebook, both Aaron and Stephanie have seen more pictures of my kids and more Poetry Night announcements than they would care to, so you think that might have scared them off. But no, coincidentally both of them contacted me just last week, and I met both of them for meals this weekend. Saturday afternoon Stephanie and her new husband came to town to watch Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago at the Davis Varsity Theatre. They had recently moved from Vermont to Novato, and were thinking of walking the Camino this spring. We dined and then walked around town (as my bookend children sprinted ahead to Bizarro World). They loved Davis, and could see why we moved here.
The next morning I met Aaron and his girlfriend in a Berkeley café for lunch, and then the three of us walked with Jukie around the campus that had first drawn me to California 25 years ago. From both meetings I conclude that the close friendships you make in childhood are easy to return to, even after the wearying challenges of a three-decade interruption. Every day, still, I feel the loss of my closest friend, Tito, but I am grateful to have reconnected with other members of our Hearst Hall cohort, and am grateful that they have moved to California, above which I sense an unlikely spiritual magnet that draws those that have been closest to me. I hope there’s a magnet over your head, as well.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will be hosted by a substitute Quizmaster, and I am also grateful to him. Ted is a Pub Quiz regular, an accomplished teacher at UC Davis, and a scholar whose many academic presentations keep him traveling throughout the Untied States and beyond. This evening he will be asking questions about MIT researchers, Bob Hope, Portland, the daily news, great Americans, great comedies, historical characters, danger, those who believe, engineers, wideouts, fruits that are botanically berries, law schools, great musicians, hayseeds, Star Trek, New Zealand, kings, islands that I have not visited, acting as pretending, the burial of decent men, lawns that need to be mowed, populations, Bill Murray, eating vegetarians, keeping score, name the centuries, Germans, collections of subunits, Austria, middle books, cats, statistics, and Shakespeare.
My new book, titled Where’s Jukie, has been released (well, I have my copies). Soon they will be available at local bookstores, and at the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz. More on that when I see you next week. If you can’t wait, Kate and I will be reading from Where’s Jukie tonight starting around 7 at the MIND Institute. You are welcome to join us, though there will be no tie-breakers.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
- Mottos and Slogans. There is some debate as to whether the P company that uses the commercial slogan “There is no substitute” has one or two syllables in its name. Name the company.
- Internet Culture. Remember that Oscar-night selfie that almost broke Twitter? What twice-nominated actor actually took it?
- Education in California. According to a speech given this past weekend by California Attorney General Kamala Harris at the California Federation of Teachers convention, what percentage of inmates in California are high school dropouts? Is it closest to 22, 42, 62, or 82%?
- Fun and Games. In what decade did Gary Gygax and Robert Arneson create the game Dungeons and Dragons? Was it the 1960s, 70s, 80s, or 90s?
- Science. An allergen is a type of what other A word that, in the world of immunology, refers to an antibody generator?
P.S. Arisa White performs her poetry at the John Natsoulas Gallery on Thursday night at 8. You should join us for an incredibly talented Oakland poet and playwright.