1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. In 2024, an estimated 310,720 women and 2,800 men will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. Chances are, you know at least one person who has been personally affected by breast cancer. — National Breast Cancer Foundation Inc.
No, that is not a typo; I’m not referring to “Trivial Pursuit,” the board game.
At a “surprise” birthday party for the artist who organized the Eastside Arts Collective, I had a conversation with some artistic friends. I don’t remember how the subject came up, but I mentioned that Si Greene’s Pub at 10th and Emerson in Irvington sponsored trivia games on Thursdays. I know this because I frequent the pub in pursuit of pool players and happened to be there at the hour when the trivia games started. I told my friend Mary Wilson about the trivia, and she was interested in participating, so she joined me at a Si Greene’s table one recent Thursday.
I showed up early so that I could reserve the table. The bartender was unaccustomed to seeing me sitting at the bar — I am always at the pool table — but I told her that I was planning to join the groups that participate in the trivia contest and was waiting for my friend, Mary. As I waited, I noted the tables starting to fill up with the groups that I usually saw on trivia nights. One big round table was swollen with patrons, while two “high-tops” were occupied by some other regulars. By the time that Mary arrived, I had gotten pencils, scoresheets, and answer sheets for us. I also made the unilateral decision to name our team, “Artsy Fartsy,” and in our initial foray into the trivia field, our team of two nailed down a stunning 5th-place finish. (Out of 5 teams so, there’s that…) But we had fun doing so, which is the point. The following week, Mary told me that Jockamo’s Pizza had a trivia contest on Wednesdays, so we went there. Mary brought her grandson Nick, and we got the benefit of a younger point of view, while he got some important job-seeking advice from the elders. I blundered and managed to convince the team that, the top of Old Smoky was covered with dew, not snow, but Mary knew that the Hudson River went through Albany, the New York state capital. I don’t know how many teams were at the trivia event at Jockamo’s, but “Artsy Fartsy” still managed to finish out of the money. Onward to Thursday!
Mary invited another member of our arts group to join the team at Si Greene’s and Theresa Gooldy helped “Artsy Fartsy” to maintain its hold on 5th place as we struck out with sports, failed at math (what is a “cubit?”) and learned about Betelgeuse, the red supergiant star in the constellation of Orion. (It won’t appear if you say it three times, though.) At the end of the game, the standings were announced, and a great roar erupted from the big round table as those competitors were judged to have scored the most points. (The occupants of that table apparently have a long-standing agreement that they are the only ones who can sit there on trivia nights, and I watched as they evicted a couple who were unaware of the arrangement. “Don’t hate us,” one of the evictors said.)
One of my 10 dictionaries defines “trivia” as “Insignificant or inessential matters…” It may seem insignificant to know which writers won Pulitzer Prizes, or how many gold medals were won at which Olympics, or how much a “fireproof” copy of “The Handmaid’s Tale” sold for, but the greatest reward in the pursuit of trivia is the warmth of camaraderie.
cjon3acd@att.net