Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
One of my favorite past Mayors of Davis was Julie Partansky. She believed in protecting the “historic” (that is, unpaved) alleyways of central Davis, in curbing light pollution in our city, and in playing klezmer music at the Farmers’ Market. She served on the City Council from 1992-2002, and was Mayor of Davis from 1998-2000. Two white butterflies were released at her swearing-in ceremony.
I was hosting a pub quiz around the time of Julie’s passing, in 2009, so of course I included a question about the former mayor. Not everyone follows the news as closely as I did, so it was my quiz question that presented this sad news to some of the participants. Even more awkward, some teams cheered to themselves when they answered the question correctly. I resolved then to practice extreme sensitivity when choosing Pub Quiz topics, carefully tip-toeing around difficult topics, whether it be the most recent massacre, conflict, or plane crash.
Such was the case with the murder-suicide that occurred when I was vacationing with my family over the spring break. One way to show respect would be not to bring up the names of the two people involved at our weekly game of chance and skill. Although that guy Andy Jones has no Facebook friends in common with Whitney Engler, for example, Your Quizmaster has three such friends. And no doubt those friends were hurting, as all of us in the Davis and UC Davis community are.
But like any of us, I still found myself thinking about the life, the selflessness, and the promise of Whitney. I was also touched by the outpouring of love for this veterinary graduate student who was mere weeks away from finishing her studies when she was killed. The (successful) community search for Whitney’s cats and dog also rooted my interest.
As you may know, I have other public-facing jobs, in addition to that of Quizmaster. As the Poet Laureate in Davis, I am asked to write and read “occasional” poems on a particular subject or event, such as the yearly 4th of July celebration in Central Park. I’ve taken to reading such poems every other month or so at Davis City Council meetings, starting off the evening’s work of these public servants with a poem in the way other meetings do with a pledge or a patriotic song.
A poet observes closely, remembers purposefully, and practices radical empathy. I tried to engage in these three duties when writing the poem that you read below, one that I read last Friday at a Sunrise Rotary meeting at which I was the featured speaker. I didn’t anticipate that the dean of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine would be in the audience, or that I would be asked to reread the poem before Whitney’s parents and a couple hundred of her friends at a memorial service that afternoon. I was honored to do so.
“The Telephone – An Elegy”
For Whitney Joy Engler
The veterinary brain behaviorist opens her blinds.
She stretches in light clothing, and uncovers the birds.
She remembers the San Diego dawn that illuminates the hills above the bay,
the lights and shadows bestowed by childhood windows.
Today the woman squints her eyes.
She is buffeted by the morning light, and can’t help but smile.
Creatures alive today loved her before they loved anything.
After breakfast, she leaves her telephone at home.
Welcomed by uncaged birds in the enlivening spring,
she is the only stroller through Village Homes
who belongs to the Westminster Kennel Club.
She knows about breed standards, urinary tracts, and the slobber of jowly dogs.
In her mind she reviews such facts, and the quizzical faces of small animals.
They look up to her.
She trains her service dog to serve someone else,
a bond that is severed before anyone is ready.
Rosie is trained not to bark at the telephone.
She plays piano recordings for her pets, others’ pets:
the intimate delicacies of Chopin spilling into the back yard,
ineffable suggested patterns in the Delta breeze,
Aeolian harps rather than the telephone.
Back at work, she reserves empathies for the pit bulls, the Chihuahuas,
for what her professors call “the relinquished.”
She imagines herself Dr. Doolittle, a vet with a following.
In the break room, cats slept on her chest.
What does she own?
She has registered no weapons.
She owned a telephone.
The telephone rings and rings.
I hope the Engler family finds some comfort in having spent some time with the many here in the city of Davis who knew and loved Whitney.
Tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on the following topics: polar bears, Irish cities, Tumblr vs. Instagram, mottos and slogans, diseases, two-syllable words that start with H, bad jokes, Hawaii, 16-week successes, animals, taxes, philosophy, non-American actresses, gas, movie theatres, Beatles, green energy and green layovers, US Presidents, repeated words, sculptures, Disney characters, tall buildings, chompers, the practices of rich people, law degrees, Academy Awards, journalism, and Shakespeare.
Nothing else is going on tonight, such as in Indianapolis, so you should really join us at the Irish Pub tonight. See you then!
Your Quizmaster
https://www.yourquizmaster.com
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
- Newspaper Headlines. Senator Harry Reid recently announced he would step down at the end of this term, ending a decade-plus of leadership of Democrats in the Senate. What state does Reid represent in the U.S. Senate?
- Bodies of Water. Lake Rayburn, 1673 miles from Davis, is found in four counties, including Angelina and Sabine Counties. It is the largest lake (or reservoir) found in what state of almost 28 million people?
- Gangsters. According to Time Magazine, what gangster “modernized the Mafia, shaping it into a smoothly run national crime syndicate focused on the bottom line”? Hint: He is especially known for splitting New York City, not Chicago, into five different Mafia crime families.
- Four for Four. Using any measurement that you wish, which of the following solar system objects, if any, are larger than our planet earth? Ganymede, Mars, Neptune, Venus.
- Pop Culture – Music. What are the six words in the title of the Beatles’ first #1 hit in the US?
P.S. April is National Poetry Month. I hope you will spend some time read new and favorite poems this month. You will find my most recent book and many other poetry books in the Davis branch of the Yolo Public Library. You could also start here.