Impromptu Guest Lectures on the Streets of Davis
In which Dr. Andy is spotted teaching UC Davis students in downtown Davis.
Dear Friends,
One of my favorite strategies from Bob Dunning’s 50 years of daily columns in The Davis Enterprise was his habit of reminding us that his readers were always writing him messages about his column topics and about other City of Davis concerns. The readers always write.
Bob continues to interact with his viewers here on Substack, but now he doesn’t have to worry about taking up too much room on page A2 of the newspaper. Plus, he can include color photos!
Inspired by that conversational tradition, I’d like to share a recent email from a favorite Davisite, along with my own reflections.
My friend begins this way
“Hi Andy,
[My husband, daughter] and I were at your reading of Howl. Masterful.
Meant to say as much, but didn’t have a chance to then, nor when we saw you and Jukie in passing, near the Civic Center.”
How kind! I did get to read the first part of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl at the recent Davis Jazz Beat Festival. The poem introduces “angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night, / who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz.”
The 2600 words take about 20 minutes to read, and many of the lines are as linguistically ambitious and thus challenging to pronounce as you see in this tiny sample, meaning that reading the poem aloud is an act of concentration and endurance, as well as artistry and thrilling theatricality.
My late father directed about a thousand plays during his long career in theatre. I often wish I could have heard his notes on performing poetry, whether it be mine, Ginsberg’s, or the work of any of the hundreds of other poets I’ve read on the radio.
Now that I think of it, I started my career as a performer (as a poet, MC, and in other capacities) after he passed away. He loved me always for who I was, and not for what characters I tried to impersonate while holding a microphone on various stages.
My friend continues:
“On Instagram, where I don’t go so much, I chanced upon a sweet photo of you and Kate at the Sacramento [No Kings] rally, where we too had been earlier that day, and hearted it.”
In Sacramento, where I lived most of my years as a graduate student, we saw tens of thousands of people at the No Kings rally at the State Capitol, but I only saw a couple friends whom I knew.
Meanwhile, in Davis, the crowd was counted at about 4,500, and I saw perhaps 100 people whom I knew. In both locations, dozens and dozens of friends participated in both rallies, but I never saw them. Of course, on both occasions, I was on Jukie duty, as we call it, rather than scanning the crowds. Historically not a fan of large gatherings, Jukie did a great job at both events.
“Then, driving back from a downtown postal run this morning, a clump of mostly dark-clad, round-shouldered college students, (I surmised), with faces up-turned in the same direction caught my eye, in passing by 3rd and B Streets.
What made me smile was what they were looking at: you, before the old teen center now our ‘UNITED STATES BICYCLING HALL OF FAME’ delivering pearls of inspirational wisdom to unsuspectingly land with said college students.”
This is true. I am teaching my first-year seminar called “Journaling Our Long Walk Together” where I bring together three of my favorite subjects: walking, writing, and the City of Davis.
On day one we get to know each other and explore the Arboretum, on day two we explore the Quad and its surrounding buildings, on day three we learn about Mrak Hall and the “Gateway District” of The Mondavi Center, the Vanderhoef Quad, and the Shrem Museum of Art, while on the fourth day, we walk into the city, with a focus on Central Park and all its offerings, including the US Bicycling Hall of Fame.
At each of these spots, I share the history, purpose, and widely-held impressions of the place, providing students a deeper understanding of the campus and the city than they would find online or even on a campus tour. Once a friend asked if I was moonlighting as a tour guide. I think I have enough jobs.
I also tell stories on my walks with students. Once I had the pleasure of walking down 2nd Street with Bob Dunning while he told me the names and locations of all the businesses that lined that street 60 years ago. My Davis memories go back only 35 years, and they tend to focus on experiences I’ve had in the places we visit, rather than departed businesses.
My favorite teaching tactic when teaching this class is pressing people I encounter on our walks into giving short guest lectures. My students have enjoyed unscheduled interactions with Heidi Bekebrede, the artist who sang students her original City of Davis Song; Bob Blake, the distinguished Spanish professor who invited the students to watch him play jazz with his trio in downtown Davis some weekend; Randii MacNear, the Davis Farmers Market Director who directed them to join the fun every Saturday and Wednesday; David Breaux, who taught them timeless lessons on compassion; and local heroes Robb Davis and Lucas Frerichs, who reminded students that compassion can be an actionable, political act.
I appreciate all those people, and the many others, including readers of this weekly newsletter, who have taken time to enrich the lives of my students.
Speaking of appreciation, my friend concluded her email this way: “I appreciate you. And realize, I don’t say so, enough.”
We all need to hear such sentiments from time to time. Reader, I share the same with you!
For Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.
I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. .
Best,
Dr. Andy
Three trivia questions:
West Bank Cities. What important city and tourist destination on the West Bank (that is, the Western Bank of the Jordan River) once shared a name with the second-largest steel company in America?
Science: Nuclear Physics. What is the two-word term for the spontaneous emission of radiation by an unstable atomic nucleus?
Books and Authors. October 15, 70 BCE marks the birthday of Dante’s guide through two thirds of The Divine Comedy. Name him.
P.S. This week I am thinking about the untimely passing of chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky. May his life and accomplishments be a blessing to all who knew or admired him.