By Mark Hutchenreuther
More new local and regional officers, a couple of opinions, and RG news My column last month went out before I learned that Hawaii now has an Editor, Sheila Feigin. Welcome aboard, Sheila, and please accept my apologies for the oversight.
We also have a new Regional Scholarship Chair, Merv Meyer, of Harbor Area Mensa. Merv looks forward to working with the new National co-Chairs, Dave Michel and Lynne Killgore, as well as with all of our local Scholarship Chairs.
Some of you have asked about the bid by Alaska for an AMC meeting, which we voted to accept. I feel very strongly in favor of it, and would like you to know why that is.
Several years ago, when I was LocSec, I was asked to make a bid for an AMC meeting in the fall. The first time was a last-minute request that I was unable to fill because of a lack of meeting rooms during the holiday party season. The second request gave me more time, but my bid was denied because it was "too hard to get to" our area. That annoyed me, to put it mildly. It sent the message to our group (and by extension to all groups) that we could only bid on things if they were convenient for Mensa.
So, isn’t Alaska a bit expensive? Probably, but so would be San Francisco or New York City. Is this a political junket? Hardly, there is little free time at an AMC meeting. We spend most of our waking time in meetings working on the issues of Mensa, not partying at the expense of our members.
Accepting a bid from Alaska for the next available meeting slot and with plenty of time to plan in advance beats the heck out of begging for local groups to bid on an AMC meeting. And most important, it sends a very clear message to the local groups – we will support you by considering and accepting your bid to host an AMC meeting no matter who or where you are. That is the right thing for us to do.
In the past few months, I have seen evidence that the local groups in our region have their share of potential problem members. At the national level, we are trying to come up with a means of dealing with these members, but that means is a procedure to drum them out of our organization. In spite of my Midwestern conservative upbringing, I can be a bit of a liberal at times, and this is one of those times. I feel quite strongly that we should be trying to help these members, not necessarily eliminate them. My own personal crusade is for what I call a Member Assistance Program, like the employee assistance programs you may have at work. We won’t be able to save all of them, but we should certainly try.
Those of you who missed the Inland Empire RG missed a very nice one indeed. It is one of our smallest, but everyone there feels they are part of the extended family we tend to be.
Don’t be left out! Sign up now for the next RG in our region, the Chocolate oRGy in Las Vegas. Trust me, it will help you get through the upcoming holidays. See you there!