JAQR - September 10, 2023 - Special Edition: Learned League Championship Recap
Fannie Lou Hamer, Joe Hill, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Ea-nasir, and more...
This week’s edition will include eight questions from the 2023 Learned League Championship (two from each round).
If you’d like to see a recap of some of the questions from 2022, click here: https://jaqr.substack.com/p/2022-ll-championship-questions-recap
AMERICAN HISTORY
At a 1964 rally in Harlem, in a speech that chronicled the violence she experienced while trying to register to vote, Fannie Lou Hamer stated that she was "sick and tired of" what?
LITERATURE
Novelist Joe Hill, who, as a nine-year-old, featured in the 1982 movie Creepshow, was born with what surname?
WORLD HISTORY
The 1582 reign of Akechi Mitsuhide, the Thirteen-Day Shōgun, was preceded by one man (who died in the Honnō-ji Incident) and succeeded by another (after the Battle of Yamazaki). Name either man, neither of whom was Tokugawa Ieyasu.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BC BABYLONIAN MERCHANTS
The axe blade of Ötzi the Iceman and the Voyager Golden Records are items primarily composed of what material that was once notably peddled by a Babylonian merchant named Ea-nasir?
FASHION
The surname of what innovator of mod, miniskirts, and hotpants who passed away in 2023 is the same as financial jargon for a mathematically inclined investor?
GEOGRAPHY
A canal connecting Ottawa to Lake Ontario was built using sections of both the Cataraqui River and what other river, whose name the canal shares?
TELEVISION
Between 1998 and 2001, Vonda Shepard contributed to four soundtracks for what TV show (whose title song she co-wrote and performed)?
CURRENT-ISH EVENTS
What is the Ukrainian word for a public square, such as in the Ukrainian name for Kyiv's Independence Square, an important site of its 2014 revolution?
AMERICAN HISTORY
At a 1964 rally in Harlem, in a speech that chronicled the violence she experienced while trying to register to vote, Fannie Lou Hamer stated that she was "sick and tired of" what?
***BEING SICK AND TIRED***
Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) was a Black civil rights activist. Her attempts to register to vote, and later, to vote, led to attacks from racists, some of whom were policemen. Hamer [HAY-mer] co-founded the MFDP (Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party). She spoke at the 1964 DNC about her experiences as a civil rights activist, which included a beating in a jailhouse that left her crippled. President LBJ scheduled a speech at the same time so that her account wouldn't be broadcast. The testimony was aired on many evening news programs instead, thus reaching an even larger audience.
LITERATURE
Novelist Joe Hill, who, as a nine-year-old, featured in the 1982 movie Creepshow, was born with what surname?
***KING***
Joe Hill (pictured below) is the pen name of the writer Joseph Hillström King (1972-), who is the son of the "King of Horror," Stephen King. They worked together on the 2012 novella In the Tall Grass. Joe Hill’s first published work was the collection 20th Century Ghosts. It includes the story “The Black Phone,” which was adapted into a 2022 movie starring Ethan Hawke as a child abductor known as The Grabber. Hill’s debut novel was 2007’s Heart-Shaped Box, which shares its name with a Nirvana song. The novel is about the aging rock star Judas Coyne, who buys a dead man’s suit that is still inhabited by the spirit of its late owner. His second novel, Horns, was adapted into a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe. His third novel, NOS4A2 (pronounced like Nosferatu), was adapted into a TV series on AMC starring Zachary Quinto. His comic book series Locke & Key was adapted into a Netflix series.
He shares his pen name with the early 20th century Swedish-born American labor activist and folk singer Joe Hill. He organized for the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) and was executed by firing squad for an alleged robbery-murder in Utah. He coined the phrase "pie in the sky" in his song “The Preacher and the Slave."
WORLD HISTORY
The 1582 reign of Akechi Mitsuhide, the Thirteen-Day Shōgun, was preceded by one man (who died in the Honnō-ji Incident) and succeeded by another (after the Battle of Yamazaki). Name either man, neither of whom was Tokugawa Ieyasu.
***ODA NOBUNAGA*** or ***TOYOTOMI HIDEYOSHI***
Japan had three major shogunates: Kamakura (1192–1333), Ashikaga (1338–1573), and Tokugawa (1600–1868). The final portion of the Ashikaga Shogunate was called the Sengoku period, also known as the Warring States period (named for a similar period from Chinese history). The restoration of central authority in Japan after ~100 years of warfare was accomplished by the three "Great Unifiers," who in chronological order are:
Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) - daimyo who overthrew the Ashikaga Shogunate; he considered Buddhism a threat to his power and subdued the Ikkō-ikki; he was betrayed and wounded by one of his own generals (Akechi Mitsuhide) at Honnō Temple in Kyōto, after which he committed seppuku (ritual self-disembowelment)
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) - general under Oda Nobunaga, whom he avenged in 1582 by defeating Akechi Mitsuhide at the Battle of Yamazaki; in 1588 he ordered a “sword hunt,” in which all peasants were ordered to surrender their weapons; after conquering all of Japan, he attempted to invade Korea (known as the Imjin War), but his troops were defeated by the “turtle ships” of Admiral Yi Sun-shin; upon his death in 1598, his only son, Hideyori, was a mere five years old
Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) - depicted below, he was victorious at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, after which he organized his namesake shogunate, sometimes called the Edo Shogunate, named for its capital (the former name of Tokyo); his advisors included William Adams, the first Englishman to visit Japan;
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BC BABYLONIAN MERCHANTS
The axe blade of Ötzi the Iceman and the Voyager Golden Records are items primarily composed of what material that was once notably peddled by a Babylonian merchant named Ea-nasir?
***COPPER***
The British Museum contains the complaint tablet to Ea-nasir (pictured below). It is a clay tablet written in cuneiform from ~1750 BC that is considered by Guinness World Records to be the oldest known written complaint. It was written by a customer named Nanni and complains that a sub-standard grade of copper ore was sold. It also states “What do you take me for, that you treat somebody like me with such contempt.” The tablet is from the ancient city of Ur (in present day Iraq) and was excavated by Leonard Woolley in the early 20th century. It has been the subject of memes since 2017 and also a recent xkcd webcomic (also pictured below).
FASHION
The surname of what innovator of mod, miniskirts, and hotpants who passed away in 2023 is the same as financial jargon for a mathematically inclined investor?
***MARY QUANT***
Mary Quant (1930-2023) was an English fashion designer. Her boutique in London on King’s Road called Bazaar opened in 1955. She is often credited with inventing the miniskirt, which she named after her favorite car, and was made popular by the model Twiggy. Her other creations include the skinny rib sweater, hot pants, and wet look clothes (using PVC). Her clothes were distributed in the U.S. by the department store JCPenney (named for James Cash Penney).
GEOGRAPHY
A canal connecting Ottawa to Lake Ontario was built using sections of both the Cataraqui River and what other river, whose name the canal shares?
***RIDEAU***
The Rideau [rih-DOH] Canal connects Canada’s capital city of Ottawa to the smallest and easternmost of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario. The 125-mile canal uses the Rideau River in the north and the Cataraqui River in the south. It was constructed after the War of 1812 as an alternative to the St. Lawrence River, which borders the U.S. to the south. Ottawa was established in 1826 and was originally called Bytown, in honor of John By, who supervised the canal's construction. An annual festival in Ottawa called Winterlude includes skating on the canal.
TELEVISION
Between 1998 and 2001, Vonda Shepard contributed to four soundtracks for what TV show (whose title song she co-wrote and performed)?
***ALLY MCBEAL***
Ally McBeal (1997-2002) was a Fox legal dramedy set in Boston that was created by David E. Kelley and starred Calista Flockhart as the title lawyer who works at the firm Cage & Fish. The show featured the title character hallucinating a baby dancing to “Hooked on a Feeling” (video below), which supposedly symbolized Ally struggling to get her biological clock under control. A bar on the show featured many performances by Vonda Shepard, who also performed the show’s theme song, "Searchin' My Soul," which features the lyrics “I've been searchin' my soul tonight, I know there's so much more to life."
CURRENT-ISH EVENTS
What is the Ukrainian word for a public square, such as in the Ukrainian name for Kyiv's Independence Square, an important site of its 2014 revolution?
***MAIDAN***
Ukraine was the site of the Maidan Revolution (also known as the Revolution of Dignity) in February of 2014. It led to the removal of Ukraine's president, Viktor Yanukovych [yan-noo-KOH-vitch], who didn’t sign a planned agreement with the EU after being pressured by Russia. Yanukovych’s removal led Russia to occupy and annex the Crimean peninsula. Russian-backed separatists also established two republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine. Yanukovych was succeeded as president in 2014 by Petro Poroshenko (nicknamed “The Chocolate King”), who later lost a 2019 election to Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Slava Ukraini!
