Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Sometimes life is overwhelming, especially if you turn on the news. A local hero gives up her life so that we may all be safer on the streets of Davis. Teenagers in red baseball caps appear to be intimidating a Native American elder as he plays a drum at a protest. The President of the United States has no public activities scheduled on the holiday celebrating the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Onetime Davis Mayor Robb Davis once told a crowd and me that in times of national turmoil, and in the face of acts of gun violence nearby and in faraway states, we must consider ways to invest in our communities, to act locally even when the causes and effects of what ails us are felt most profoundly in, say, North Carolina or Florida.
Some believe that Friends of the Earth founder David Brower first came up with the phrase “Think Globally, Act Locally,” but certainly the phrase has been widely and variously adopted since Brower’s days of environmental activism, starting at the Sierra Club in the 1940s. Whether our local acts entail tidying up the Arboretum, as I see volunteers do every Tuesday while biking to campus, or marching with others who are commemorating Martin Luther King Day, we are all given opportunities to contribute to our communities.
For example, this coming Wednesday I will be deploying my Quizmaster persona to support the Davis School for Independent Study, the local K-12 public school that fills an important niche for Davis parents who use home-schooling and independent study approaches to teach their children who have specific or relevant needs. Wednesday evening starting at 6 I will be hosting a Harry Potter trivia contest with 30 questions on a variety of Potter topics. Normally schools, clubs, and other organizations pay me for such a service, but the DSIS has no PTA or booster club, so if all the school’s students want to participate in an overnight field trip to Sutter’s Fort this spring, they will need some support from the community.
Here is the short press release found in a recent edition of the Davis Enterprise:
All Gryffindors, Slytherins, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are invited to participate in Harry Potter Trivia Night from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23, at Davis School for Independent Study, 526 B St. in Davis.
Participants can enjoy the company of friends, a little sustenance and Andy Jones, trivia master, as he tests the teams’ knowledge of all things Harry Potter.
To sign up, create a team of a maximum of five people and come up with a name. Fill out a registration form, available in the front office at DSIS, and pay the $20 entry fee ($25 at the door). Checks may be made out to DSIS.
Costumes are welcome but are optional.
Pizza and drinks will be available for sale. Proceeds from the event will support the DSIS Sutter’s Fort field trip in the spring.
For more information, call DSIS at 530-757-5333 or visit https://dsis.djusd.net.
I’m glad the costume is optional. Maybe I will see you there Wednesday night? Even if you can’t join us, consider making a donation to a local public school that could use your help.
If you can’t wait until Wednesday for some communal fun, consider coming to the book release party for John Lescroart’s 29th book, “The Rule of Law.” Everyone in Davis is invited to meet John Lescroart, who has been known to attend a Pub Quiz or two with his team of all-star players, tomorrow evening, Tuesday, January 22nd, at 6:30 PM at Odd Fellows Hall, 415 Second Street in downtown Davis. Lescroart will provide refreshments and live music at the event at which he will be reading from his new Dismas Hardy book. Thanks to John for decades of great storytelling.
Finally, Facebook tells me that at least 95 people are going to a Natalie Corona Memorial Fund fundraiser this coming Saturday afternoon from 2-9PM at the Sudwerk Brewing Company. The legacy of Dr. King reminds us how senseless acts of violence can rip a community apart, but that each of us can take active steps to sew back up the fabric of that community, and communicate meaningfully to the better world in which we would all act locally to bring about.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will touch on some issues raised above, and also include questions about popular sporting events, NC superstars, best-selling musicians who nevertheless do not benefit from universal appeal, high school productions, best-selling authors, jazz, the wetness of water, jobless benefits, the largest city the people can think of at the moment, birthplaces of our heroes, good mornings, musical franchises, Planned Parenthood, original knights, people born in 1980, engineering, penitence, the relevant legacy of Franklin Pierce, reverence, the end of pertinence, long words, Oscar-winners, animated movies, spheres, models for some but not for all, J.K. Simmons, famous stitches, a couple questions that I haven’t written yet, and Shakespeare.
Enjoy the holiday. See you tonight!
Your Quizmaster
https://www.yourquizmaster.com
http://www.twitter.com/yourquizmaster
http://www.facebook.com/yourquizmaster
Here are three questions from a six-year old quiz:
- Pop Culture – Music. What first great American songwriter wrote “O Susannah” and “My Old Kentucky Home”?
- Sports. What single baseball player holds the career records for stolen bases and runs scored?
- Science – Recognizable Dinosaurs. A distinctive double row of kite-shaped plates rose vertically along the rounded back of what kind of herbivore dinosaur?
P.S. I wrote a poem WHILE at a poetry reading yesterday. Check it out if you are interested: https://www.facebook.com/drandyevents/posts/2040188866095695?__tn__=K-R