Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
All my family members are finally healthy, the rains have come to refresh Yolo County and the rest of California, and the family photographic gifts have been constructed and mailed out to certain beloveds to arrive by Christmas. If your family is like ours, you are looking forward to pivoting now towards a holiday break.
Recently I reconnected with a former student of mine who helped my small family and me move to Davis in 1998. I sent out an email to a group of trusted friends to see who could help us move to our new neighborhood in south Davis. Our first house had just been built on El Segundo Avenue.
My student Andrew showed up on moving day with the planning acumen of a project manager or an engineer, even though he was a humanities guy who was studying C.S. Lewis at UC Davis. He managed to fit more into the “Mom’s Attic” of that U-Haul than we probably could have fit into both our Honda Civic, bought in the 1980s, or our Saturn SL2, purchased that year so that we had a safer vehicle with which to transport our newborn daughter, Geneva. He was a hero.
After a seeming multi-decade break, I reached out to Andrew to see if he would like to read a sufficiently reverent poem on my KDVS radio show to commemorate the Christmas holiday.
This was his response:
“Dr Andy!! I’d love to—how long does your show run that night? My wife and I are teaching, but I’d love to read CSL’s poem ‘The Nativity.’”
Checking my friend’s page on Facebook, I saw that he had become a Reverend, had grown a white beard like mine, and had started dressing like a Bishop, which I thought was pretty cool. As Harry Winston says, “People will stare. Make it worth their while.”
Then Andrew reminded me how long we have known each other: “Do you realize that you were the person who introduced me to Google all those years ago…?” Even this son of a librarian finds it hard to remember negotiating the world before Google.
I apologized for the Google introduction, and then wondered to myself if I could give my old friend a hard time, as men do when they are showing affection, even though he is now such an established man of God who spends his time dressed in the cassock and zucchetto of a Bishop.
Looking again at Andrew’s Facebook profile, I made my next comment:
“Also, what a delightful author/speaker wife you have! Did you use hypnotism to convince her to marry you?”
Then there was a long pause in our texting conversation. Had I crossed a line?
Finally, the Rector at the Church of the Messiah responded:
“Hahaha—divine mercy and, likely, bad judgment/eyesight!”
That was the sort of response I was hoping for. I wonder if in divinity school they teach rectors how to be self-deprecating at the pulpit.
H.L. Mencken once said that “God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.” I don’t know if that true, but I know that I remain full of respect for any community leader who can inspire others with talk of great books, who has a sense of humor, and who answers your call when you have to move your impoverished self from one city to another.
I hope your holiday break is spent with people who have at least two of these qualities. Happy holidays.
Please consider purchasing a friend a year-long subscription to the Pub Quiz as a holiday gift. The friends who fund this enterprise on Patreon keep these newsletters coming and ensure that faraway friends can partake in your Pub Quiz joy remotely.
It may be raining now, but it is due to conclude by 6. Perhaps my friend the Bishop put in a good word for me? If you are in Davis tonight, please join us for the Pub Quiz at Sudwerk. Recruit a team and dress for a foggy winter sunset at wiped-down tables and chairs. Even though it is more work for me, we always have more fun with the bigger crowds and more voices. As Saint Augustine allegedly said, “Good times and crazy friends make the best memories.”
In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on Jimmy Chin, telepathy, poker games, sad tales, the LA Dodgers, button-up shirts with gold decorations, memorable antagonists, Daniel Day-Lewis, creatures that are native to South America, old parks, Wikipedia searches, avoiding unrighteousness, Hilary Swank, submarine bases, Oscar winners, architects, whales, ideal rib cages, night fevers, quantitative reviews of plant biomass and soil process responses to combined manipulations of CO2 and temperature, TV networks, cities that are not London, Marisa Tomei, drafts and fascinations, U.S. presidents, connections between Julius Caesar and Jim Carrey, athletes that require pronunciation guides when introducing them, large islands, big numbers, Jon Voigt, interactive maps, ambitious projects that border on magic, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, Quizimodo, Gena Harper, and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon, including those who are trying it out for the first time. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of supporters. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
Best,
Dr. Andy
P.S. Three sample questions:
- Newspaper Headlines. Citing weak holiday sales, what parent toy company of Dungeons & Dragonsand Magic: The Gathering is cutting about 1,100 Jobs?
- News Media. What three letters refer to the busiest news website in the world in October of 2023, with 1.2 billion visits?
- Alan Rickman. Alan Rickman made his feature film debut at age 42 playing Hans Gruber in what alleged holiday film?
P.P.S. “Courage, dear heart.” C.S. Lewis