From the LocSec
By
February 2009
February starts at just about the coldest time of year in these parts, and we start slowly warming through the month. It makes a great time to look forward to a great year of Mensa activities.
The Colloquium is the first of four national Mensa events this year, and it starts February 27 and continues through March 1 in Atlanta, Georgia. The 2009 Colloquium is entitled "Weather or Not," and deals with climate change. Registration costs $220 for two people, and includes three meals, six presentations by well-known experts in the field, and break-out sessions at which participants can meet with some of the experts.
Culture Quest® will be held Sunday afternoon April 19. It's a trivia quiz of sorts, but limited to culturally significant questions that measure cultural literacy. Teams of 5 answer the questions nationwide during the same 90 minute interval. John Schneder is our CQ coordinator; let him know if you'd like to be on a team (teams have to be submitted to national by the end of March).
Mensa Mind Games® will be hosted by Cincinnati Area Mensa in 2009; it will take place April 24-26, at the Drawbridge Inn in Ft. Mitchell. Mind Games® is an intense working weekend of play. Mensans judge and critique assigned games released in the past year and award the coveted Mensa Select® seal to the top five. Past winners include ScattergoriesTM, Trivial PursuitTM and TabooTM. Registration is $75, which includes vouchers for $25 worth of meals in the hotel restaurants, and, for members, the opportunity to take home one or more of the judged games; registration closes April 3. It probably won't be close again for many years - next year's event will be in the San Diego area.
American Mensa's biggest annual event is our Annual Gathering, where about 2000 Mensans and guests will gather for learning, playing, & camaraderie. This year's AG will be held about 290 miles away, in Pittsburgh, PA, and co-chaired by CAM's own Mary Lee Kemper. The 2009 AG, "AM/FM" ("About Mensans, For Mensans"), runs from July 1-July 5; registration is $85 through March.
Locally, CAM will have our usual great variety of events - lunches, happy hours, games nights, a picnic, a scavenger hunt, trivia competitions, and more. Our big event of the year, our Regional Gathering, will be held December 4-6, and will be chaired by Marty Meighen and Misty Richmond; I understand they're looking to use a "CAM-a-lot" theme this year. Most of our events are really private events, hosted by a member or members, to which other members are generally invited by means of a calendar listing; if you'd like to schedule your own event to which you'd like to invite CAM members, contact Calendar Editor Tiffany Everett to list your event. (By the way, the events hosted by our Gen-X SIG are generally open to all CAM members, including those older or younger than Gen-X age - while the activities are generally those that would interest those of their generation, they generally welcome the rest of us who would like to participate.)
Of course, to participate, you have to be a member (or an accompanied guest of a member), and many of your memberships expire at the end of March. By now, those of you whose memberships expire this year should have received your renewal notices (a nice way of saying "dues bill"). Please renew! We don't want to lose any of you. If you're having financial difficulties (as many are in these tough times), we do have a Financial Assistance Policy (revised last year) that can provide some assistance; contact Verona Bennetto for more information on how to apply (Verona will be completely discreet with your inquiry).
--Rick Magnus