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October 31, 2015

Annual Quiz Award Ceremony, and the winner is ...



The Infamous P.K.s

They called us simply, "The Worst." The worst behaved, the worst attitude, the most rebellious kids who would never conform, "The Worst." See Alice Cooper. Ministers sons are sons of guns.

Of course, some are little obedient angels who know how to shake hands with adults after church, who act like they own the place, who at an early age could take over for Dad (or Mom). Junior faith healers and Bible salespersons who could get those dollars out of parishioners' pockets with an innocent smile.

Then we all had to grow up our own imperfect ways, some remained sincerely religious, even became preachers (Martin Luther King, Jr.), some took other roads. Beyond the stereotypes and insults. But it was a weight growing up, a bad reputation, not making adolescence any easier.

"Hi, wanna go out?"
"Ew, you're a PK!"
or "Hell yeah, you're the bad-ass wild-child preacher's kid."

The song, "Son of a Preacher Man," popular when I was a teen, didn't help. Nor did the fact that preachers are often moved by their churches, so their kids lose all their friends at a moment's notice. Constantly starting over, like military brats.

Maybe the problem comes from seeing the religion show from behind the curtain (the hypocrisy, judgmentalism, parishioner meanness). The leader followed faithfully by the congregation can be all-too-human back at home. Or living in the so-called glass house, where whatever the children do can damage the parents good name.

Beneath the stereotypes of preacher’s kids as either goody two-shoes or devilish hellions lies a tense and sometimes taxing reality, the children of clergy say. Studies show that many PK’s, as the lingo goes, struggle with issues of identity, privacy and morality. There’s even a support group, Preacher’s Kids International, dedicated to the “celebration and recovery of those who grew up in the parsonage.” (Daniel Burke, Huffington Post)

In my list there are also Rabbis' children, you could add Imams' children, Hindu priests' children, etc. (Catholic priests' children?). And, as my brother pointed out, he and I and the other two boys are not listed but should be. And, as if to make a point, two of us four are still very religious.

Happy trials, Martin


Mutt:  Hiya, Buddy. Didya hear? My dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
Jeff:  Let’s talk about rights and lefts. You’re right, so I left.
Mutt:  Oh yeah well, when William joined the army, he disliked the phrase ‘fire at will’.
Jeff:  This means war. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
Mutt:  He drove his expensive car into a tree and found out how the Mercedes bends.
Jeff:  A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
Mutt:  What do you call a marketplace that sells weird stuff? A bizarre bazaar!
Jeff:  Being struck by lightning is a really shocking experience!
Mutt:  The Hungary Wales Seattled down and Finnished their lunch, Hamburg-ers with Chiles.
Jeff:  My oh my. A bicycle cannot stand on its own because it is two-tired.
Mutt:  “What’s purple and 5000 miles long?” “Ooh! I know! The Grape Wall of China!”
Jeff:  How do celebrities stay cool? They have many fans!
Mutt:  The reason he didn’t become a juggler was… he hadn’t got the balls to do it!
Jeff:  Do you know what the Kung Fu Panda said?
Mutt:  The who? The what?
Jeff:  “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”
Mutt:  For the love of Mike!

October 18, 2015

Annual Quiz 2015


Dear Faithful Readers and Annual Quiz Participants,
Spectacular treasures await you if you can guess what the following people have in common.

In music:
Alice Cooper (Vincent Furnier)
Aretha Franklin
Bernice Johnson Reagon
David Ruffin (Temptations)
Duncan Campbell Scott
F. R. Scott
Faith Petric
Greg Brown
Hampton Hawes
Helen Phillips
Iris DeMent
James Carr
Joan Baez’s parents
Jonas Brothers
Katy Perry
Katharine Purvis (When the Saints)
Kings of Leon (3 Followill brothers)
Lee Hays
Lemmy (Motorhead)
Lizz Wright
Marvin Gaye
Nat King Cole
Nina Simone
Paper Lions (MacPhee brothers)
Pointer Sisters
Portia White
Rita Coolidge
Rhoda Scott
Sam Cooke
Sister Rosetta Thorpe
Tori Amos
W. C. Handy
Wilf Carter
Wyclef Jean

In politics:
Aaron Burr
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Angela Merkel
Bernice Johnson Reagon
Cesare Borgia
Condoleezza Rice
Dorothea Dix
George McGovern
George Stephanopoulus
Gordon Brown
Isabella Beecher Hooker
Jesse Jackson Jr.
John Ashcroft
John Foster Dulles
Kenneth Kaunda
Lester B. Pearson
Lucrezia Borgia
Malcolm X (Little)
Michael Chertoff
Norman Thomas
Woodrow Wilson

In literature:
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Amy Tan
Andrew Marvell
Anne, Charlotte & Emily Brontë
Cleanth Brooks
E. J. Pratt
Elizabeth Gaskell
Erich Segal
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Huston Smith
James Baldwin
Jane Austen
Julius Lester
Pearl S. Buck
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Stephen Crane
William P. Young

In cinema/TV:
Adrian Zmed
Anne Heche
Arsenio Hall
Ashlee & Jessica Simpson
Dana Andrews
Dave & Ian Thomas
David Steinberg
Denzel Washington
Diane Lane
Ingmar Bergman
Missy Peregrym
Sam Kinison
Steve Forrest

Others:
Albert Schweitzer
Alfred North Whitehead
Carl Jung
Charlie Manuel
Demitri Martin
Frank Lloyd Wright
Friedrich Nietzsche
Harry Houdini
Ivan Pavlov
Karl Barth
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Michael Chertoff
Nicola Tesla
Phil Jackson
Robert Baden-Powell,
Robert Noyce (Intel)
Sir Christopher Wren
Vincent Van Gogh
Wright Brothers

Need a clue?

Happy trials, Martin


Mutt:  Why did the man throw the clock out the window? He wanted to see time fly!
Jeff:  That is the worst joke I ever heard in nursery school.
Mutt:  I know. I'm truly sorry.
Jeff:  Oh, sure.

Mutt:  How do you know if you've met a Korean vampire? He doesn't have a Seoul.
Jeff:  P.U.
Mutt:  Why do bagpipers walk when they play? They're trying to get away from the noise.
Jeff:  So why do gorillas have big nostrils? Because they have big fingers.
Mutt:  If people from Poland are called "Poles," why aren't people from Holland called "Holes?
Jeff:  Careful, racism alert.
Mutt: I'm truly sorry. You know, my daughter has married an Irishman.
Jeff:  Oh, really?
Mutt: No, O'Reilly!
Jeff: You get one ha for that. Ha.
Mutt:  A man wanted to borrow my newspaper, he asked, "Are you finished?"
Jeff:  I know. You said, "No, I'm Norwegian."
Mutt:  I was arrested at the airport. Just because I was greeting my cousin Jack!
Jeff:  You've never been to the airport.
Mutt:  All that I said was "Hi Jack", but very loud.
Jeff:  You've never been to the airport.
Mutt:  Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Jeff:  So what is your favourite music group?
Mutt: I love U2!
Jeff: I love you too, but what is your favorite music group?
Mutt:  Say goodnight, Jeff.
Jeff:  Goodnight Jeff.