Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Recently I ran into a university colleague who had left teaching for a position as a project manager elsewhere at UC Davis. He said that he loves working with “an adult population” on the far west side of campus, far away from undergraduates. I smiled and told him that I was pleased that he was happy with his new position. What I didn’t tell him was that I hold a radically different opinion, for I am sustained and (appropriately) challenged by my classroom interactions with undergraduate and graduate students, I find that the energy of college students feeds my own, and I feel that potentially shaping the choices and futures of Aggies makes my work as a member of the UC Davis faculty important and meaningful. I suppose this is why I teach, and value teaching. As Aristotle tells us (or warns us), “Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.”
Speaking of promising youth, this past Saturday night I attended an event hosted by Absurd Publications, a new publishing collective established by UC Davis undergraduates and recent graduates. This impressive group of students, most of whom met in a poetry seminar that I taught a year ago, have published an anthology of poetry and fiction, stated distributing a free experimental journal called The Oddity, and established a workshop series that offers support and critique of the creative output of anyone who cares to attend (free of charge). As a vegetarian, I’m still deciding what I think of the title of their most recent publication (All the Vegetarians in Texas have been Shot), but I totally admire the content. I encourage you to pick up a copy this week at The Avid Reader to see if you agree (and to support local artists and authors).
Tonight’s Pub Quiz at de Vere’s will include questions on most of the following topics: transportation, fruit, dogs, jellyfish, Russians, arable land, tall men named Sacha, Natalie Portman, single-digit numbers, tall men, Oscars, country music, football, amateurs, POTUS, short stories, dashes of emotion, stenography, world languages, epistles, Asia, Africa, monocular vision, people named Hawkes, hunting in Ireland, vice presidents, water, six-syllable words that might come up in your biology class, Moroccan women, baseball, and Shakespeare.
Even though summer is almost over for the schoolchildren of Davis, I still expect enough parents, energetic UC Davis students, new participants and regulars to effectively “sell out” tonight’s Pub Quiz. Do come early to claim a table.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
1. Mottos and Slogans. What US state uses the following as state slogans: “The Greatest Snow on Earth” and “Life Elevated”?
2. Internet Culture. Which of the following popular news websites uses as its tagline “Read Less. Know More”? Chooser, Loser, Newser, or Snoozer?
3. Newspaper Headlines. Helen Gurley Brown, author of the empowered-woman classic Sex and the Single Girl, died today at age 90. She was the longtime editor of what international magazine for women that was first published in 1886?
4. Actors and Actresses. Who had first billing in the 1999 science-fiction comedy parody film Galaxy Quest?
5. Local Celebrities. About what UC Davis Nutrition professor has it been said that she teaches more students in person than any professor west of the Mississippi?