Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
In the late spring of 2004 I returned to my onetime hometown of Washington DC, fondly remembered because of the the time I got to spend with Marcel Prather and Juan LaBarca, two of my closest friends from high school and the Tenley Circle Theatre. Upon my arrival, the three of us met for a late-late night glass of wine (it was three hours earlier for me), and then I convinced Marcel to drive me to some of our old haunts.
Marcel dutifully drove us through Georgetown, up Wisconsin Avenue, and finally to the North Georgetown neighborhood of my childhood home, a 1,300-foot row house on Tunlaw Road. I love that neighborhood, that street, and that home. Although my parents separated when I was young, and we didn’t have a lot of money, I associate my childhood with creativity, discovery, and joy, all the qualities I try to foster in my adult life today.
Camera in hand, I jumped out of the car and started photographing everything: the huge tree that shaded my lemonade stand when I was six years old, the shrubs that I had to trim at least three times a summer in order to earn an allowance, the brick walk where my brother and I played two-square, and the foreboding iron knocker on the front door, one that to me always resembled the late Jacob Marley.
At one point, my friend Marcel took me aside and asked me if I was familiar with white privilege. Stifling an uneasy laugh, Marcel suggested that if he were snapping photographs, or doing anything suspicious on Tunlaw Road in north Georgetown, the local police would a) be summoned by the locals, and b) not be amused by Marcel at all, and c) probably greet him with unholstered weapons.
As you might guess from his remarks, Marcel is African-American, and I am (as you may have noticed, mostly) Caucasian. Perhaps it was only the wine or the jet lag talking, but I felt no concern about gallivanting about my old neighborhood at two in the morning. Audacious and I’m sure unwelcome, I felt comfortable disturbing the peace the way I was doing in my old neighborhood; perhaps I felt it my birthright.
With some mortification, I have reflected on this episode twice in the last week. The first time came when we learned that the Cleveland officers who shot and killed the 12 year-old African-American boy Tamir Rice would not be indicted by a grand jury. Although Ohio is an “open carry” state that requires no permit or even registration of handguns, Rice was shot within two seconds of being approached by the police cruiser of the two officers involved. The police dispatcher had been told that the gun Rice was playing with was “probably fake” and that Tamir was “probably a juvenile.” Both assumptions turned out to be true.
Also last week we learned that a sizable group of armed men have taken over the Malheur National Wildlife Headquarters in southern Oregon. Backed by the members of local militias, one of the leaders of the armed takeover of government property, Ammon Bundy, said at a news conference that his group “had not heard from law enforcement.”
Had these armed men been African American or Americans of Middle Eastern descent, would they have “heard” from law enforcement by now? Instead, as the Washington Post reported Sunday morning, “Harney County Sheriff David M. Ward said authorities from several law enforcement organizations were monitoring the ongoing incident.” I can think of many violent incidents on the streets of American cities – one thinks of Chicago, Baltimore, or Cleveland – that would have been better remedied through this sort of “monitoring.”
Meanwhile for some guidance on how best to describe the antics of Ammon Bundy and his militia friends, consider the FBI’s “Definitions of Terrorism in the U.S. Code”:
“Domestic terrorism” means activities with the following three characteristics:
- Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
- Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and
- Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.
In this instance, I would follow the abductive reasoning definition best expressed idiomatically by the American poet James Whitcomb Riley: “When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.”
Of course, worldwide there are many species of duck, from the Black East Indian Duck to the Ukrainian White Duck. I wonder which variety of duck would most likely to be hunted here in the U.S., and which sort would enjoy the privilege of flying and alighting on government land, unmolested.
Welcome to 2016! Tonight expect Pub Quiz questions on Point Reyes (which I got to visit yesterday), three-letter verbs, names that start with the letter C, Irish expats, traveling Scots, problem plays, penury, quick thinkers, hit songs with up and coming features, superheroes, successful films, meteors in southern California, the purposes of coffee, famous subjects, books that have sold more than 15 million copies, animation, Goldie Hawn, members of the band, creatures that are as tiny as a can, famous lines, glue, the Crimean War, favorite poets, Star Wars, little knots, senators, George and Johnny’s team, Compton, giants, art and art history, X-Men, AI, funny remarks by little old ladies, film and Shakespeare.
Have you made any resolutions for 2016? Let me know if you have resolved to miss no Pub Quizzes this year. With this bully pulpit, I will provide you some accountability. See you tonight.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:
- Internet Culture: Instagram. Disneyland, last year’s most Instagrammed place, didn’t make the list this year, perhaps because of the magic kingdom’s ban on selfie sticks. Two California locales were in the top ten, with the Golden Gate Bridge at number 10, and what Los Angeles landmark (1000 Elysian Park Ave, in the Echo Park neighborhood) at number 5?
- Flax. The names of the genus of flax, the oil made from flax, and the cloth made from flax all start with the same three letters. What DO we call textiles made from flax?
- U.S. States. The capital of the Yellowhammer State starts with M, while the state’s largest city starts with B. Name the state.
P.S. This coming Thursday, January 7th, is Poetry Night in the city of Davis. A bunch of us will gather at 8 PM at the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) for some creative fun. This time Poetry Night offers an OPEN MIC to whomever would like to join us for poetry, prose, or song. Surely you are adept at one of these three, so plan to share your talents or sample others’ this coming Thursday night. Details to be had at http://www.poetryindavis.com.
Perhaps in one of the poems I present at Poetry Night this week I will REVEAL the ANSWER to one of the following Monday’s quiz questions. Perhaps it will be a hard one, such as the ANAGRAM. Would that be worth it? Also, the after party takes place at our familiar Pub. If you were to join us late Thursday night, you would find me to be much more hospitable and humane than that guy who walks around with the loud microphone Monday nights. Picture it!