Regional Ramblings

By Bob Cox

I have just returned from the Annual Gathering in Cincinnati. There were quite a number of members there from our region. If you were not there, try to imagine over 1,300 Mensans together for five days. There were speakers and dances and of course the Hospitality room. That was an interesting place; they had fruit juices and ice cream always available and they had made 8,000 buckeyes (a local candy) and 150 gallons of soup.

Awards were presented. The Lament, the newsletter of Greater Los Angeles Mensa received two Service Awards; one for Forum and one for Reporting. They also received a Special Mention for the feature on their 1997 cover art in their January issue. Congratulations to Mary Kimball and her team. Lynda Kay and Don Beatty, editors of the Inland Empire newsletter ie, received a well deserved Individual Achievement Award for their monthly column ÒFrom Both Sides of the HouseÓ. Don and Lynda also won Best Pun Costume at the Costume Ball.

The team from Greater Phoenix Mensa came in third Nationally and of course, first in Region Nine, in CultureQuest. They beat the team from GLAM by one point. Borderline Mensa and Channel Islands Mensa tied for third place in the region.

As well as all the fun at AGs, there are business meetings that some of us must attend. Among the business the AMC discussed was the venues of the 2000 and 2001 Annual Gatherings. The AG in 2000 will be in Philadelphia and the following year in Dallas. The AMC made the agenda motions from the AMC Structure Review Committee discussion items. They will vote on them at the December meeting. This will allow the membership time to discuss them before the vote. I would welcome your thoughts on these motions. Your LocSec and Editor each have a copy of these items.

Next year the Annual Gathering will be in Long Beach, California. It will run from Thursday, July 1 through Monday July 5. The Monday is the holiday. It is time to ask your boss for the Thursday and Friday off. This is our AG. Let us all do what we can to make it great. Of course you must be there. If you are not, you will spend the next year listening to what a great time you missed.

It takes a lot of people to put on a Mensa Annual Gathering. Think about how you can help. They will need speakers and volunteers for everything from introducing speakers to helping in Hospitality. They may even want you to cook soup.