Linda in Northfield, Mensagenda Editor
About Mensagenda
Minnesota Mensa published Vol. I, No. 1 of our newsletter, then called the Minnesota Mensa, in June of 1965. Approaching six decades later and winning awards along the way, we continue to provide a monthly publication, now called Mensagenda.
As expected in a newsletter, we inform our local membership with organizational updates and provide details about our events. The real benefit is that, just like our events, Mensagenda is for our members, by our members.
The love of learning in Mensa is not just about supporting our scholarship but in enriching your own mind and sharing your knowledge, skills, and interests. Read articles and regular columns ranging from scientific explanations to humor in everyday life. Check out our members’ photography, drawing, painting, knitting and quilting, and crafting skills.
What would you like to share? Do you have expertise in a particular field of study or hobby? Want to express your opinion? Have you traveled recently? Do you write poetry? Can you create word games, numerical puzzles, or trivia questions? What could you say about…well, you get the picture.
Mensagenda is another way that Minnesota Mensa provides “a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members.” What could you contribute if you joined Mensa?
There’s More to Read
Mensa membership provides access to the publications from other chapters, American Mensa, and Mensa International. Click here to learn more.
Featured Cover Art
Pencil Sharpening at Lake of the Isles. Photo by John in Roseville
I took these pictures of the pencil sharpening festival at Lake of the Isles the first week of June. I was one of over a thousand people who came out for some good old fashioned silliness. The pencil is a sculpture made from the trunk of a tree damaged in a storm. This is the fourth annual sharpening; the crew makes the pencil a few inches shorter each year.
The LocSec’s Podium
by Kevin in Chaska
I just returned from the 2025 Annual Gathering. Annual Gatherings bring together a couple thousand Mensa members and companions for a five-or six-day experience. Angela, Audric, Barb, Don, Doug, Gretchen, John, Marsha, Mat, Michelle, Pam, and Tracy joined me from Minnesota. (My apologies if I forgot or didn’t encounter someone else who was there.) Planes, trains, and automobiles transported different Minnesota folks to Chicago. (The movie title reference is intentional.) Several people used the new Amtrak Borealis train that runs between Minneapolis and Chicago.
Annual Gatherings are excellent opportunities for Mensa members to make new friends, reconnect with acquaintances, learn from a wide range of speakers, play games, explore the sights and culture of the host city, and just hang out over five days around the 4th of July. The Mensa Foundation hosts their Colloquium the day before the official start of the Annual Gathering, bringing in experts on a theme related to intelligence. This year, the theme was “Human Intelligence in the age of AI.”
The Annual Gathering planners organize official off-site events, e.g., tours, that attendees can add to their registration. The Annual Gathering community in Mensa Connect was very active, with people organizing their own outings to events, places, and restaurants. I know many of the Minnesota contingent took advantage of that and had fun times.
A big attraction to an Annual Gathering is the banquet and keynote speaker. Ken Jennings, of Jeopardy! fame, delighted folks with a captivating presentation and audience engagement. He brought humor and interesting insights from his Jeopardy! experiences with human and artificial intelligence facing off against IBM’s Watson computer in 2011.
I enjoyed all the presentations I attended. When asked which was my favorite, I couldn’t provide one, not as a cop-out but because they were great in different ways. For example, the sessions about discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope and exoplanets fascinated my astronomy interest, while the personal experiences of September 11th survivors from the World Trade Center and Pentagon were emotionally engrossing.
Other activities include Leadership Development Workshops that provide education for local group volunteers. I connected with other local secretaries and national office staff, participated in discussions, and was a panelist on the “Bring a LocSec Problem” session. I had a great time offering ideas with Chad and Heather to other local group leaders.
Start thinking about going to the next Annual Gathering to be held in Fort Worth, Texas. I recommended that every Mensa member attend at least one Annual Gathering.
I am always looking for what members want to hear about, so please let me know what topics interest you or something to cover in more depth. Reach me by email to locsec@mnmensa.org or by phone at (612) 819-8088 with any comments or questions.