“The cure of many diseases remains unknown to the physicians of Hellos (Greece) because they do not study the whole person.” Socrates
Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
As I write this, my French Bulldog Margot has stretched her tiny pill-shaped body to its full length, trying to beat the heat by exposing as much of herself to the morning air.
The shades are drawn. The fans are going. Fresh popsicles wait for us in the freezer. We are enduring a heat wave.
Margot’s lethargy results not only from the heat, but from our lap-dog’s recovery from our early start this morning. Leaving before dawn, she and I took a four-mile walk, with her eagerly walking ahead of me, as if she knew instinctively that that hour would be the only safe time to enjoy the day. Leaving around 5:30, we strolled south Davis greenbelts for almost a half hour before we encountered our first pedestrian.
As Margot and I returned home around 7:30 this morning, I saw as little activity on our cul-de-sac – there are ten houses total on our street – as I did on our entire Saturday walk: we seemed to have the streets to ourselves. Beholding the trees in my neighbors’ yards (our departed birch was cut down and the stump removed earlier this month), I was reminded of what impressive benefactors we have for neighbors in Davis.
For example, on our street we have a critical care physician who works in the ICU – one can imagine what he has seen over the last two years. We have the executive director of an organization that supports families of locals with mental illness. And we have a Black Lives Matter activist who founded an organization that provides educational opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and other students of color here in California, and in Zimbabwe. It would be difficult to quantify all the good these people bring to the world.
None of these impressive characters astound me as much as my own wife Kate. As the Communications Director and Family Services Manager for the Smith-Lemli-Opitz Foundation, Kate welcomes and supports overwhelmed parents who in many cases are just discovering that their children have a serious (and in some cases, fatal) syndrome (the same one that our son Jukie has). Just yesterday morning, for example, Kate spent more than three hours messaging with a distressed dad in Turkey whose eight-year-old daughter had been diagnosed with the syndrome, and who had many questions.
These questions arrived in Turkish, so Kate had to paste each one into Google Translate. Here’s an example of the result: “Hello, I live in Turkey, my daughter was diagnosed with smith lemli opitz syndrome, I was doing research for information purposes, I think there is a cure, what way should I follow, I think Turkey is weak in terms of the disease, I do not understand what you wrote because it is in English, but if you share information, I would be very happy.”
Kate shared some encouraging news, such as a video slide-show of our son Jukie in action, including lots of smiles and video of Jukie running, but also some bracing news, such as the fact that Jukie has not spoken a word since he was three, and that, contrary to what this dad hoped, there is no cure for Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome.
Towards the end of the extended conversation, the dad sent Kate some kind words that I think should be posted on the SLO website: “I believe you have a lot of knowledge about this SLO, even the doctors are not as enlightened as you.” I love that “enlightened” turn of phrase, even if Google Translate might have slightly embellished the intended meaning.
Whether she is guiding distraught parents in Turkey, Ireland, or Indiana, or chatting with moms in the new-parent support group that she runs at the Davis Co-op Teaching Kitchen on Wednesday mornings, Kate is careful not to give out any medical advice. The best social workers are versed in empathy, in patience, and in attentive listening skills. Kate’s experiences, and the experiences of other humanitarians on my street, suggest to me that the whole person – the parent, the citizen, the graduating senior — deserves our attention, our guidance, and our care.
As we celebrate the anniversary this week of the 1956 District Court decision that bus segregation was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, I will close with a Rosa Parks quotation about acting steadfastly when confronting need or injustice: “I will no longer act on the outside in a way that contradicts the truth that I hold deeply inside. I will no longer act as if I were less than the whole person I know myself inwardly to be.”
Stay cool, download my podcast, and take care of your inward self!
I appreciate everyone who invests a little bit in me via Patreon so I can create fresh Pub Quizzes for you every week. Sustaining Patreon supporters include the Outside Agitators, the Original Vincibles, and Quizimodo. I’m always grateful to players who pledge for their entire team. Let’s look forward to a time when we can all gather again to play with our friends! I’m also available this summer to perform a quiz for your group or function. Contact me for details.
For this week’s quiz, expect questions on the following topics: fish, marketing, benchmarks, alphabets, famous ancient poets, bananas, base football players, commanders, job openings, extreme temperatures, phones on Jupiter, revealed sisters, ducks, archers, dinosaurs, songwriters, southern cities, the neutron age, collaborations, stunt men, the appearances of sylphs, unwelcome smacks, preservatives, decks, freaks, counters to austerity, current events, names in the news, and Shakespeare.
Poetry Night is Thursday evening at 7. Join us on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery. During the open mic, we will let everyone who signs up walk across the stage.
Best,
Dr. Andy
P.S. Find here three questions from last week’s quiz:
- Know Your Oceans. The Coral Sea, the Tasman Sea, and the Solomon Sea are all found in what ocean?
- Doo-Wop. The most famous doo-wop song by The Monotones was about a book. Name the song.
- Pop Culture – Music. In 2018, Time named a guy named Shawn as one of the 100 most influential people in the world on their annual list. He was also one of five musical artists ever to debut at number one before the age of 18. Name the musician.