Saturday, April 4, 2009

Dan Pawson CMC '03 Credits CMC and Pitney With Win


The Claremont Colleges punch way above their weight when it comes to trivia. Last year, Andrew Chung HMC '10 won third place in College Jeopardy! and this year, Daniel Pawson CMC '03 and a former CI writer, won the Tournament of Champions. 

Does a liberal arts education cultivate a knowledge of the trivia or the finer things or both? I'm inclined to think both. Pawson credits Claremont McKenna for his victory. According to the school website

Pawson credits a "huge swath" of political knowledge gained at CMC as instrumental in his Tournament victory.

"For most people, Chester A. Arthur, the answer to one of the Tournament Final Jeopardies, is just a musty old name in a list of presidents," he said. "Because of Professor Jack Pitney's U.S. Presidents class, to me, he's a political hack whose claim to fame pre-Presidency was as the holder of one of the great spoils jobs in American history who then went completely against expectations and instituted civil service reform as President." 

Maybe this trivia stuff explains why Hub Quiz is so popular. Now that it's run by the efficient and yet nice Kenley Turville CMC '10, I know I'll be signing up to do it again. 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Charles Johnson said...

Ad hominem attacks on us will be deleted.

LaShawniQua Jenkins said...

Charles seems to be the CC's Censor-in-Chief. Just 'cause somebody says something mean about you it goes away? Sounds familiar. Why not let readers judge for themselves? Think we aren't grown up enough to recognize ad hominem attacks? Think we need you to protect us from dirty words?

Charles Johnson said...

LeShawinQua Jenkins,

I'm fine with ad hominem attacks so long as they do it with a name attached.

I don't accept a dime from you or ASCMC and so I retain the right to create my own policies. If you're trying to compare me to Ross Boomer, I don't delete comments that actually address the substance of what was written. Ross did just that. He censored me because he didn't like my politics.

LeShawniQua Jenkins said...

"I retain the right to create my own policies."

But when those policies contradict the spirit of everything else you do, it makes you look like a fool, or in this case, a censor. You did not address why you don't trust your readership to judge such attacks on their merits, and to recognize their apparent self worth. Nobody needs you to tell them what is or isn't an appropriate comment. Or at least somebody with the views you profess to have would say that.

I'd reconsider if I were you, Censor in Chief, and restore the comment.

Charles Johnson said...

Ms. Jenkins,

The decision stands. I made my argument based upon my right to comment on a Forum I help subsidize. I'll tell you what though. If you give me a few bucks, I'll let you say what you want.

Anonymous said...

dude, this is hosted on a free blogsite and the domain costs $10 a year. I dunno what other finances go into the blog, but if you are spending anything more than $10 a year you are getting ripped off.

Charles Johnson said...

I bought a digital video camera.