Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Congratulations to the Bjerke family of Davis, California, on the arrival this week of Lyla Bjerke, a beautiful baby girl. Before she started having babies, Jenny Bjerke would help me with the grading of the Pub Quiz, and Mark Bjerke competed just last week, winning the 7th Place Bonus Prize provided by de Vere’s Irish Pub. As I follow the Bjerkes on a variety of social media, I’ve seen pictures of their beautiful family, but this new Bjerke may be the most beautiful Bjerke of all. Congratulations, Bjerkes!
The Bjerkes will benefit from a 2013-long tax deduction because of the addition of Lyla Bjerke. My son Jukie was born on January 4th, just a few days from being the first child in Davis to be born in the new millennium. No retroactive tax deduction there, but he has rewarded us in many other ways. Jukie won’t be joining us for the Pub Quiz tonight, but he’ll be cheering us on in other ways.
Of course, I am no accountant, so I look to the new year for other milestones and opportunities. Most people who make resolutions at this time of year resolve to become more fit, and recent research supports such a decision. As you might have seen in yesterday’s USA Today, “Studies show that exercise reduces the risk of early death, helps control weight and lowers the risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, some types of cancer, anxiety disorders, cognitive decline and hip fractures. It can help improve sleep, memory, concentration and mood.” As Exercise Cure author Jordan Metzl puts it, “Exercise is the best preventive drug we have, and everybody needs to take that medicine.”
Although I canceled my underused gym membership this last year, I have been exercising like a fiend in recent months, asking increasingly heavy children in my home to balance themselves on my back as I do push ups. As I am not a medical doctor, and as I have a sore back, this anecdote is not meant to substitute for medical advice about your own exercise plan, which I hope you will restart for the sake of your own health and happiness.
Because I am teaching classes about creativity in the winter and spring quarters, I look to different sorts of thought leaders for inspiration as I consider goals and paths for 2014. One such constant source of inspiration for me is Robert Pinsky, the former US Poet Laureate who taught me a crucial class when I was an undergraduate at Boston University, and who has since taught many others in a variety of media. A much sought-out public speaker, Pinsky gave a commencement address at the Concord Academy last year that reminded me fondly of his mini-lectures in our lyric poetry class. Pinsky speaks of the importance of struggle, and of taking on difficult challenges, as we do every week at the Pub Quiz. Perhaps my having grabbed the answer to a Pub Quiz question from his remarks will compel you to investigate the video.
In addition to topics raised by Dr. Pinsky, tonight’s Pub Quiz will also feature questions about independent music, madness, gangsters, anchors, admiration, home runs, absentee dukes, formerly hailed, outage magnets, American poets, Jills, nonviolence, cities in turmoil, the symbols of humankind, perilous journeys, abortion rights, the Irish diaspora, 2013 obituaries, what we Google, pretty and just gluts, lead singers, stage names, rich ladies, southern states, not so swift boats, Europe, states that are not South Carolina or Indiana, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to all of you who have informed me via email and Facebook that your erstwhile teams will be re-forming this evening for the Pub Quiz. I anticipate another full house. See you tonight!
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
- Books and Authors. What essayist, playwright and humorist created the diary of Crumpet the Elf?
- The City of Woodland. What is the largest highway to intersect Woodland?
- Battleships. The fastest and the last of the British Royal Navy’s battleships, the HMS Vanguard, was launched in what year? 1924, 1944, 1964, or 1984.
- Science. The antiparticle of the electron is the positively charged electron, which is produced naturally in certain types of radioactive decay. What is the three-syllable word we use to name a positively charged electron?
- Shakespeare. Which of Shakespeare’s title characters says this? “I go, and it is done. The bell invites me. / Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell / That summons thee to heaven or to hell.”
P.S. There will be no Poetry Night Thursday because of the proximity to New Year’s Day. I know that some of you will still be recovering. See you in 2014! Happy New Year!