Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
If you join enough book groups, it’s almost like attending graduate school. At least that’s what my wife Kate is discovering as she keeps up with the reading for her various book groups made up of Davis moms (and in one group, moms and daughters). They’ve read a wide variety of adult and young adult novels, my favorite of which has been Cutting for Stone, the Abraham Verghese masterpiece that won the 2009 fiction award from the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. I interviewed Verghese for my KDVS radio show, and found the author to be especially knowledgeable, personable and funny. Because mine is in part a technology show, we talked about a communications technology initiative at Stanford University (where Verghese is Professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford’s School of Medicine and Senior Associate Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine). For this project, Verghese and other professors take pre-written questions from Stanford freshmen about their disciplines, life at Stanford, and their expectations for students in their classes, and then the faculty are filmed answering those questions in their offices. The virtual office hours project is perfect for harried faculty like Verghese who wear many hats, and thus must answer to many constituencies.
I should say as an aside that he also answers his email, at least his email from me. We corresponded for a number of weeks after his appearance, and Verghese kindly offered to blurb my next poetry book. I don’t know how much overlap there will be between his many readers and my very few, but I do appreciate his willingness to lend his name recognition to the efforts of another writer, as The World According to Garp author John Irving did with Verghese himself. Of Cutting for Stone, John Irving wrote, “That Abraham Verghese is a doctor and a writer is already established; the miracle of this novel is how organically the two are entwined. I’ve not read a novel wherein medicine, the practice of it, is made as germane to the storytelling process, to the overall narrative, as the author manages to make it happen here.”
Part of my new and additional position at UC Davis (as Academic Associate Director of Academic Technology Services) requires that I research how universities such as Stanford are effectively using new media to support academic and learning objectives. In this coming year I will be investigating new and innovative ways that faculty can use video, podcasts, personal response systems and blogs to communicate with students, and to foster the sort of deep thinking and collaborative learning that are necessary for students to make meaningful discoveries at UC Davis.
Thank goodness I can take a break from such heavy cogitation on Monday nights when I make people answer questions about Lady Gaga and sing jazz standards. Do you know any jazz standards? If so, please join us this evening, a night when we will also review petrochemical companies, Will Ferrell, semi-precious gems, tigers, television censorship, snipe hunts, messengers, Twinkies, French ladies, motorcycles, musicians with alliterative names, gunslingers, the NCAA, American mammals, the Supreme Court of the United States, silly videos, British kings, tables, unusual words that come up in the dojo, Harry Potter, Native Hawaiians, costume design, onetime nitrates, zombies, cheap shots, People Magazine, avant-garde artists that hope not to kill people, Australia, gurus, angry Americans, the meaning of jihad, basketball, and Brooklyn.
There won’t be any questions tonight on Hurricane Irene, but if you hope to discover more about how you can help with domestic and international disaster relief efforts, you might look over this recent collection of organizations listed by writers at the Huffington Post.
Tonight’s swag will be augmented by the folks at Haute Again, my favorite environmentally-conscious consignment store in Davis. I like to stop by to see the offerings and Nina the proprietor when I am walking down to the John Natsoulas Gallery to see the poetry readings on first and third Thursday nights of every month. I believe Nina will be joining me for dinner, so please stop by to say hi if you arrive a little early.
I hope you can join us tonight for another edition of the Pub Quiz!
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
1. Great Americans. If you saw the Spielberg film Amistad, you probably know who was the first and only ex-President of the United States to later serve in the House of Representatives. Name him.
3. Another Music Question. What one-named Wisconsin-born musician was the highest paid entertainer in the world from the 1950s to the 1970s?
4. Pop Culture – Television. The actress and recording artist who played Carly Shay has broken her ankle and will not be coming to Davis for her scheduled appearance. What is her name?
5. Nuclear History. What was the name of the US bomber that dropped an atomic weapon on Hiroshima, killing over 60,000 instantly?
6. Anagram. The name of the American actor primarily known for playing Sylar on Heroes and Spock in the 2009 film Star Trek is an anagram for the common phrase QUIZ TO ANARCHY. What is his name?
Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.