Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
An act of kindness sends ripples out into the universe that benefits people outside our circle, our town, and even our ever-expanding networks of friends.
Thirty-three years ago this March my Hemingway and Fitzgerald professor Peter Hays invited our entire graduate class to his home for a dinner (what Hemingway would have called a “feast”) at our final class meeting. Living on my own in a rented room in a new home on Elk Place in north Davis, I had not enjoyed many home-cooked meals with actual distinguishable ingredients. Sometimes a newcomer doesn’t realize that he belongs in his new hometown until someone invites him over for dinner.
In subsequent years, Professor Hays talked frequently and informally about books and about my progress as a graduate student. He also observed me giving a guest lecture on Emerson and wrote it up his assessment for my teaching file. He told his wife Myrna that “this young man is going places.”
Ironically, I did not go places. The same university that trained me also hired me, so a few years after that Emerson lecture I got to call Pete an English Department colleague right here at UC Davis. For a few years, his emeriti office was next to mine in Voorhies Hall. He stopped by on a number of occasions to tell me how much he enjoyed overhearing my one-on-one office hour sessions with students as we discussed writing, poetry, and creativity.
When Peter passed away unexpectedly in 2022, I reached out to his (and everyone’s) star student from the 1990s, Carl Eby, to commiserate. Like Pete, Carl is a leading Hemingway scholar, and I have heard both of them speak about the master stylist and novelist on many occasions. Carl and I also used to participate in a literary theory study group that took place at Sudwerk just a few years after the brewery and restaurant opened in 1989. Believe it or not, that was back before I drank beer. The Sudwerk waitresses would bring me cranberry juice.
Fast forward to 2024, and the widow of Peter Hays, Myrna, yesterday introduced me to a crowd of almost 50 residents in the large auditorium at the University Retirement Community. I gave a poetry reading, I talked about Gerard Manley Hopkins and other famous poets, I mixed in funny stories about my wife Kate and our kids, and I answered some questions.
At one point, in my response to a question about the writing process, I mentioned that I could offer substantive exegesis on one of my poems, but nobody wants Dr. Andy to put on his professor hat at a poetry reading. Then next questioner averred that she actually did want to hear from Professor Dr. Andy, so please start analyzing the poem. Of course, I complied.
As much as I enjoyed momentously intoning my poems, my favorite part of the entire event was thanking Myrna Hays for inviting me to join the retirees for the evening, and then telling the crowd about the hospitality of Myrna and Pete 33 years and two weeks previously.
If we turn to the Muses during National Poetry Month, and if the Muses are the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, then this poet was pleased to share his memories of Myrna’s long-ago act of generosity and care. As Oscar Wilde says, “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” In the era in which we live, marked by challenges and division, such gestures of goodwill and benevolence weave together and strengthen the fabric of our community.
I think that you know that I run a pub quiz every Wednesday night. If you are in Davis this evening at 7, please join us at Sudwerk. Recruit a team and join us at the beautiful outdoor patio where we have room for everyone. There will be no rain this evening. Even though it is more work for me, we always have more fun with the bigger crowds and more voices. As Saint Augustine allegedly said, “Good times and crazy friends make the best memories.” The Muses also want you to attend.
In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on people who belong, college towns, cheerleading moves, leaves of grass, Manga, bills, Pulitzers, entomology, hilarious happiness, devices, philosophers, holders, best friends, unexpected revelations, occupations, loyal singers, heavy metals, iron ores, maritime borders, literary nicknames, reach weapons, alcoholic scientists, appoints above and below, heavy lights, beetles, assists, it girls, posthumous awards, sequels, unlikely heroes, compelling shapes, unstoppable singers, place names, hombres with leaflets, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to my new patron Adam who has been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Thanks also to Brooke, Jeannie, Becky, Franklin, and More Cow Bell. 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, and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of supporters. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
Best,
Dr. Andy
P.S. Three questions from last week’s quiz, hosted by Don Lipper:
- Internet Culture. What does the acronym IoT stand for, where the O is lower case? Internet of Things
- Newspaper Headlines. Recently-fired NBC political commentator Ronna McDaniel is the niece of what prominent, living Republican? Mitt Romney
- Feeling Prideful. In June of what year during the Obama administration did the US Supreme Court rule that a fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by the Fourteenth Amendment. Hint: It was the same year that the Climate Peace Accords were adopted. 2015
P.P.S. Davis poet laureate Julia Levine reads new poems tomorrow / Thursday night at the Natsoulas Gallery. Will any Mavens make an appearance?