Dear Friends,

The recent Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show, and its suggestion that Puerto Ricans should enjoy a seat at the American table, has helped a great number of Americans (including myself) discover the music of Bad Bunny and begin to research the history, the strengths, and the valid complaints of the people of Puerto Rico.

Residents of Puerto Rico, like those who live in the American territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands lack voting representation in Congress. They also generally do not pay federal income tax on locally earned income. That question of representation, whether it be who matters, who votes, and  who is heard, has shaped American political life since our founding.

People who live in in Washington, D.C., where I grew up, also have no voting representatives in the U.S. Congress, but unlike residents of those other parts of America, Washingtonians pay federal income taxes. Many D.C. license plates remind locals that they live under the sort of rule that led colonialists to rebel: “TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.”

The Reverend Jesse Jackson knew this well, for he sought to speak for and amplify the voices of those who were not otherwise heard or heeded. In his rousing “Rainbow Coalition” speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention, Jackson said that “My constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the despised. They are restless and seek relief.”

Jackson’s words resonated deeply with me. As a young D.C. resident, I welcomed his concerns and was stirred by his oratorical zeal. I was not alone. After delivering his “Rainbow Coalition” speech in 1984, Jackson entered the presidential race, propelled in part by crowds in Washington and elsewhere who responded to his speeches with chants of “RUN, JESSE, RUN!” His message landed with growing and diverse audiences. By the time he ran again in 1988, his margin in the D.C. Democratic primary exceeded Ronald Reagan’s 1984 margin in Wyoming, an extraordinary measure of how fully the voters of the District embraced him.

Jesse Jackson didn’t win, but neither did he forget the constituency that he represented back in 1984. In 1990, he ran for and won the office of the (unpaid, non-voting) Shadow Senator from Washington, D.C. During his time in office, he advocated strongly for the people of my former hometown, arguing that those Americans should be represented equitably in Congress. The District has about as many citizens as Alaska, and more than the populations of Wyoming and Vermont, both of which have had Senators representing them since the 19^th century. But still, they continue to be taxed without being represented.

As someone who named his first son Jackson (my son Jukie’s given name), I can say that I have always admired Jesse Jackson. A towering figure in civil rights and progressive politics, he represented coalitions that look much like the people who I call my friends, both when I lived in Washington, D.C. in the 1980s, and where I live now in Davis, California, in the 2020s.

From the islands of the Caribbean to the streets of Southeast D.C., the fight for a vote and a voice continues. In naming my son, I chose to remember the man who told us with his typical rhyming cadence that “red, yellow, black, and white, / we are all precious in God’s sight.” May the memory of Jesse Jackson, Sr. be a blessing, and may we all keep hope alive during dark times.

---

According to the weather report, we are done with rain for a while, and the temperatures will warm in the coming weeks, so I hope you can join me outside for the pub quiz this evening. Come early to reserve a table. The regulars and irregulars will meet for the social event of the week featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about, this week with questions on music performed in your lifetime. Today’s pub quiz comes in at a svelte 939 words, with 9/39 corresponding to the birth month of Lily Tomlin, whose telephone operator Ernestine I can’t help but think of when I hear an actual telephone ring.

In addition to topics raised above (hint) and below, expect questions tonight on the following: vampires, dancers, hidden storks, huts, otters, elements, ringtones, declarations of independence, French people in conversation, heroes, 10th grade symbols, Latter Day Saints, baskets, happiness, horses, space ships, evolving bands, kill counts, universities, electrodes, fish, Mays, families, eyes, laziness, snow, substitutes, heaths, unlikely breakfasts, metaphorical bread, families, people named Anita, infamous cities, composure, freedoms, colors, dance crazes, pop charts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Certain friends have upgraded their memberships recently, which I really appreciate.

We are almost to 100 Patreon members now, including people who have upgraded their paid memberships! You know who you are, and I salute you! I also incidentally salute Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Michael (thanks Michael!), Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. 

Best,

Dr. Andy

Three questions from last week:

1. Countries of the World. In 2025, just over one in five residents of what NATO country with a population of almost 70 million named immigration as their number one concern, statistically tied with mentions of the economy. Name the kingdom.

2. American Cities. What is the only American city to have reached a population of one million people and then drop below one million?  

3. Science. Starting with the letter E, what is the term for animals that maintain a constant internal body temperature?  

Dear Friends,

When I performed a poem to close the final day of the 2025 San Francisco Writers Conference, the crowd went wild, largely because my poem commented wittily on our mutual experience of staying in a flooded hotel with no electricity, and because the poem was based on “Like a G6” by Far East Movement.

Find that poem below.

This year my conference poem, based on one of the most famous Bob Dylan songs, was met with silent respect and polite applause.

Pretty Good Stories

For the Minnesota heroes of Alex Pretti, Renée Good, and Bob Dylan

Come writers and poets, 

Let’s pick up our pens.

Men in black masks

Are harassing our friends.

Sharpen your hearing

And narrow your lens

Upon a frozen purgatory.

Read Dickens’ book about

The worst of times again,

For we need your pretty good stories.

Totalitarianism 

Is not welcome here.

They’re attacking the nurses,

The Blacks, and the queers.

Schoolchildren and poets

Are running in fear,

For compliance feels mandatory,

But if we’d all just read the latest

Change the World book by Nina Amir,

We’d prepare our pretty good stories.

Yeah, thanks Dr. Andy, 

But we’re in the Hyatt Hotel.

My insular writing loft 

Is far from the groundswell.

I’d have to check with my writing group

And my new agent as well.

My writing’s not typically derogatory.

I say stay glued to your keyboard

And couch as long as you tell

Your own pretty good story.

You crime writers

Should write about crimes.

You historical novelists

Can stay far from the front lines.

We chroniclers know how

To shift paradigms.

You might just find glory

In criticizing what you do understand.

Our imaginations make this our time

To tell some pretty good stories. 

Like UC Davis students and UC Davis faculty, writers conference attendees get younger and younger every year (at least relative to me). Despite the recent Oscar-nominated biopic, many young people know generally about Bob Dylan the way that you know about Scott Joplin.

Today I am headed to campus to consult with faculty of an entire department to discuss the ways they can AI-proof their writing assignments. As Dylan said, “the slow one will later be fast,” and a great number of my faculty colleagues feel like they are in the slow lane.

But because of my bonus work duties today, this week’s newsletter features two poems and minimal analysis. Enjoy.

A Domino of Disasters –

The Poem for the 2025 San Francisco Writers Conference

By Dr. Andy Jones

Flippin’ pages in the dark, reading thrillers

When the lights flickered out, we got chiller

The dragons in my book, they wield magic

Writers reading in the dark, under glow sticks

Under glow sticks, under glow sticks

I’m practicing my pitch under glow sticks 

Under glow sticks, under glow sticks

I’m choosing stronger verbs under glow sticks 

All the linens in this place, they’ve gone missing

The plumber in the crawl space yells the fountain is a hissing

The lobby is a mire beset by dehumidifiers

There’s a poet on her knees helping with her hair dryer

Fire Drill, Fire Drill

Light it up, glow stick-light it up

When poets start recitin’, they be actin’ like they tough

The jazz night poets all be actin’ like they tough

And all the novelists around me, they be acting like they stuck 

Under glow sticks, under glow sticks

I can’t charge my phone with my glow sticks 

With my glow sticks, with my glow sticks

I’m taking a cold shower with my glow sticks

We have falling dominos of disaster

We need a working mic for the quizmaster

She’s from Ithaca, he’s from Madagascar

The basement engineer is staring up at the plaster

The writing that we do is worth the hardship

We come here for a lift, for the kinship

We’ll make our readers read, we’ll make them click

On our funny stories about writing under glow sticks

---

The rain won’t return until almost midnight tonight, so I hope you can join me outside for the pub quiz this evening. The beer hall will be filled with a private party, so plan to bundle up! Come early to reserve a table. The regulars and irregulars will meet for the social event of the week featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about, this week with questions on music performed in your lifetime. Today’s pub quiz comes in at a svelte 930 words.

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: flowers, homes, nouns that are not pronouns, book days, temperatures, city drops, kingdoms, social media, Robin Williams projects, universities, cities that are difficult to pronounce, peaceniks, giants of American literature, grandmothers, job umbers, reading habits, rains, short actors, novellas, philosophers, great Scots, Lords,  RIAA certifications, exiting barrels, domesticated and wild animals, varieties of sources, short appearances, cryogenics, Texans, the frequency of love, old rivalries, bells, umbrellas, fast creatures, UNESCO, pop charts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Certain friends have upgraded their memberships recently, which I really appreciate.

We are almost to 100 Patreon members now, including people who have upgraded their paid memberships! You know who you are, and I salute you! I also incidentally salute Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Michael (thanks Michael!), Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. 

Best,

Dr. Andy

Three questions from last week:

1. Film. What three words do Christopher Nolan’s two highest-grossing films have in common?  

2. Youth Culture. Before seeing Shrek’s face for the first time, Fiona asks, “What kind of knight are you?” Shrek responds with a four-word phrase starting with the letter O. What is it?  

3. Countries of the World. What country has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to the east, and the disputed territory of Western Sahara to the south?  

Twenty-two years and two months ago, as we celebrated his last Christmas together, my father turned to my brother Oliver and me and said it was time to play King Lear with the ties. We understood him immediately. 

Our family could boast no estates, no fleets of cars, no vaults of investments waiting to be parceled out. What he possessed in abundance was a magnificent collection of neckties.

Davey Marlin-Jones had reviewed films on television for the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., through the 1970s and 80s, so he had to dress to impress. He had also worn ties even as a student at Antioch College in the 1950s, when most students at that progressive campus chose not to. Over time he gathered hundreds of them. When he prepared to divide the collection, he proposed a limit of thirty apiece. He wanted us to treasure the designs, the colors, the textures, and the memories of each gift.

For years, I wore one of his ties to every class I taught at UC Davis, a quiet way to keep his theatrical spirit close to my heart.

This past Saturday, that spirit followed me to the Richard Brunelle Performance Hall for the premiere of my first play: America, Happy 250^th Birthday! A gifted actor gave voice to my words. A full symphony orchestra carried the emotional weight of the scenes. Pixar-style animations brought the images of my play in verse to life. 

Across ten acts, the play follows the solitary mission of a deep-space astronaut who feels the pull of home as the nation approaches its 250th birthday. His shuttle slips into a wormhole and carries him back through time, offering the audience eight vivid snapshots from American history.

Here’s a sample:

The Solo Astronaut, Far from Home on the 4^th of July

He floats beyond the orbit of the moon’s cold arc,
apart from every star he knew,
his breath a quiet tether to the past,
and only blackness for a view.

The ship keeps ticking softly when he wakes,
aloft in a capsule of steel and air,
while distant celebrations light the states,
a glow he cannot share.

He feels the weight of duty on his chest,
the oath he vowed to keep,
and wonders what he traded for the stars
and the loneliness that haunts his sleep.

He thinks about the river near his home,
the scent of fields at early dawn, 
yet all he tastes is filtered metal now, 
the world he loved long gone.

A message from the ground arrives delayed, 
its warmth a trembling spark,
and though he reads it twice to feel its pull, 
the fragile signal breaks apart.

He pictures flags unfolding over crowds,
a chorus raised in sunlit cheer, 
while here he steadies drifting tools that spin,
his solitude severe.

He calls to Earth through static-ridden waves,
his voice half-claimed by cosmic dust,
and waits to hear some comfort in return,
signals from home that he can trust.

He marks the nation’s birthday on his board,
a red circle around the 4^th of July, 
and imagines parades through summer heat,  
the fireworks brightening the skies.

Following our time-traveling hero, we witness moments of quiet courage and grand consequence: Washington relinquishing power not once but twice, Franklin coaxing electricity from a storm with his invention of the lightning rod, and the unnamed Chinese laborers who blasted and bored through the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada so a locomotive could travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific. You can see video of the performances here.

Local composer Andy Tan’s score soared. The high school musicians played with energy and precision. The actor Cody Craven’s performance brought a fullness to the lines that left me smiling through tears. The animated images by Gabriel Villasenor made history come alive. Angelo Moreno conducted with vision and conviction; the entire project sprang from his imagination. The excited conclusion of the show featured the professional bagpipes of Rob Duncan.

My father directed more than a thousand productions over the course of his career, many of them one-act plays at the Washington Theatre Club, where he earned the Margo Jones Award for advancing American theater. In college, in New York and Washington, on television, and later as a professor of drama, directing, and playwriting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he inspired countless artists with his command of pacing and his faith in the power of imagination.

I never asked him to teach me how to write a play. I told myself I wanted our relationship to rest on shared love rather than instruction. I still treasure my memories of our evenings at the theater, our walks around Glover Park in my hometown of Washington, D.C., our long bike rides along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, our discussions about films. With regard to his critiques, I didn’t want to give him additional reasons to find me wanting. He was a demanding critic.

But on this past Saturday, I felt certain he would have applauded my work. I imagine him standing up in the back of the theater when he saw he come out on stage to be recognized for my play while wearing one of his favorite ties.

---

We have been hosting SO many teams recently, well more than 30. I appreciate so many of you coming out to join the fun and remaining patient as I grade your submissions as fast as I can. The rain will see us crowding indoors tonight, I suspect, so come early to reserve a table. The regulars and irregulars will meet for the social event of the week featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about, this week with questions on music performed in your lifetime. Today’s pub quiz comes in at 979 words.

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: plants, hometown heroes, fluids, hyphenated names, twilight zones, light sources, green surprises, risings, Cubans, jungles, struggling actors, Ohio, notable families, kindnesses, novel genres, lovers, anniversaries, people with X names, American portraits, carrying cases, palaces, children, flowers, halls of fame, eyes, ankles, underlying technologies, princesses, redundancies, usage spikes, bond discussions, tigers, registered voters, coastlines, knights, living cast members, ordinal numbers, continuous affirmatives, Baltimore, pop charts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Certain friends have upgraded their memberships recently, which I really appreciate.

We have over 90 Patreon members now, including people who have upgraded their paid memberships! You know who you are, and I salute you! I also incidentally salute Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Michael (thanks Michael!), Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. 

Best,

Dr. Andy

Three questions from last week:

1. Mottos and Slogans. Using the clever slogan “Good & Plenty, Good & Plenty,” Good & Plenty is the oldest continually produced American candy brand. The treat is made of tiny candy-covered cylinders of what polarizing candy flavor?  

2. Internet Culture. A shortage in which of the following recently resulted in a 10% drop in shares of Nintendo: lithium-ion batteries, memory chips, or rare earth metals?  

3. Newspaper Headlines. According to Bloomberg, the U.S. is on track to import around 290 million pounds of what fruit from Mexico in the four weeks leading up to the Super Bowl?  

Dear Dana,

Thank you for the catalog presenting your Weldon Kees collection of books, effects, and memorabilia. I remember well the moment, about twenty years ago, when you were asked a question about Kees at the 2002 “Beat Generation and Beyond” Conference in Davis. You admitted, with characteristic candor, that you were extraordinarily well prepared to answer it, and then you did—offering a response that combined scholarly precision with narrative generosity and genuine responsiveness. It was one of those moments when preparation didn’t flatten the conversation but deepened it.

I also saw your recent social media post announcing that you’ve created a documentary about Weldon Kees, a post your brother Ted—the jazz critic—shared as well. I know many people have been discovering you anew on YouTube in recent years, and I hope this documentary finds the wide and curious audience it deserves.

I had a funny and unexpectedly moving conversation last week in which you came up. More “narrative generosity” in the wild. My son, Jukie, and I take a long walk every afternoon, and we often end up at a local Tex-Mex restaurant for dinner. Over time, I’ve become friendly with several of the employees there. I have struck up a friendship especially with Ollie Smith, a charismatic and gregarious presence who makes every visit feel like five-star service, even though this is the kind of place where you take a number and they bring the food to your table.

Jukie and I eat there often because of the large outdoor patio, a space he happily explores after finishing his dinner while I take my time with a salad. Last week, Ollie and I somehow found ourselves talking about Langston Hughes and the fact that this week marks the 125th anniversary of his birth. Ollie mentioned that in high school he had memorized both a Langston Hughes poem and a Maya Angelou poem, and that he had been recruited to recite them before a large audience.

As he described the nerves and the specific poems, the gears turned. I realized I was looking at a living testament to Poetry Out Loud, the national program you created during your tenure as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. It’s a program my daughter once participated in and one for which I served as a judge back when I was poet laureate of Davis. A number of my UC Davis students have found themselves in my class or on my radio show because their love of memorized poetry was sparked by sharing poems out loud as youths.  

Ollie told me that he hadn’t initially been ready for the limelight. He didn’t want to recite poetry in front of a crowd, and his teacher had to help calm his nerves when he saw the size of the church in Oakland where the competition was being held. It was, he said, the largest church and the largest crowd he had ever seen.

This surprised me, because I know Ollie now as a confident young man—someone deeply involved in martial arts, including serious sparring. To quote your poem “Pity the Beautiful,” he gives off the kind of assuredness of one of “the golden lads whom / success always follows.” 

And yet, when he told me about that day, he admitted somewhat sheepishly that he ended up winning the entire competition. Despite all the sports he’s played, in school and beyond, the trophy he earned from reciting those two poems remains the largest one in his room.

I’m writing you on the day that The Washington Post has cancelled its books coverage entirely, a difficult blow for someone who looked forward to the “Book World” section of my hometown newspaper every Sunday throughout my childhood and high school years. While certain institutions have retreated from cultural programming, others have doubled down, especially you! Also, getting to hear Ollie’s story was necessary antidote to such retreats.

I’m grateful for the ongoing books and publishing coverage in The New York Times, as well as the work you did as NEA Chair to kindle conversations about reading, poetry, and many other forms of creativity. More recently, I appreciate the ways that you’ve inspired poets and authors, including authors like me who have full time jobs, on your YouTube channel.

I was happy I could tell Ollie that I knew the person who had created that nationwide program, and that I would relay his story. So here it is, one small testament to the lasting, lived impact of the work you’ve done. 

Your fan and friend,

Andy

---

It’s February in Davis, meaning high temperatures in the mid 60s. I hope you can plan to join me outdoors for the pub quiz at 2001 2nd Street in Davis. The regulars and irregulars will meet for the social event of the week featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about, this week with questions on passing seconds. Today’s pub quiz comes in at 1008 words.

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: magazines, pledges, candy, driving concerns, the reprisals of bards, grooves, adventures, documentaries, children, fruits, nutshells of infinite space, John Keats, Harry Potter, Carol Burnett, fortitude, great Scotts, elementary particles, lauded participants, people named Marianne, torn roofs, famous lights, share drops, the US Capitol Rotunda, mistaken identities, wins, flips, literary nights, cake, ties for third, requiems, satiety, storage forms, blood pressure, pop charts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Certain friends have upgraded their memberships recently, which I really appreciate.

We have over 90 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! I should write a question for Bobby. Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Michael (thanks Michael!), Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. 

Best,

Dr. Andy

Trivia from last week:

1. Mottos and Slogans. According to its unofficial state motto, how many lakes does Minnesota have?  
2. Internet Culture. What company has continued its winning streak on Fortune’s annual World’s Most Admired Companies list for a 19th year, beating all others to the top spot yet again? 
3. Newspaper Headlines. According to the January 27 New York Times, chronically high levels of two I words can lead to DNA damage and other health problems. Name just one of the two I words. 

I remember well when my son Jukie underwent double eye surgery for ptosis repair. Just three years old, he didn’t understand what was going on, he emerged from surgery looking like a vanquished prizefighter, and he desperately wanted to rip out the stitches that were holding together his new eyelids. He initially needed ointment placed in and on his eyes every two hours, around the clock, so that he could heal.

Jukie’s surgery took place in the same March of 2004 that my father passed away and that one of my positions at UC Davis was eliminated, so my family and I were feeling stressed, grief-stricken, and overwhelmed. Round the clock caretakers, we were also severely under-slept.

But we were not alone. So many people came to our aid, mostly by bringing us dinners. I remember our daughter’s favorite teacher, Fairfield School’s Barbara Neu, coming to our front door with the largest-possible homemade vegetarian lasagna, staying for just 30 seconds and saying as she left that others from Fairfield, including PTA members we didn’t even know, would bring more meals that week. Eventually we had to tell our friends at school that our refrigerator was full, and that we were having trouble eating our way through all the donated meals, even with my wife Kate’s mom, Jo, visiting from Chicago to help care for Jukie.

Jukie’s eyelids recovered. His surgeon, to whom we are forever grateful, told us that the surgery may have to be repeated every five to seven years as Jukie grew older and bigger. Still traumatized, we couldn’t imagine going through that ordeal again. Because of the surgeon’s skill and Jukie’s resilience, we didn’t have to. His life has been scalpel-free since then.

Schools are the foundations of many communities because of the friendships made by our children and grandchildren. The best schools encourage play, collaborative learning, and sustained kindness and inclusion, so friendships inevitably result. As Maria Montessori  said, “Play is the work of the child.” 

This month, families are again relying on school-based networks for survival. Families in distress are turning to their neighbors for support, just as our family did when we were facing hardship and uncertainty. Consider the article “My Neighbors Are Hungry,” published this morning on the website “Stand with Minnesota”:

“My neighbors are hungry, scared and at risk of eviction.

Before winter break I joined other parents at our elementary school PTO to plan a food distribution effort for families who weren’t able to leave home to work or get groceries. 

At first, our list was small. As the weeks went on, the list grew and grew. 

This weekend we delivered food to 5x as many families as we did in December.

For the first time, several boxes went missing from doorsteps before the intended recipients got the boxes inside their homes. Their neighbors, who likely don’t have connections to folks able to help, were desperate, hungry, and likely took the food they saw because the alternative was not knowing if/when they’d be able to eat again. 

We got new boxes out to our school families, but it’s gut wrenching to think about how many neighbors are sheltering in place at home without someone to check on them, bring them food, do their laundry, get them to medical appointments, and help them with rent.

My neighbors are hungry, and I can’t help all of them.  My neighbors are scared, and I can only assure them so much – there is no promise of safety in this environment. My neighbors are at risk of eviction, and I can only fundraise so many households’ worth of rent. The needs are overwhelming, but we are doing everything we can to help as many neighbors as possible. We need more resources and more help.”

The article concludes with this plea for help and link: “Help us keep our neighbors and my children’s classmates fed.” The link brings one to the PayPal page for the Lyndale Community School Foundation in Minneapolis.

Community care precedes and supersedes politics. PTA members did not ask for families’ papers before offering them food, for all those children and those who care for them were welcomed and loved by their local communities. I agree with Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he said, “Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”

And although I rarely agreed with Ronald Reagan when we lived just a couple miles from each other in the 1980s, I do appreciate that he said, “Our nation is a nation of immigrants. More than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands.”

I’m grateful to the activists, parents, PTAs and everyday citizens in the Twin Cities and across Minnesota who have been organizing to defend these foundational principles of our nation of immigrants. 

I invite you to support their efforts.

P.S. Speaking of community building, kindness, and mutual support, the following words come from Maria Breaux, the sister of the Davis “Compassion Guy,” David Breaux:

Hello, friends, family, and compassionistas!

A new idea’s been brewing—and it’s ready to be served. 

To celebrate David’s 53rd birthday, we’re doing something a little different. To honor his legacy, bring people together, and continue his compassion mission, we’re launching the first official Compassion Cafe.

• When is it? Monday, February 16th, from 10 am to noon (although his official bday is on the 26th)
• Where is it? Cloud Forest Cafe at 222 D St in Davis, California
• What is it? Two hours to gather, share your definition of compassion electronically via tablet and/or a story of compassion via video, eat, drink, and make merry
• Why is it? We’re also supporting independent cafes, gathering community, raising awareness of compassion, and co-creating a kind and empathetic space
• How much is it? Nothing! Zero, zilch, free.

Come as you are, bring a friend, spend time with good people.

Can’t wait to celebrate David and continue his important work together. 

With compassion,

Maria

P.S. Who knows? If Compassion Cafe gains traction, we can bring it to other cities, work with local Chambers of Commerce on a Compassion Map that identifies places that have taken a Compassion Cafe Pledge of Kindness, develop partnerships with like-minded organizations, or—many possibilities!

“The only way to survive is by taking care of one another.”

– Grace Lee Boggs

I appreciate Maria continuing David’s legacy of compassion awareness in Davis. Find Maria Breaux on Substack: https://mariabreaux.substack.com/ 

---

Edith Sitwell said that “Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” We can offer most of those tonight at Sudwerk. Plan to join me outdoors for the pub quiz at 2001 2nd Street in Davis. The regulars and irregulars will meet for the social event of the week featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about, this week with questions on passing seconds. Today’s pub quiz comes in at 1124 words, corresponding to the birthday of Scott Joplin.

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: forks, companies, lakes, words that start with the letter I, DNA damage, islands, Mark Twain, blood cells, poetry, attempts at perfection, prominent wannabes, Danes, slim Jims, historical scoops, echoes, nominated sequels, eleven-letter words, luminosity, multiples of ten, bordering countries, dumb movies, swells, spikes, sin cities, egoists, strong seconds, Canadian products, lions, car thieves, the income from piñatas, princes, bird of prey, diamonds, absences, flags,  humble stars, pop charts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 90 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! I should write a question for Bobby. Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Michael (thanks Michael!), Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. 

Best,

Dr. Andy

Here are three questions from last week’s Pub Quiz. If you are reading these, plan to join us every Wednesday at 7 at Sudwerk.

1. Science. Would one encounter the term “redshift” in astrophysics, biology, or psychology?  

2. Books and Authors. One of the most famous American poems of the 19^th century, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” was written by what poet who is rarely studied in college classrooms today?  

3. Current Events – Names in the News. Which AI company recently announced that it is rolling out an age prediction model to help it identify accounts that belong to users under 18: Alphabet, Anthropic, OpenAI, X?  

Dear Friends,

Many people, not just Minnesotans, feel alienated from their country this month, or at least from their government. People in America are divided about different issues, but I sense a bipartisan outrage, or at least discomfort, with the ruthless strategies that have been used to enforce policies or a world view that they don’t share.

I think of Albert Camus who said, “I love my country too much to be a nationalist.”

And poets, who pay attention for a living, who seek to keep faith with language even when language fails, have been especially hard hit by the death of the award-winning writer and mom, Renee Good.  

As was the case with George Floyd, the killing of Renee Good has lodged itself in the national consciousness in a way that refuses to loosen its grip. At a suburban Chicago pancake house on Sunday, Kate overheard two middle-age Republican men discuss the circumstances of Good’s death, with both agreeing that the tires, rather than the driver, of Good’s car should have been targeted.

Last night as a featured poet at a Sacramento Thai restaurant poetry reading, I felt the weight of her death. I had brought three long poems to read, and I knew before I stepped up to the mic that I would have to end with the poem you find below, if only because I wouldn’t have been able to read past it. My voice would not have carried.

That said, I am pleased to have the opportunity to “deliver” it to you.

Renee B. Good 

Down in Minneapolis, near Thirty-Fourth Street,

Bright morning, cold air, salt under feet,

There sat a poet, her seat belt tight,

Penning notes for poems in the morning light.

She had just dropped her son off at school,

Serving as a witness, she was playing it cool.

Go

Go Renee, go

Trained as an observer, trained to support,

Ready to be a witness in immigration court,

A mother of three, a substitute teacher,

An open mic poet and occasional feature.

Upset that the feds had declared martial law,

The 2,000 ICE shock troops were the final straw.

Go

Go Renee, go

Then the federal jackets turned upon her,

She sought to evade them, the footage a blur,

And then in a moment, as she tried to steer clear,

Three needless gunshots that all could hear.

Jonathan Ross will say it was self-defense,

But shooting into a fleeing car makes no sense.

Go

Go Renee, go

The ICE at the scene tried to downplay

That Renee, shot three times, did not die right away.

In the smartphone footage it could clearly be seen

That a doctor soon arrived at the scene

“Can I check for a pulse?” ICE told him “No,”

“I’m a physician.” “We don’t care. Just go.”

Go

Go Renee, go

No matter who you are, they’ve come for us.

When it comes to killing moms and poets, there’s nothing to discuss.

We have a constitution; we are a nation of laws.

High crimes should lead to the impeachment clause.

The only way that justice will have its day,

Will be if we remember the good of the poet Renee.

Go, go

Go Renee, go, go

Go Renee, go, go

Go Renee, go, go

Go Renee, go, go

Renee B. Good.

---

“The fog is rising,” Emily Dickinson said. Tonight we will enjoy fog instead of rain, so plan to join me outdoors for the pub quiz at 2001 2nd Street in Davis. The regulars and irregulars will meet for the social event of the week featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about, this week with questions on the devil you know. Today’s pub quiz comes in at 931 words, corresponding to the area code of central Tennessee.   

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: streams, concrete, starting points, heavenly shoes, common names, workers, Sacramento exports, plural words, Academy Awards, sauces, pregnancies, chairs, role-playing, peaks, hens, Danes, people named Nellie, toasts, wordy books, forces, touchdowns, songs from Madagascar, Lakers, horizons, varieties, data pandas, sad seasons, predicted ages, rides, shifts, mercies, totalitarians, platforms, pop charts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 90 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! I should write a question for Bobby. Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Michael (thanks Michael!), Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. 

Best,

Dr. Andy

Thanks to Dan for guest-hosting for me last week. Here are three questions from that quiz:

1. Mottos and Slogans. What peanut butter brand do Choosy Moms Choose? 

2. Internet Culture. It was announced recently that Apple will use what AI model to power the upcoming new Siri?  

3. Roth IRAs. If an 18-year-old contributes $100 a month to her Roth IRA for life, and it compounds yearly at 8%, would the tax-free amount she has when she retires at age 65 be closest to $250K, $500K, $1 million, or $2 million?  

Dear Friends,

Facebook originated, we thought, so that we could check in on our friends and build or strengthen communities. Twitter and Instagram promised similar benefits, but with the emphasis on the succinct and the visual. 

I enjoyed Facebook especially in the early years. Today I appreciate it as a means to share with people the joys of Poetry in Davis and Events in Davis, two groups I founded on Facebook more than a decade ago. Both are going strong.

Today on Facebook and the other social media we get ads, many of them particularly appealing, as if someone has been paying close attention to everything we’ve clicked upon since beginning our social media journeys. As the marketing truism says, if you are not paying for a product, you are the product. Algorithms follow our eyeballs and expertly trigger our desires.

For these negative reasons, and for many positive ones, I have been enjoying Substack. On this platform, we expect more from our contacts, and we get more, typically in the form of essays. We also get to sample depth, rewarded attention, slowness, and human voices. Substack restores what social media promised: thoughtful community through sustained human writing.

As I read essays for a living (well, one of my “livings”), you would think that I would pursue other forms of entertainment.  Having given up television for long walks in nature, and alcohol for more time connecting with my family and a few groups of friends, I have room in my life to review the writing of people I adore.

Consider the Substack Cinemulatto by Maria Breaux, the sister of the late compassion hero and stand-up Davisite, David Breaux. Maria concludes the piece published today this way:

“We could use a lot more ‘together’ these days, a lot more ‘us.’ Compassion is unconditional love, according to David’s final definition of the word. David, in that sense, is all of us, in every choice we make to slow down, simplify, humanize, and care.”

My friend the novelist and writing professor Eve Imagine always impresses me with her revelations, her discoveries, and her insights, such as with these insights that she shared this week on teaching in the age of AI:

“Prior to a month ago, I only used AI as an answer engine, a hyped up Google. I barely interacted with it. I listened to podcasts, read articles, and used my new knowledge to inform my teaching strategies, but I didn’t understand AI to be the assistant I needed, especially because it’s not usable, at least not for my needs, in Canvas (our teaching/learning platform).

What I never expected was that AI is not just an assistant. I don’t need a teaching assistant. However, what I have learned is that AI is an amazing accessibility tool, my version of a screen reader (a tool visually impaired people use for their computering).

I’m there. I’ve completed my course transformation, and I never could have accomplished so much in so little time without having this assist.”

I will also draw your attention to my most influential high school teacher, Will Layman, who is also one of America’s foremost jazz critics. Check out how he starts the review he published today of the late jazz drummer Al Foster’s Live at Smoke:

“Among the brightest, swingingest moments on Live at Smoke is a version of “Pent-Up House,” composed by Sonny Rollins and originally recorded in 1956 by Rollins with the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet (though the date, ostensibly led by Rollins, was credited as “Sonny Rollins + 4”). When I first heard that track as a young jazz fan, my head spun around. The theme is ingenious: a rising line followed by six sharp descending intervals that just about define the sound of mid-century hard bop. But then the improvisations begin, each more tuneful and masterful than the last.”

This is the kind of writing Substack encourages: serious, generous, expert, and unhurried attention. I love jazz, and I love writing, but it would take much more time with each art form for me to write about jazz like that.

I try to publish an essay a week on Substack, an essay (such as this one) that will be familiar to you if you subscribe to my content there or elsewhere. I’m grateful for the people who follow me there, and for all the thoughtful and eloquent friends I encounter on Substack who offer a welcome respite from algorithmically-precise advertisements.

Please check out the writers I feature above, and please follow Eager Mondays!

---

As my wife and two of our kids are on a plane to Chicago as I write this, Dan will be our substitute quizmaster at Sudwerk this evening. The quiz might be a bit easier than usual, so no hints. I hope you enjoy this event in Davis!

Dr. Andy

Three questions from last week:

1. California Cities. Despite cold and rain, thousands flocked to 137th Rose Parade this year. Name the city.  

2. Science. John Napier discovered logarithms in the same decade that Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter. Name the century.  

3. Books and Authors. The authors Johnny Cash, John Grisham, and Douglas MacArthur were all born in the same state whose name starts with the letter A. Name this state that was also an important setting for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.  

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Reading newspaper headlines, I have been reflecting on what measles once was, how writers remembered it, how we briefly escaped it, and how we are now, quietly and dangerously, returning to it.

According to the Mayo Clinic, before the first measles vaccine in 1963, nearly all children in the U.S. got measles by age 15, and annual epidemics caused millions of infections (and hundreds of deaths) each year. 

While statistics can tell us the scale, literary texts written in or about the 19^th century remind us of the stakes.

A line in chapter six of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist tells us that “The oldest inhabitants recollected no period at which measles had been so prevalent, or so fatal to infant existence.”

Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind introduces us to Scarlett O’Hara’s first husband, Charles Hamilton, a character that triggers Scarlett’s early frustration and grief:

“Five weeks passed during which letters, shy, ecstatic, loving, came from Charles in South Carolina telling of his love, his plans for the future when the war was over, his desire to become a hero for her sake and his worship of his commander, Wade Hampton. In the seventh week, there came a telegram from Colonel Hampton himself, and then a letter, a kind, dignified letter of condolence. Charles was dead. The colonel would have wired earlier, but Charles, thinking his illness a trifling one, did not wish to have his family worried. The unfortunate boy had not only been cheated of the love he thought he had won but also of his high hopes of honor and glory on the field of battle. He had died ignominiously and swiftly of pneumonia, following measles, without ever having gotten any closer to the Yankees than the camp in South Carolina.”

The poets I studied as an undergraduate wrote about the measles the way that some of us wrote about Covid-19 in late March of 2020, reminding us of the concerns that gripped us then, including fear, isolation, uncertainty, waiting, and the fragility of the ordinary world.

Emily Dickinson wrote this in a letter to Abiah Root in September 1846: “I have been very well this summer… though many of my friends have had the measles. I have been almost a hermit… for there were so many cases of the disease that I felt it was best to stay within doors.”

A few years later, in May of 1851, Elizabeth Barrett Browning shared her fears in a letter to Henrietta Barrett: “The measles are all about us, and I am in a state of perpetual terror for the child… It is a treacherous disease, and one never knows where it will end, even when it seems to have passed away.”

For Barrett Browning, measles was a “perpetual terror.” But as the 20th century progressed, in the United States and in other countries, that terror was silenced by science. With the widespread adoption of the MMR vaccine, the United States was formally declared to have eliminated measles in 2000. We didn’t just eliminate the disease; we began to eliminate our memory of its cost.

For a generation of Americans, measles became something we encountered only in old novels and yellowed letters. We thought we had overcome this national challenge. We were wrong.

Consider these headlines, all from January 6, 2026, to see what the return of measles looks like in real time:

1. South Carolina measles outbreak continues to grow into 2026, health officials say — WBTV (South Carolina)  
2. Measles vaccination rates in Colorado are lagging — Axios Denver/Colorado  
3. Additional Children Positive for Measles in North Carolina — North Carolina Dept. of Health and Human Services press release  
4. South Carolina measles outbreak grows in wake of holiday season — HealthBeat / news outlet report  
5. South Carolina Department of Public Health: DPH Reports 26 New Measles Cases in Upstate, Bringing Outbreak total to 211 — SC DPH Jan. 6 release  
6. US builds case to retain measles elimination status as infections mount — with outbreaks starting in Texas and spreading to states like Utah, Arizona, and South Carolina — Reuters  
7. Possible measles exposure linked to travel in Albuquerque — New Mexico Department of Health, January 6, 2026  

This next one from late December also concerned me because my son sometimes flies through Newark to get back to college. Suddenly, the “perpetual terror” Barrett Browning described in 1851 feels less like a mere historical curiosity.

• “N.J. health officials warn of potential measles exposures at Newark Liberty Airport” — CBS New York (Dec 29, 2025).

If the poets wrote from a place of unavoidable fear, today’s headlines suggest a fear that is being actively invited back. Rather than an accident of nature, the return of measles in America resulted from the dismantling of the very scientific consensus that once saved us. Enter Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.:

1. RFK Jr sparks alarm after backing vitamins to treat measles amid outbreak — The Guardian — Mar 4, 2025  
2. Top vaccine official resigns from FDA, criticizes RFK Jr. for promoting ‘misinformation and lies’ — AP News — Mar 29, 2025  
3. RFK Jr and health agency falsely claim MMR vaccine includes ‘aborted fetus debris’ — The Guardian — May 1, 2025  
4. US Health secretary Kennedy revives misleading claims of ‘fetal debris’ in measles shots — Reuters — May 2, 2025  
5. CDC Slashes Universal Vaccine Recommendations — Time — Jan 6, 2026 
6. US builds case to retain measles elimination status as infections mount — Reuters — Jan 6, 2026  
7. NYC health boss rips RFK Jr. for cutting back on childhood vaccinations, warns of ‘deadly consequences’ — New York Post — Jan 7, 2026  

I’m a big fan of science and the work scientists have done to protect us from infectious diseases. It’s regrettable to see their work sabotaged by official government policies.

As gripping as these headlines are, I find myself turning again and again to those writers who can best personify epidemics. When institutions fail us, the consequences always upend individual lives.

I will close with the words of Roald Dahl, a short non-fiction piece he wrote in 1986:

“Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything.

‘Are you feeling all right?’ I asked her.

‘I feel all sleepy,’ she said.

In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours, she was dead.

The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. That was…in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her. On the other hand, there is today something that parents can do to make sure that this sort of tragedy does not happen to a child of theirs. They can insist that their child is immunised against measles.

…I dedicated two of my books to Olivia, the first was ‘James and the Giant Peach’. That was when she was still alive. The second was ‘The BFG’, dedicated to her memory after she had died from measles. You will see her name at the beginning of each of these books. And I know how happy she would be if only she could know that her death had helped to save a good deal of illness and death among other children.”

Reading those old letters and novels, and then reading today’s headlines, I keep returning to the same uneasy realization: measles has returned. We once learned its costs. We once learned how to prevent them. And now, through carelessness and misinformation, we are forced to learn those lessons again. 

As Roald Dahl reminds us, these are lessons we cannot afford to fail.

---

There will be no rain tonight, so plan to join me outdoors for the pub quiz at 2001 2nd Street in Davis. I invite you to join the regulars and irregulars for the social event of the week featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about, this week with special questions connected to the life and hobbies of Dr. Andy. Today’s pub quiz comes in at 948 words, still smaller than the number of miles I walked in 2025.

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: nets, heroes, toxicology, presidents, conductors, MVPs, storms, winds, joyful moments, common words, slim daggers, place names, median readers, photography subjects in 1846, Palo Alto rests, Paul Simon, dreams, colors, birds, American generals, moons, parades, euros, French cuisine, frontrunners, best-sellers, romance, new leaders, weeds, jobs, Oscars, new jobs, pop charts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 90 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! I should write a question for Bobby. Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and birthday girl Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. 

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Trivia from the final pub quiz of 2025, with questions about 2025:

1. In 2025, Robert Provost was elected to a new office. What is his job?  

2. In 2025, Beyoncé finally won the Grammy Award for best album of the year. Name the album. 

3. What 2024 film with a one-word title won the most Oscars in March of this year, with five? 

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year to you and your families. If you are in Davis on New Year’s Eve, I invite you to join us for a pub quiz. We will also be counting down the ball drop in New York at 9 p.m., with a free pilsner toast provided by Sudwerk staff.

Today I am thinking about 2025 experiences, accomplishments, reconnections, and losses.

Most of my heroes (many of them also mentors) are older than me, but one exception would be my friend Gretchen Noah, a remarkable friend who we lost to brain cancer earlier this month.

My wife Kate was very close with Gretchen, for she and Gretchen ran the Smith-Lemli-Opitz Foundation together, laughing through many formal and informal meetings on the phone, via Zoom, and in person.

To honor my friend Gretchen, whose funeral mass took place this morning, I am including below both what Kate wrote about her friend, followed by a poem I wrote that I recorded and which was played at the funeral service last night.

Treasure your time with your loved ones, both tonight and on every day of the years to come.

Dr. Andy

---

From Kate Duren.

I am heartbroken to share the news of the death of my dear friend, Gretchen Noah.

Gretchen and I met about 18 years ago when she called me on our landline phone, having tracked down my number after reading something I had written in a Smith-Lemli-Opitz Foundation newsletter about Jukie. We bonded instantly over her search for a diagnosis for her son. The Mayo Clinic had incorrectly ruled out SLO, but Gretchen felt her boy looked and seemed so much like my Jukie. I supported her and advised her on where and how to proceed to get the correct diagnosis. She did — and, of course, her son did have Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, just as we suspected.

We talked late into the evening that night and became fast friends. Gretchen was like that — warm, engaging, and always quick to find the humor in life.

We chatted on the phone regularly, and a year or two later she flew from her home in Fargo, ND, to surprise me at my home in Davis, CA. She had come to attend the Oscar party I was throwing that weekend. When I answered the door, I thought she was the stranger coming to look at a cabinet I was selling. I didn’t recognize her until she silently removed her sunglasses and gave me the biggest Gretchen smile. We stood hugging and crying on my doorstep until I finally remembered to invite her inside.

Thirteen years ago, we began working together — she as president and I as vice president of the Smith-Lemli-Opitz Foundation. We were a perfect match, with opposite but complementary skills. She handled the business side; I managed communications, media, and family support. We both felt we were exactly where we were meant to be.

Gretchen often said that God brought us together. We shared a deep sense of purpose and a desire to help families affected by Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome in every way possible. And anyone who knew Gretchen knows she made it fun. We worked hard, and we laughed often. I will miss her laughter and her smile more than words can say.

I have so many fond memories of Gretchen and our time together. We traveled for work to San Diego, New Orleans, and Germany, and planned and hosted SLOF conferences in Boston, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Portland, Denver, and Cincinnati. I visited her lake house in Minnesota, filled with Gretchen’s unmistakable charm. We met up in so many cities, always making time to explore the local cuisine and culture. Gretchen truly loved life.

It feels impossible that such a strong, positive force in the world is gone. It was a joyful privilege and an honor to work alongside Gretchen all these years, and so many of us are enriched and inspired from having known her. Her legacy lives on in the SLO community and will always live on in our hearts.

---

Gretchen’s Smile
A poem for Gretchen Noah, written by Dr. Andy Jones

I want to talk about Gretchen’s smile.

Not just because it was magnificent,

not just because I got to see it light up a conference room every two years,

but because her smile carried in it a sense of purpose,

a sense of momentum,

a sense that she had created something important 

and that we were all part of it.

Gretchen embodied steadfast care for people who were exhausted,

for children whose small victories she knew how to read,

for families navigating what no one is ever prepared for,

for the work in front of her.

She believed in what must be done,

and then she did it.

Gretchen set goals for the Smith-Lemli-Opitz Foundation that most people would have quietly scaled back.

She did not scale back.

She leaned in.

She carried expansion forward through sheer will, tireless humor, 

and an unmistakable smile that told you,

yes, this is ambitious, and yes, we are absolutely going to make it happen.

I see her at the back of a conference room,

arms crossed, watching families talk,

our representative and our witness —

already thinking about what else they might need,

already planning what comes next,

starting with endowments from everyone.

I see her late at night with a laptop open,

numbers on the screen, Diet Coke nearby,

hatching plans, sending texts,

still working when everyone else has gone quiet,

raising money for children she would never meet,

raising hope for families she would never stop caring about.

I see her moving through crowded hotel ballrooms,

name badges swinging, voices overlapping,

and Gretchen somehow knowing every name, every story,

the longing of every parent, the burden of every caregiver, 

the brave patience of every child.

I hear her on the phone,

calls that always ran long,

where the work and the friendship,

the agendas and the laughter, were never really separate,

just two parts of the same devotion.

Our president, Gretchen was the energy behind the family conferences.

She and Kate took the Foundation show on the road — again and again —

convincing pharmaceutical companies to invest,

inspiring doctors,

inspiring parents,

inspiring all of us.

I see her in a room of doctors and researchers,

not at the center of the circle,

but at its heart,

asking the questions that kept the human stakes visible,

never letting the work forget the children.

And I see her at the end of a long day,

after a successful event,

chairs stacked, lights dimmed,

Gretchen still standing there, 

always the last to leave, smiling —

satisfied, grateful,

and already thinking forward.

We ache in her absence,

but what she built remains.

What she inspired remains.

What she made possible continues to unfold.

So, when we gather,

when we plan,

when we fundraise,

when we advocate,

when we care for families and children and one another,

we are still moving in Gretchen’s direction.

And if we do it with courage,

with ambition,

with laughter,

and with that same sense of resolve that once lived so naturally in her smile,

then we are doing the work the way she taught us to do it.

Thank you, Gretchen.

We will carry this forward.

---

Because of the rain tonight, the New Year’s Eve Sudwerk pub quiz will take place inside at 2001 2nd Street in Davis. I invite you to join the regulars and irregulars for the social event of the week featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about. Today’s pub quiz is over 1,000 words long, longer than usual because so much happened in 2025.

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: national chains, categorized innovators, flagship facilities, provosts, geology in France, encores, non-volleyball Wilsons, six-letter words, Zillow findings, Great Scots, normal guys, hydrogen, consecutive games, LPs, Caribbean happenstances, incomes, music genres, boilers, ousters, motorcycles, famous battles, ESPN opinions, holiday traditions, Kentucky realizations, economic theories, moments dead people, ice babies, one-word titles that are barely words, trades, alliterative names, cinematic universes, alphabetical lists, food banks, cubs, Oscars, new jobs, pop charts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 90 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! I should write a question for Bobby. Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and birthday girl Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. 

Best,

Dr. Andy

And now five questions on the same topic from a 2018 Christmas-era pub quiz. That week’s topic is 2018 Films with Four Words in their Titles. Notice that, atypically, I am providing the answers to these tricky questions from the last decade.

1.     What are the four words in the title of the film that just enjoyed its second week at the top of the box office? Ralph Breaks the Internet

2.     Animated, and largely forgotten by 2025, what is the second-highest grossing Benedict Cumberbatch film of 2018? Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch

3.    What Chris Pratt film opened in more theatres than any other film released this year? Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

4.   What film that features Dave Chapelle as George “Noodles” Stone has already won the National Board of Review Award for Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor? A Star is Born (2018)

5.  What is the title of the most recent and probably last Insidious sequel, one that actually has the word “last” in its title? Insidious: The Last Key

And thus end our questions on 2018 Films with Four-Word Titles.  And thus ends 2025, and this newsletter. See you in 2026. May it be a better year for all of us.