The importance of laughter and radical quiz nights

I get things are hard for many people just now (classic understatement). Indeed, the news seems to get bleaker every week with mates losing jobs and more blitzkrieg anti-Tiriti legislation, policies and practices doing the rounds…

I believe within any social movement morale is important. I wholeheartedly believe we need to seek light in dark spaces (subtle Leonard Cohen reference) and laughter is more fun to release emotion than public or private crying or wailing. Though to be fair chanting at a demonstration is also effective.

I have always enjoyed a good pub quiz and continue to be disappointed that my general knowledge is so limited I am usually carried by my team mates rather than being a useful contributor to my team. It seems my PhD in institutional racism and my knowledge of Te Tiriti and colonial history is often irrelevant. In short, these days I avoid pub quizzes and passive aggressively joke about their content when teaching.

To succeed in the competitive pub quiz world, it seems you need to know a lot about men’s sports and be very familiar with the inner workings of women’s gossip magazines. Neither are my knowledge base. You also have to be prepared to risk winning a meat pack! (A big ask for a vegetarian).

Photo credit : Denis Came-Friar

For a number of years at wānanga I have taking up the opportunity to run radical quizzes. Radical quizzes can initially be infuriating, frustrating and annoying as from the outside they have the appearance of a traditional pub quiz - with teams, sports rounds, bonus rounds and a scoreboard, but that is where the similarity ends.

Radical quizzes are about team building and bringing a group together. It is about impossible questions that have no one “correct” answer. Everything is at the discretion of the trusty off-sider or scire-keeper. The better the story to illustrate your answer - the higher the score. It is not possible to google any answers at a radical quiz it is literally an intellectual level playing field. Those with rich human experience who are prepared to share are rewarded. Everyone can have something to contribute on every question or task (Yes, sometimes you make something, design or compose at a radical quiz).

This week Fran Kewene and I hosted a Radical Quiz night for the Wellington branch of the Kāhui Hauora Tūmatanui o Aotearoa - Public Health Association. It was a fundraiser and mix and mingle with about 60 people turning up on a rugged Wellington night. We wrote haiku together, build lego visions, shared first date and Olympic stories. We learnt about one-another in deeply unexpected ways. The crew still got to compete but mainly it was about laughter and being together. It was about whanaungatanga.

Inspired by that evening and other similar ones Heather Came & Associates has decided to branch out and offer ourselves up for hire to run Radical Quizzes at staff parties, conferences, and (yes we are that brave) family gatherings. We believe with our facilitation skills, wicked sense of humour, expertly formulated question we can create a meaningful unique experience for your rōpū.

Thanks for reading this infomercial disguised as a blog. Avoid the festive season rush and book a radical quiz night now through joyaratima@gmail.com