Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Starting a week ago Saturday, strangers and acquaintances have been stopping me in the streets and restaurants of Davis to talk about an essay about my son Jukie that I published in the Sacramento Bee. Friends have been sending me supportive emails. Jukie and I have received invitations to attend a movie in a theatre in Roseville. And yesterday I was stopped at the Midtown Sacramento Farmers Market by the Education Editor at the Bee. She and her husband and kids had biked to the market just as my family of five biked to the movies on Christmas Day. Kate and I also received many encouraging and supportive comments from friends via social media and email, including a nice piece in today’s Davis Vanguard.
Some of my favorite comments about the article came from notable strangers in letters to the editor and viewpoints. The first came from Beverly Baker, a teacher of a special-needs classroom in Rescue, California (near Shingle Springs) – she hosts disability awareness presentations at her school, and briefs everyone there on opportunities to share compassion. The second came from Dr. Lou Vismara, co-founder of the MIND Institute (and thus a hero to me), who pointed out that the sort of behavior we saw at the movie theatre on Christmas Day might indicate anger-management concerns. The third, coming yesterday, came from a giant in Sacramento journalism, Gregory Favre, the former executive editor of The Sacramento Bee and retired vice president of news for the McClatchy Company. I hope you will check out Favre’s viewpoint, not only because of the picture of my son Jukie in the Sunday paper, but also because of the masterful way that Favre uses metaphor and insight to weave together multiple narratives. I’m encouraged to see such strong writing in the Sacramento Bee and am humbled by all the attention (1282 shares on Facebook alone) paid to the Christmas story I shared.
In addition to writing a weekly blog for you, I will resolve to see where and how I can share my written stories and reflections more widely. Would a monthly column be too much Dr. Andy for all those readers? I suspect so. In any event, topic suggestions welcome!
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on big cities, Visigoths, Jobs, barbers, Swiss misters, pressure sensors, funky music, returning champions, places that start with the letter G, competitions, great presidents, giant whales, Chelonian orders, that which is considered proper, Taylors, football, little blue girls, idols, columns, museums, numbers of universities, Google Mapping a serious bicycle commute, Italian teenagers, kidnappings, the white cliffs of Dover, counties, John Williams, SI, favorite poets, Swedes, crucifers, favorite places, and Shakespeare.
Poetry Night this week will feature the poets Emily Hughes and Lauren Swift. I hope you can join us Thursday night at 8 at the Natsoulas Gallery, and tonight for dinner at 6 and then the 7 PM bell that chimes the beginning of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz!
Your Quizmaster
https://www.yourquizmaster.com
http://www.twitter.com/yourquizmaster
http://www.facebook.com/yourquizmaster
Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
- Internet Culture. What company invented the x86 series of microprocessors?
- Newspaper Headlines. The CES opens tomorrow in Las Vegas, and Pub Quiz regular Mike May is there. What do the letters CES stand for?
- Violent States. If you ever wanted to know the names of two of the three most violent states in the US, you should ASK A LAVA DEAN. Name the two states.
- Sports. Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from the Australian team at the Hopman Cup because of a back injury. Name the sport.
- Science. “Honey Pot”, “Jack Jumper” and “Leaf Cutter” are all varieties of what kind of insect?