Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Does anyone else miss Oliver Sacks? He seemed to me a uniquely likable fellow who sought to relieve suffering and the causes of suffering for everyone with whom he engaged. In his 2015 book Gratitude, published just after he died, he wrote this about his gratitude for having lived so long, and so richly:
At nearly 80, with a scattering of medical and surgical problems, none disabling, I feel glad to be alive — “I’m glad I’m not dead!” sometimes bursts out of me when the weather is perfect… I am grateful that I have experienced many things — some wonderful, some horrible — and that I have been able to write a dozen books, to receive innumerable letters from friends, colleagues and readers, and to enjoy what Nathaniel Hawthorne called “an intercourse with the world.”
Sacks also expressed some regrets:
I am sorry I have wasted (and still waste) so much time; I am sorry to be as agonizingly shy at 80 as I was at 20; I am sorry that I speak no languages but my mother tongue and that I have not traveled or experienced other cultures as widely as I should have done.
Last week my son Jukie’s favorite bus driver, named John, retired after serving and supporting Jukie for about a decade. John greeted us school mornings and afternoons for the last many years with patience, humor, and genuine warmth. As part of his job, John has had to establish and then unwillingly break heartfelt bonds with children who were medically fragile, who had moved to new school districts, or who had aged out of the system. Strong, determined, and buffeted by an indefatigable work ethic, John probably didn’t think often about the day that he himself would be breaking the bond with all the special children whom he had grown to love.
Like Oliver Sacks, perhaps like any of us, I feel like I could write my own book titled Gratitude. A couple months before he died, I asked my dad about the people for whom he was most grateful. In addition to his wife and his ex-wife (also known as my mom), he mentioned close friends from different stages in his life. It’s hard to feel pity for one’s self, or to maintain anger or resentment, when one is also feeling gratitude.
Via past newsletters, I’ve introduced you to people for whom I feel the most gratitude, including Kate, my children, my parents, and my brother Oliver. I would also include my closest friends (Hello Bob and Susi! Hello Evan!), my students who have kept in touch with me (Hello Melissa Skorka! We miss you! Hello Storm!), and especially the mentors who have guided me, including Jack Petrash, Will Layman, Roger Shattuck, Christopher Ricks, Harry Thomas, Sandra Gilbert, and Alan Williamson. These names won’t mean anything to most of you, but it’s gratifying for me to see them listed here.
Speaking of gratification, science indicates that expressing gratitude improves our mental health, even if we don’t share those expressions with their intended recipients, and that the positive effects of those expressions change our brains for the better with effects that last longer than you would expect. So, I will express here again my appreciation for John the bus driver and for all the people who have encouraged, helped, or buffeted me or my family, in large ways and small. For some of you, I will somehow return the kindness. For the rest, I will just do my best to pay it forward. One thinks of what John F. Kennedy said: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” So, in closing, happy retirement, John!
Tonight’s Pub Quiz may touch upon topics raised above. Expect also questions on medical subspecialties, hurricanes, opaqueness, frictional verbs, islands, international cuisine, oldsters, economic threats and cushions, carriers of forces, South Central, train adventures, angry sisters, three-year margins of error, entire continents, fall announcements, named colors, fated rockers, American painters, soccer terms, distinguishing Republicans from Democrats, countries on wordless maps, the success of forges, international flights, and Shakespeare.
It was almost warm enough to sit outside last Monday. Today it’ll be rather blustery, so arrive early enough to claim a table tonight! And while you are making plans, plan to join us Thursday at 8 at the Natsoulas Gallery for a joint reading by Susan Browne (Oakland) and Julia Levine (Davis).
Best,
Your Quizmaster
yourquizmaster@gmail.com
P.S. Here are three questions from our previous quiz:
1. Newspaper Headlines. Writing for Politico, Patrick McGinnis said yesterday that when it comes the Democratic caucuses, indecisive Iowans are suffering from FOBO: Fear of a better WHAT?
2. Four for Four. Which of the following is currently true of the late Kobe Bryant? He was the oldest player to score 60+ points in a single game, he was the youngest player ever to appear in an NBA game, he held the record for the most offensive rebounds in an All-Star Game, he won an Oscar.
3. Prime Numbers. The lowest prime centered pentagonal number (whatever that means) is also the number of hockey teams in the NHL and the number of states in Mexico. What is this number? Hint: Mexico has fewer states than we do in the U.S.
P.P.S. “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” Albert Schweitzer