Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Happy Black History Month! Originally, the national commemoration of Black History was limited to a mere week, but eventually, a month was considered more appropriate, even though, as Spike Lee has pointed out, February is our shortest month.
It’s hard for me, as a white guy, to know how best to talk about African-American history and culture, except carefully and appreciatively. As most of you know, I was born and raised in Washington DC, a city that was more than 50% African American when I lived there. As a result, I was exposed to a lot of Black culture, much of it via the radio. I loved funky and soul music from the 1970s, so in grade school and high school I had posters of The Commodores and Earth, Wind, and Fire up on my bedroom wall, and Stevie Wonder on my cassette deck.
While my dad was a theatre director and my mom was a city librarian, the Waldorf school I attended was populated mostly by suburban kids who didn’t get to spend time with African-American adults unless they came to a playdate at our house. I remember my friend Todd once pointing out to me that “your family sure knows a lot of Black people!” I didn’t know what to make of that odd remark, beyond acknowledging that he was right.
Yesterday I watched three minutes of raw video of President Obama taking a 2016 walk along the Mall, greeting tourists and locals who were gob-smacked to encounter such a charismatic and congenial U.S. President out for an unexpected stroll. I bet all the people who ran up to shake President Obama’s hand didn’t vote for him, but all of them knew that he felt he was doing his best for all citizens. In addition to being one of my heroes, President Obama seems to appear in many of the political ads of Democratic candidates for U.S. President.
For additional perspectives on Black History and steps we can all take to confront racism in our attitudes and in our country, I recommend two books that I read last year by Ibram X. Kendi: The National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, and the more recent How to Be an Antiracist. Both books are worth your time!
In addition to topics raised above, tonight at the Pub Quiz expect questions on the following: The World Bank, dialects, adaptations, finish lines, groups of voters, questions of value, rotten tomatoes, head injuries, notable feminists, common names, armies and navies, world capitals, superheroes, hilarious comedians, graduate student concerns, visitors to the western hemisphere, a pharaoh with cats and spoons, monkeys, really fast computers, indirect communication, the example of stop signs, little colonies, dangerous side hustles, planets, hard ages, the example of California, security rules, and Shakespeare.
I started this newsletter at 9:30 this morning, and then, twenty interruptions later, I am sending it out at 2:30. You should nevertheless still plan to join us at tonight’s Pub Quiz at 7. See you then!
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Here are three questions from a quiz from February 17, 2014:
- Pens and Sponges. A pen is like a sponge because both are involved in dispensing what L word?
- Greek Gods. Cupid is the son of what Greek goddess?
- Pop Culture – Music. When I asked my 16-year-old daughter if she knew the rapper who had a big hit with the song “Happy” from the Despicable Me 2 Soundtrack, she responded “Oh, do you mean the guy with the hat?” What is the name of the rapper?
P.S. “No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.” Henry Brooks Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, 1907