Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Counting our weekly pub quizzes and my KDVS public affairs radio show, but not counting the classes I teach at UC Davis, I would estimate that I host about 150 events a year. That means that on about three sevenths of the days in any particular year, I’m speaking into a microphone, standing before a crowd, or introducing new content or new performers to an audience.
You’d think that I would take a break from such abundant speaking duties when on vacation, but actually I was back at it in Washington, D.C. last week, sharing with others three different facets of my public personae. On day one of the Smith-Lemli-Opitz Foundation Scientific and Parents Conference, I got to facilitate the self-introductions of all the parents, some visiting from Canada, England, and Wales. A couple days later, I got to present a simplified pub quiz to a crowd that previously thought I was merely a mild-mannered and genial Californian who loves kids. And then on day three of the conference, for my favorite speaking gig of the week, I got to co-present with my wife Kate on the topic of “Self-Care Strategies for Parents of Disabled Children” (that’s my updated title).
Kate had written the entire presentation, but she had asked me to create the Keynote slides and to take the second microphone and share the stage with her as she spoke on a topic that she has been presenting to Davis moms for the last 20 years. I was happy to do so. Rather than rehearsing together, as professionals do, we read over Kate’s notes separately, both preparing the gems and bon mots that we hoped would complement what the other speaker had to say.
I was pleased with the result. If we succeeded with our presentation, it was partly because the audience was hungry for what we had to share. They had sat through a couple days’ worth of scientific presentations, along with a necessary mix of practical talks that provided information crucial to parents who typically knew no one else in their region, or even their state, with their children’s rare syndrome. Kate knew how to connect with these folks, many of whom she had counseled via Facebook for years. She had written a talk that had touched the hearts of the attendees, reminding them that a supportive community of people understood their challenges, and were ready to stand with them as we march together into a sometimes-difficult future.
It’s rare that a talk so inspires me, especially if I am the one holding the microphone. Luckily, I get to support a woman (a social worker, an author, a counselor and friend) who provides a heartfelt balm for exhausted parents of fragile kids. In an age that the television represents as distracted and event heartless, I can think of no more honorable cause.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz might take on some of the subjects raised above. Expect also questions about popular music, road trips, American heroes, people named Joss, stains on a nation, iambic four-syllable words, resonant voices, butterflies and moths, G sports, invasive species, the sustainability of radio, vast edifices, universal donors, humanism, the value of a dollar, the times when spelling counts, detectives, frogs, positions of equilibrium, the problems with fireworks, drownings, action movies, canine activities, big questions, prize-winners, associations with stripes, short titles, Indiana, numbers that go with letters, people whose adopted names are Peter, Disney, and Shakespeare.
I enjoyed running into some of you at the 4th of July celebrations in Community Park. Congratulations to our Davis poet laureate James Lee Jobe for his heartfelt poetic performance just before the fireworks.
See you tonight! It’ll good to be back.
Your Quizmaster
https://www.yourquizmaster.com
http://www.twitter.com/yourquizmaster
http://www.facebook.com/yourquizmaster
Here are five questions from the quiz for July 1, 2013:
- One-Hit Wonders. My brother Oliver thinks that of course more than 50% of the teams playing tonight will know who sang the 1981 one-hit wonder “Mickey,” sometimes called “Hey Mickey,” which begins with the repeated assertion that Mickey is, indeed, so fine. I disagreed. Who performed the song?
- More on Mickey. Which of us was right, Uncle Oliver or Dr. Andy?
- People Named Roscoe. The American silent film actor, comedian, and director who mentored Charlie Chaplin, and discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope, had the first name of Roscoe. What was his last name?
P.S. I enjoyed learning more about mentorship when I was in DC last week. Here’s what Emerson says about this: “Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.”