Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
The recent lecturer strike planned for UC Davis was called off at the last minute because of sudden and last-minute progress made at the bargaining table, with pay raises promised for lecturers, as well as opportunities to take family leave that other sorts of faculty enjoy.
I remember asking my colleague, perhaps then a graduate student, Roy Kamada to teach my class while I was at the hospital supporting my wife Kate as she gave birth to our first-born child, Geneva. I missed just one class, but I suppose we had Kate’s mom visiting from Chicago to help out. With the help of friends and family, we can always make do.
I told my students about my own family union connections. For example, my grandfather, born in Oklahoma when it was still called “Indian Territory,” was run out of that state by boss-hired thugs and assassins for his union activities. I remember visiting my father when he marched in a picket line in support of other striking workers at WTOP (now WUSA) in the late 1970s when he was a cultural, arts, and entertainment journalist and film reviewer there. He wore a button that stated “The Feeling is Mutual.” My brother Oliver was the shop steward, staying active in his union while at People magazine. My wife Kate was also the shop steward when she worked as a perinatal coordinator at Planned Parenthood in the early 1990s.
And the aforementioned daughter Geneva has recently joined a bartenders’ union. I imagine that she could also join a culinary workers union, for her hotel workplace has her working two jobs. When reviewing labor history in the 20th century with my onetime professor Howard Zinn, I came to agree with Martin Luther King, Jr. (who also took classes at Boston University). King said, “The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.”
Most of my students Wednesday morning did not get to participate in these discussions Wednesday, for although all of them had read my late-night announcement that there would be a general strike the next day, few of them encountered the announcement at 7 the next morning that the strike had been called off.
I bet the American Federation of Teachers was successful at the bargaining table not only because of the righteousness of their cause, but because of the political proclivities of the students in the UC Davis system. American history of the last five years, or the last fifty years, gave Americans of all stripes to proclaim and explain what side they were on. Many participants in the January 6th insurrection who in the moment thought it would be cool to trespass, vandalize, or riot later had to explain to their families, members of their communities, and often district court judges why they acted the way they did.
By contrast, I bet an increasing number of students who learned about the reasons behind the lecturers’ strike sided with the aggrieved workers rather than with their bosses, the UC President and his administration, the ones who some thought were seeking to justify a two-tiered caste system among UC faculty. Many Californian governors, UC presidents, and individual UC chancellors have learned that UC students, united, are unlikely to be defeated.
As someone who loves teaching at UC Davis, I myself have fewer personal gripes than many of my peers, but I recognize my positions of privilege, having bought a reasonably-priced home here with Kate and Geneva in the late 90s, and having relatively simple needs (new walking shoes every year or so, a new book of poetry when I just can’t resist, and an occasional dinner and play out on the town with Kate). I agree with the point that David Foster Wallace made in one of his final interviews: “The people I know who are rebelling meaningfully, you know, don’t buy a lot of stuff and don’t get their view of the world from television and are willing to spend four, five hours researching an election rather than going by commercials.”
I’m grateful for all the meaningful rebels, and I am grateful for you.
Dr. Andy
I wrote a special Pub Quiz for this week – I hope you get to see it! When you do, you will encounter questions about busy days, football heroes, people who sand, Goodwill Industries, Thanksgiving, power throws, Cole Porter, regional names for goofy guys that are hard to find, title characters, American kings, fast mammals, Arabia, the Pew Research Center, juniors, Candice Bergen, goblins and their cousins, Disneyland, challenging travel plans, my microphone, world cities, TV prequels and sequels, literal and figurative windows, little lambs, carbon dioxide, halls of fame, places that start with the letter I, caffeine, broccoli, stands, vintage clothing, current events, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to all the sustaining supporters of this endeavor. Some of these Pub Quiz collectors include Quizimodo, The Outside Agitators, and the incredible Original Vincibles. I would love to include you as one of these sponsors. Find out how you can participate at https://www.patreon.com/yourquizmaster.
Find here three questions from last week’s Pub Quiz. If you are a regular subscriber, you’ve already seen more than three!
- Food and Drink. Of the five basic tastes, what S-word is the best synonym for the taste “umami”?
- Science. About how many species of orchid are there in the orchid family: 28, 2800, or 28,000?
- Books and Authors. Published in 1929, what is the English title of the most famous novel by Erich Maria Remarque?
P.S. I’m hosting a poetry reading tonight / November 18 at 7 PM at the Natsoulas Gallery. The featured authors will be Chico State professors Troy Jollimore and Heather Altfeld!