Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
I participated in an inspirational poetry reading in Lodi yesterday. In addition to the featured reader, the Starry Night Poetry Series at the Lodi Public Library featured an open mic by a great number of local poets, several of them over 70. Many of you youngsters would consider what I’ve just described to be a ho-hum affair, perhaps one that would confirm your suspicions about dull modern poetry readings. As the event unfolded, however, I was struck by how sharp, curious and witty the local poets were. One in particular, Jim Turner, who turns 85 this week, showed me recently-written poems that were intellectually and imaginatively vibrant: first-rate work. He read a couple poems before announcing that he didn’t have the breath to share his final poem, a long three-voiced work about a wife helping his husband struggle with PTSD after the Civil War. He asked me to read it, and I was delighted to do so – it reminded me of Frost’s “Death of the Hired Man” (see http://www.bartleby.com/118/3.html). I think my interpretation of the Turner poem touched the audience much more than any of the poems I had brought. It was a special moment, really moving.
So I began to wonder if poetry, and other such intellectual activities (such as researching Pub Quiz questions!) can keep us young. I look forward to finding out, and found some hints about the future from three old friends. During recent trips to Washington DC I took advantage of opportunities to enjoy long conversations with three East Coast journalists who I knew as a child. Former Natural History magazine editor Alan Ternes; former CBS news anchor (and member of the Johnson administration), Roy Meachum; and former Washington Post Religion Editor William MacKaye (of the famous DC MacKaye clan) were all born in the 1920s and early 1930s, and all three continue to impress me with their eloquence and intellectual rigor. And two of them are uncles! As a child, I didn’t realize how privileged I was to have such intellectual heroes in the family (counting, as well, my Mom and Dad).
Speaking of great journalists, all of us lost an American intellectual hero last Friday week with the passing of Daniel Schorr. NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday played a long remembrance of Schorr, and this coming Thursday afternoon at 5pm on KDVS (90.3) occasional Pub Quiz participant (and winner) Douglas Everett will feature his archived interviews with Daniel Schorr on “Radio Parallax.” If you get to hear the interview, you’ll be impressed by the cerebral acuity of this nonagenarian and protégé of Edward R. Murrow. He will be missed.
And how many Pub Quiz questions will you miss this evening? It depends on how much you know about the following topics: ubiquitous TV slogans, internet culture, today’s news, Aussies, gems, trucks, sports initials, organic compounds, Duke Ellington (also of a friend of my Uncle Roy), Native American tribal customs, multi-platinum albums, talk show rumors, this whole Shirley Sherrod scandal, superheroes, American authors, Uma, film planets, famous painters, matrimonio, Louise Mandrell, Bell Telephone Laboratories, two of my favorite poets, willful blindness, and German walls (but maybe not the ones you are thinking of).
I look forward to see you at this evening’s edition of the Pub Quiz!
Your Quizmaster
P.S. Ifyou haven’t done so already, check out the website of the Pub Quiz at https://www.yourquizmaster.com.
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/.