What is Mensa?
First of all, Mensa is not an acronym. It is the Latin word meaning "table," and it indicates that all members are equal. (Remember King Arthur’s Round Table?) Of course, some are more equal than others, because those who become involved and participate in the multitude of activities Mensa offers get the most from the society. The sole requirement for membership in Mensa is a score in the top 2 percent of the population on any standard intelligence test or the equivalent (130 on the Wechsler scale, 132 on the Stanford-Binet, 1250 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test after 1977).
Because this is the only criterion for membership, the diversity of human beings in Mensa is immense. Members include authors, executives, carpenters, dancers, physicists, students, and many other kinds of people. You can well imagine the interest and fun generated when Mensans get together at a gathering (the official term). The talk can range over all and any subjects. One has the pleasure of hearing from an intelligent expert in a field other than one’s own. There is the delight in recognizing a new idea, a new concept, or a new outlook on an old theme. And there is just plain fun. Mensans love to play games of all kinds — computer games, word games, logic games, silly games.
Mensans band together in Special Interest Groups (SIGs ) of members with a common fascination or desire. These interests run from the Age of Chivalry SIG to the Feudal Japan SIG, the Scripophily (paper money) SIG, the Skydiving SIG, through M.A.R.I.A.N., a SIG devoted to nurturing and visiting, in person or by letter, the sick and dying, and to the Vacation Network SIG and the Singles Network SIG.
Many Mensans participate in the society exclusively by mail. They get their local newsletter telling them what is going on in their area; they receive the Mensa Bulletin and the International Journal, which tell them about national and international Mensa; and they may belong to a SIG that, though it may never meet, ties hundreds of Mensans together in a postal network.
Who are these Mensans, anyway? Mensans tend to be reasonably well educated, but we have plenty of high school dropouts as well as Ph.D.s. Mensans tend to have above-average incomes — but many do not, preferring to spend their time on avocations of consuming interest. Mensans tend to have a slightly smaller number of children than the national average — but we have a highly active Gifted Children’s Program, with a national network of coordinators. The society also publishes a newsletter full of ideas for gifted children. Mensans tend to be ages thirty or over, but there is a very active Young Mensa for people who are eighteen or younger. Mensans tend to be verbal and fluent, whether on paper or in person. We talk and talk — but we listen, too.
Mensans are just like everybody else, but more so. You meet a lot of intense people in Mensa who throw themselves wholeheartedly into what they do for the society. (All Mensa activity is volunteer and unpaid, except for a small staff at national headquarters in Dallas.) Many members help out with the intellectual and scientific activities of the Mensa Education and Research Foundation (MERF). This branch runs the numerous scholarships, the Mensa Research Journal, the surveys, the Awards for Excellence, and all the other activities that satisfy our intellectual side. MERF raises money for special projects and is limited only by what we can raise and the vision of those who propose projects. MERF also collaborates on the intellectual Colloquium. It is the idealistic, social-service side of Mensa, and contributions to MERF are tax deductible.
But above all, Mensa is friends. Whether in the local chapter or in any of the thirty countries around the world where Mensa exists, it means finding ready-made friends. There is even a group organized to provide hospitality wherever in the world (almost) you might travel. You need to have had the experience of arriving by plane in a strange land at midnight, tired and droopy, to be welcomed by Mensa strangers-who-will-soon-be-friends, to realize what this means.
And that’s meeting one or two Mensans at a time. There are large gatherings of anywhere from seventy-five to fifteen hundred Mensans. The joint American-Canadian Annual Gathering at Montreal in 1988 was attended by fifteen hundred Mensans from both countries. For many, it was like being in a room filled with bubbly champagne, full of friendship and good cheer. What did the Mensans do at this gathering? They talked; they took French lessons; they attended lectures on mathematics, on art, on history, on romance, on Montreal; they talked; they ate at the hotel banquets and nibbled in the Mensa hospitality suites, which were always jammed wall to wall with talkers; they went on sightseeing tours; they went to a French-Canadian sugar shack for a party; they talked; and when they finished with all these activities, they talked some more.
There are many such gatherings a year. Past themes have included "The Future," "The Arts," and "Man and Science."
Mensa is fun, it is serious, it is intellectually stimulating, it is friendly. In short, Mensa is the sum of fifty-odd thousand bright people, effervescing.
Adapted from The Mensa Genius Quiz-A-Day Book.
Judy Hogan
Past Local Secretary
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Minnesota
Mensa News
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 2010 Minnesota Mensa State Fair Booth
Participate in one of Minnesota Mensa's biggest marketing events! Work a shift at the State Fair and enjoy the rest of the day there at no cost (other than the $$$ you spend on Pronto Pups). Seventy-two four-hour shifts are scheduled. Click here to schedule your time. Do it now to get the slot you want!
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Get Your 2010-2011 Minnesota Mensa Membership Directory
The 2010-2011 Minnesota Mensa Membership Directory is now available at First Friday and Greeting Meeting for $3.00, and by mail for $4.50. Send a check payable to Minnesota Mensa to Directory, 4246 Vernon Ave., St. Louis Park, MN 55416.
It is for sale only to members.
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Volunteer Opportunities
Interested in becoming more active in Minnesota Mensa? There are current openings for the positions of Historian, Mankato Area Coordinator and St. Croix Area Coordinator. For further information please contact Loc Sec Maggie Klinzman.
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2010 Publications Recognition Program Nominees
Finalists for the 2010 Publications Recognition Program have been announced. Click here to see the full list of nominees. Winners will be named at the Annual Gathering in Dearborn, Michigan, June 30 - July 5.
Former Mensagenda editor Lin Rockler garnered five nominations, and Rosemary Marx's calendar page has also been nominated. Congratulations, Lin and Rosemary! And congratulations to all of the nominees.
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Want to Change How You Receive Your Mensagenda?
You can choose whether you receive your Mensagenda electronically only or as a hard copy. When you sign onto the American Mensa website you go immediately to a page of your personal information. Click on "Update this information."
On the bottom of the next page you will see a box followed by: "I would like to receive publications electronically if available. I will not receive these publications via regular mail."
Change the box to your preference and submit. It does take about a month to update.
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Lesson Plans Now Available on Mensa For Kids Web Site
Attention teachers, homeschooling parents and involved family members: The Mensa Education & Research Foundation is sponsoring a series of lesson plans for grades Kindergarten through 12. Click here for more information and links to download these valuable resources.
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Other group newsletters
Minnesota Mensans can now view newsletters from groups around the country. This is a brand new effort by American Mensa Ltd. Click here to access this feature (password required).
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August 2006
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First Friday Front Desk
Minnesota Mensa members can sign up for a short stint at the First Friday
front desk. The shifts are 8:00 p.m.
to 9:15 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.
to 10:30 p.m. Contact Jane Gmur for
further information.
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May 2006 |
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Mensa Forums
American
Mensa, Ltd. has initiated Mensa forums on a variety of
subjects. A Minnesota Mensa forum is on line and ready to go. Click
here to log in and go to "Discussion Forums" (you'll need your
password -- see below).
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January 2006 |
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Passwords
Access to the Members Pages requires your membership number
and personal Mensa password. This was supplied to you at renewal time. If
you don't know your password, contact American Mensa, Ltd.
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September 2005 |
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Do
you think you qualify for membership? Now you can order a
Mensa Home Test.
Details here.
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