So like any good procrastinator who doesn't know what to write, I decided to clean out my closet this morning. (After Tori kindly took over my 9 a.m. post time--even though she's out of town, she still wrote, and I haven't even left Gaithersburg. My boyfriend is going out of town for a few weeks so I needed to do important things like shave his head. Regardless, I am a blog slacker.) Well, every time I clean something, I realize that I keep EVERYTHING. Underwear I've deemed ugly and will no longer wear, mail to roommates from past apartments that I kept for them just in case, calendars from the mid-1980s, letters from every birthday I've celebrated, and all of the stuff in Lauren's basement (seriously, I have that book). But one thing I have more of than anyone else are articles clipped out of the newspaper by my dad. My dad (who might I add is incredibly despondent that my mom and I have the tendency to save absolutely everything we put our hands on) always has a nice pile of newspaper clippings in a bag sitting at my seat in our kitchen when I come visit. Or if we rendezvous somewhere, he brings said clippings in a bag. When I decided to get a newspaper subscription this month, I went with the New York Times instead of The Washington Post because I knew Dad would clip out everything that was worth reading in The Post anyway. In spirit of the clippings, today's post will be a quiz on recent history, or a compiled pile of what I've found while cleaning my room. Please take note, because all of these articles were clipped for me, from my dad, there will probably be a strong number of questions about politics, baseball, books, Jews, the University of Maryland and other items of particular interest to my dad and me.
Question One:
Undated article from The Post's Metro Section, sometime after opening day of this year
Article: "Taken, Out at the Ball Game"
This direct quote from the article is written in the style of which famous author:
"I waited in the concession lines, too long, too long, with befuddled concession stand workers and a cashier, standing alone, fumbling with the change, as if the concept of counting money was new to him, for he did it slowly, oh so slowly for each customer who waited a full inning for a hot dog and ended up with a bag of oil-laden popcorn, more fit for a biodiesel car than a stomach, putting his life on the line."
a. Ayn Rand
b. Kurt Vonnegut
c. Jean Paul-Sartre
d. William Faulkner
d. William Faulkner. Find the article (a review of the food at opening day at RFK this year, written in the style of Faulkner) here.
Question two:
Thursday, March 23, 2006 Home Section of The Washington Post (I need to clean my room more often)
Article: "Booked Solid: Some Reader's Cherished Collections Have Nowhere to Grow"
The Washington, DC area ranked fourth last year (that would be 2005 I assume) in book sales behind these cities (in order):
a. New York, L.A., San Francisco/Silicon Valley
b. New York, San Francisco/Silicon Valley, Seattle
c. New York, Seattle, Chicago
d. New York, Chicago, Austin
a. New York, L.A., San Francisco/Silicon Valley. Read the article (about a couple who has run out of room for their large book collection) here.
Question Three:
Thursday, February 9, 2006 OpEd page A 22 The Washington Post
Article: "The Politics of Science"
24-year-old NASA spokesman George C. Deutsch resigned after...
a. He wouldn't let reporters interview the leading climate scientist at NASA because it wouldn't "make the president look good."
b. He made a scientist add the word "theory" after the words "Big Bang" in every writing
c. He lied about having an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University
d. He tried to prevent senior NASA career scientists from speaking and writing when their views differed from those of the White House.
ALL OF THE ABOVE. Here's the article. P.S. I tried to find a pic of this George Deutsch guy, hoping at least he'd be one of those hot Republican types, but found NOTHING. Not even on Facebook. But I guess that's because he didn't go to college.
Question Four:
Saturday, November 19, 2005 Page A20 The Washington Post
"World in Brief"
A fill-in-the-blank!
The chief astronomer from ____________ said that "intelligent design" was not science and did not belong in science classrooms.
a. Mexico (Happy Cinco de Mayo!)
b. Greece
c. Vatican City
d. Utah
c. Vatican City! I couldn't find it on the Post's website, but here it is.
Question Five:
Saturday, November 26, 2005 Real Estate Section Washington Post
Article: "Moving In and Moving On: Washington Area Is a 'Funnel': People Come for Jobs, Leave to Find Cheaper Housing"
The top five destinations of Washington D.C. residents who left in 2004 went to (in order):
a. Baltimore, Hagerstown, Richmond, Winchester, Tampa
b. New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Chicago
c. Honolulu, Pittsburgh, San Jose, St. Louis
d. Miami/Ft. Lauderdale/Miami Beach, Orlando/Kissimmee, Sarasota/Bradenton/Venice, Fla., Jacksonville
a. High housing prices sent people to B-more, H-town, Richmond, the Chester and Tampa, which must be a tough commute. B (NYC, Bean town, Philly, San Fran, and Chi-town) are the top five origins of D.C. residents over 15-years. C are the 6th-9th cities where people come to D.C. from. D are the 6th-9th destinations of D.C. people who left in 2004. Oh and here's the article.
Question six:
Sunday, October 30, 2005 Book World, The Washington Post
Article: "The Ivy Curtain" (Review of The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton by Jerome (you wrote a book Jerome?) Karabel)
In 1918, a group of New England deans from Yale, Princeton and Harvard met so they could figure out the best way to:
a. Ensure they remained at the top of the U.S. News and World Report rankings
b. Limit the growing Jewish presence at their schools
c. Stop the incursion of women at all three universities
d. Get the best high school football players to join the Ivy League
b. They were trying to limit the number of Jews who attended Ivy League schools. Yale ended up limiting Jewish enrollment to 8.2%. Harvard started asking questions on the application to help determine background (race, color, religious preference, birthplace of father, previous surnames, mother's maiden name...) and started admitting huge numbers of legacies. Yale interviewers filled out a checklist of each candidate's physical characteristics. Here's the article.
Question seven:
Undated article, from, obviously, The Washington Post
Article: "Affordablilty Puts U-Md. Hometown in Top 10"
College Park was ranked eighth on a list of the 10 most expensive college markets for home prices in 2005 (of 59 major football conference college towns plus Notre Dame). The most expensive college town to live in is...
a. Coral Gables, FL (University of Miami)
b. Palo Alto, CA (Stanford University)
c. Evanston, IL (Northwestern University)
d. Chestnut Hill, MA (Boston College)
b. Palo Alto, CA at a $1.55 million average house, but here's the list, just in case you're interested:
2. Los Angeles (UCLA/USC) $1.27 million
3. Berkeley, CA (University of California) $1.19 million
4. Chestnut Hill, MA (Boston College) $811,525
5. Evanston, IL (Northwestern University) $674,250
6. Coral Gables, FL (University of Miami) $671, 854
7. Boulder, CO (University of Colorado) $546,350
8. College Park, MD (University of Maryland) $462,035
9. Minneapolis, MN (University of Minnesota) $397,133
10. Seattle, WA (University of Washington) $386,600
You can read the ten cheapest and some more info in the article here, ironically through Baylor's website, who beat us in the tournament this year.
Major props to The Post for being the best newspaper ever. In addition to the NYT. I love them both and have been torn between the two for years. And also to my dad who loves to clip out articles and keep them for me--and now I've finally read most of them!
I've noticed that a lot of people I'm friends with also get similar clippings from their parental units. I kind of like that we've got this pseudo-journalistic-tie with our boomer parents. So here's a shout out to all parents who do the same.
Dad: Now that I've linked to all of these articles here, I can recycle them today, and stop moving to new apartments every year with all of this paper! Aren't you so happy?!!
Why would one subscribe to the newspaper when you can read it for free online?
Posted by: Inactive account | May 04, 2007 at 03:09 PM
a) it's a lot more satisfying to read on paper and you catch stuff you'd never find online
b) i like reading it outside
c) i'm old school
d) i love crossword puzzles but hate them online
e) what else would i keep piles of in my room?
Posted by: EmGusk | May 04, 2007 at 03:12 PM