Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Happy Groundhog Day! Surely today the people of Chicago agree with Punxsutawney Phil.
Every year the Super Bowl is reviewed by cultural critics who are more interested in scoring the perceived sexism of Carl’s Jr. hamburger commercials than in the actual score of the game. Understandably, the National Football League has been trying to counter the sport’s association with sexism and domestic violence, or, as NBC’s Al Michaels recently said of the NFL, “I think they’re trying like hell to make things better.”
Parents must make tough decisions about what to let their sons and daughters watch on TV, sometimes asking pointed questions about the images that flash before us as we partake in one national pastime or another, whether it be watching professional sports or political debates. Examples of stereotypical gender roles and the sexual objectification of women provide us opportunities to reflect on the lessons that we are learning from a culture that is filtered through television.
I’ve often thought of my 17 year-old daughter Geneva as being somewhat inoculated from the ill effects of the crasser attitudes one encounters on TV because of the armor that she wears. Now usually when people speak of armor in 2015, they mean figurative armor, such as what William Jennings Bryan called “the armor of a righteous cause.” But in this case, I mean actual armor that she has worn since 7th grade.
Because of a diagnosis of scoliosis, a medical condition that can shape someone’s spine into a letter S or a question mark, Geneva has worn a hard plastic back brace from her hips to her collarbone 23 hours a day, every day, for the last four years. Such a back brace limits movement, weighs about five pounds, and adds inches to the waist.
A resilient artist, Geneva festooned her ever-present brace with stickers, decals, and other forms of artwork that displayed her evolving aesthetic tastes. The Pokémon stickers given out by her pediatrician adorned her brace at 13, but those eventually gave way to political concerns, such as the GAY PRIDE banner across the visible top of the brace that she wore in high school.
And although this billboard that she willingly displayed made her seem thicker, gawkier, and less graceful than we know her to be, she almost never complained. At first the main concern was the heat caused by all that extra plastic during PE in junior high, and the long afternoon bike rides home that are a familiar part of most Davis childhoods. Later she navigated her daily brace-less hour when taking swimming lessons, attending school dances, or acting in a school play.
But more importantly, she was learning crucial lessons about prioritizing her health, forestalling gratification in order to work towards a long-term goal, or being the young woman who is loved by her friends because of her kindness and humor rather than because of her successful attempts to dress like Katy Perry. With each passing year, her resolve and character grew stronger along with her growing spine.
And then last week, finally, we learned from her spine doctor that she has stopped growing, that the work of all of her back braces is complete. She unbuckled her armor for the last time, and did a dance for all to see. Released from the body cast of her adolescence, she now stands tall, her scoliosis fully remedied. Although she now gets cold easily, and she can’t get over waking in the morning and “feeling squishy,” she presents herself as slender and graceful.
“Wearing nice clothes makes you feel beautiful, and I can wear nice clothes again,” Geneva says. Perhaps that sentiment hiding in all of those Katy Perry songs that we enjoyed during the Super Bowl halftime show (and that I might unfairly dismiss): the uplift of exuberance. The poet Robert Browning once said, “A man in armor is his armor’s slave,” and now this poised young woman will be a slave to no one and to nothing. Unarmored, unbridled, and strong, Geneva will impress us all with the places she will go. Her mother and I will brace ourselves as we introduce this confident new Geneva to the world.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will be a place of camaraderie and discovery. Expect questions on ancient Greeks, sideburns, debating roads, refraction, patents, the joys of flight, racks, leadership quotations, Zachary Taylor, Las Vegas, The Super Bowl, state names in the titles of songs, the Swiss, gestations, overcoming shoals, musical instruments, old cities, situation comedies that you had almost forgotten, big boats, someone I mentioned in this week’s newsletter, an anagram on a topic I haven’t yet chosen, rich men, Irish cities, named genres, great poets, controversial films, African origins, resilience and redemption, toys, names in the news, knobs, World War II, and Shakespeare.
See you tonight!
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
- Mottos and Slogans. The best advertising campaign of the twentieth century, according to Ad Age Magazine, had but two words: “Think Small.” Name the company that was responsible for this 1959 campaign.
- James Bond. In the movies, who played James Bond the most times, at seven?
- Broadway Shows. Opening in 1988, and now playing at the Majestic Theatre, what is Broadway’s longest running play and musical?
- Pop Culture – Music. A current hit song by Mark Ronson holds the title of the all-time most streamed track in a single week in the United Kingdom, having been streamed a record 2.56 million times in a single week. The song is full of funk. What is its full title?
- Sports. How many luxury boxes does Sleep Train Arena have? 30, 60, or 90?
P.S. The great Sacramento poet Indigo Moor performs at the Natsoulas Gallery this coming Thursday night at 8. You should join us.