"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
One of the great joys of performing as your Quizmaster on Monday nights is the practice of immediate friendship, or at least of the manifestation of friendship, with so many of the Pub Quiz regulars. For instance, when I hear a remark or a quip as I pass by a table, I might echo that remark, or lightly satirize that person or that remark before the Irish Pub crowd of almost 200 people. Those of us not named Don Rickles usually reserve such light-hearted ridicule for our friends (or for public figures), so I feel privileged to good-naturedly mock you all in this way. I think you can take it.
This practice of “instant friendship” reminded me of one of my closest friends from my college days, Kevin, someone I thought about often during my recent weekend trip to Boston. During my first moments as a college student, before I had taken my first class, before I had even unpacked my first bag, I met a man in Boston who would become a friend, a guide, an inspiration, and a delight, and that man was Kevin Quinn. Throughout our friendship, Kevin communicated these qualities to me in the same easeful, guileless, engaging, joyful, and gracious way that he welcomed me to Boston University, and to this foundational learning experience of Kevin upon which I have built so much since. His offer of friendship was immediate, warm, and absolute. He took risks in the way that he revealed himself to me and to others, treating us straightaway as if we were old friends, close friends. He treated us as if we were all worth the investment in us of his elated wonder, that we would be receptive to the evidence of his practiced belief in discovery and adventure.
What was the result of this investment? Within ten months of that first meeting, on the Fourth of July, Schmevin (as he had come to be called) had joined a group of friends and me in a Washington DC stadium as we danced and swayed and harmonized (attemptedly) to the largest concert I had ever attended, one featuring Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Just over a year after that he was visiting my apartment in London, England. A few years after that, he sat in on one of the first classes that I taught as a graduate student, and explored northern California with my new fiancée and me. A year after that, he stood up in a grassy clearing outside Chicago on a misty day in September to speak at our wedding. And in the coming years he would play goofily on the floor of our homes with our children, my daughter being one of many to call him “Uncle Schmevin.” In the years after hosting my wife, daughter, and mom in a 2008 conference in Boston, he would phone the house and ask to talk to my daughter Geneva about school and her stuffed animals. Presents would be mailed to us on birthdays and at Christmas.
Who was this man who enriched our lives so immeasurably? A man who approached me on that first day in Boston as he approached all new friends and adventures in his rich, rich life. Kevin Quinn was a man without guile, or pretense, or dishonesty, or selfishness. He was the personification of eagerness. He helped to create a community and a life that rewarded him for his selflessness and engaging generosity, a community in turn that celebrated him this past weekend to observe the end of his incredible life, and a community of adoring friends and family that continues to share lessons, and stories, and goofy vivacity with all who might be moved anew by the wide-eyed exultation that was, and forever will be, my friend Schmevin.
In honor of Schmevin, you should expect a Boston question or two on tonight’s Pub Quiz, as well as questions about other things that Schmevin loved, such as baked goods, movies, Martin Luther King, Jr., architecture, gospel music, and sports. We’ll also review questions about Republicans, Muppets, mountains, ornithology, vests, legumes, African-American comedians, a merry jig, Prince, famous Greeks, Persian Muslims, Sailors born in 1932, famous BU professors, taking the T for tea, requests for a motorcycle, Saturday Night Live actors, vans, South America, endangered species, 19th century novels, college sports, same-sex marriage, patricians, and Shakespeare.
Happy Martin Luther King Day to you! I look forward to seeing you this evening.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
4. Four for Four. Which of the following Davis streets, if any, intersect both Russell Boulevard / 5th Street and Covell Boulevard? Anderson Road, Eureka Ave, K Street, Oak Avenue.
5. Food and Drink. Bourbon is a distilled spirit made primarily from what grain?
6. The Mafia. The two words that make up the long name of a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy each has an O and an A as its only vowels. What are these two words?
7. Pop Culture – Music. What band made history in Scotland when two of their tracks, "Sunshine on Leith" and "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" were featured on Scotland's Greatest Album (2011)?
8. Sports. Charles Barkley played for three basketball teams, the most recent being the Houston Rockets. What were the other two?
Two Postscripts:
1) Congratulations to the three winners from last week’s Pub Quiz. Outside Agitators came in first with 24 points, Portraits O' Muhammad came in second with 23 points, and The Whiskey Bonders came in third with 22 points. Hooray! I’ll be awarding a bonus prize at the end of the month to the team that did the best overall.
2) I will be hosting a poetry reading with local writing teacher and poet Rae Gouirand this coming Thursday night at 8 at the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 First Street). We will be returning to de Vere’s for the after party, if you would care to join us. Details on the reading can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/224734354260430/