Dear Friends,
Yesterday I had a 70-minute conversation with a stranger who lives deep in Trump country. Blissfully, we didn’t bring up politics once.
My new friend Karen is the President of the Beavertown Historical Society. As is likely the case of every local historical society, Karen works tirelessly to preserve the history and identity of her home town, in this case a small town in Pennsylvania.
I visited Beavertown every summer from the time I was born until I moved to California. My brother and I own a cabin in the woods right on the creek that provides Beavertown its water. This creek was my childhood playground. I spent hundreds of hours exploring, playing, reading or just sitting between the revetments that were built by the Work Projects Administration.
Born in 1900, my grandmother Vera remembered when, in the 1930s, all those workers descended upon Snyder County to improve its roads, bridges, creek-beds, water systems, and other municipal projects. Millions of people stayed busy and fed during the depression because of the ambitious vision and projects of the WPA.
Nobody from my grandmother’s generation is left to tell those stories, but Karen is preserving other sorts of stories in a new book about the history of Beavertown. I plan to buy a copy for my brother Oliver and me, and I will share one of the photographs in a future newsletter.
Speaking of faraway places, I first visited California in June of 1987 by car with my New England friend Bob, a lifelong Red Sox fan. On our way to San Francisco to see the Jerry Garcia Band play in a club, At one point, Bob and I were driving past the Kansas City Royals stadium on I-70 when Bob said he’d turn on the radio to see if there was a game we could listen to. The announcer immediately reminded listeners that the Royals were hosting the Red Sox that night. We got off at the next exit. The Red Sox won, but we were careful not to cheer too loudly.
Please plan to partake in the Pub Quiz festivities on this pleasant if chilly evening at Sudwerk in Davis. Bring your team to the beautiful outdoor patio where we have room for everyone amongst the towering heaters. The temperatures are dropping, so you might want to bring an extra layer. Surely the jollity will be unfiltered after sunset tonight. As Albert Schweitzer said, “Happiness is the only thing that multiplies when you share it.” I encourage you to come early to snag a table. Also, I plan to move the quiz along quickly — the entire quiz is a mere 994 words long! Do you ever notice that the word count changes every week? Sometimes I make extra work for myself.
In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on silhouettes, generatively, hunks, athletes who return to surprise you, armor classes, progressive records, giants of literature, people from Boston, Brisbane airports, civil wars, more gloves than hands, art, grace and faith, optics, glasses, countries you have heard of but likely not visited, thumb icons, the absence of pandas, populous cities, international flavor, schools where notions are a blast, crosswalks, video games, teeth, troublesome customers, Newtons, professional wrestlers, people people, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Thanks especially to new subscribers Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions The Mavens who keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the dropping temperatures and the cost of avocado. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
Best,
Dr. Andy
P.S. Three questions from last week:
- Unusual M Words with Four Syllables. What M noun refers to a feeling of pensive sadness?
- Two Asian Nations. What alternated as the two largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 CE?
- Pop Culture – Television. The two of last week’s most- watched non-sports broadcast TV shows have the same American city name in their titles. Name the city.