M-ongst Ourselves: Members at a Glance |
Just a moment ago, I settled in at the computer to write the final column of this year-long M-ongst Ourselves series. Within easy grasp of my left hand is my trusty morning juice smoothie--a smoothie I had been quite proud of this morning until I opened my Members at a Glance interview notebook, happened upon our first Glance, and realized how boring orange juice and strawberries actually are....
Philippe Faucon has the backyard to supply a most exotic smoothie, since one of his favorite pastimes is caring for the unusual collection of fruit trees and plants at his house. Mangoes and guavas flourish alongside bananas and macadamia nut trees, which complement his collection of flowers. Philippe’s job is to manage a team of engineers who write computer programs, but gardening and maintaining his personal home page are his favorite hobbies. He doesn’t grow cacti -- not a big fan of thorns, though roses are welcome! -- and instead concentrates his efforts on a large collection of flowers and trees, trying out new plants and ones, like mangoes, that are especially tricky to raise in the Phoenix climate. If this sounds like something you’d like to learn more about, log on to Philippe’s home page which will tell you even more about his success with exotic plants: www.desert-tropicals.com. Getting to know Philippe has inspired me to be a little more daring and bold with my juice smoothies--step aside, strawberry, there’s a mango on the way!
Are you not as easily inspired as I by the thought of liquefying your breakfast? Then read on, because you are about to meet Inspiration. Joan Alice Maria Gibson is a runner, race-walker, marathoner, and world-record-setter whose awards and first-place finishes are too numerous to list. She loves mountain climbing and swimming and rock-climbing, and she repairs broken computers and then gives them away to people with the stipulation that when they no longer need it they must give it -- not sell it -- to someone who does. She has a law degree and may begin training as a paralegal soon. She uses the English, Spanish, and German languages to train her golden retriever Monroe, whose life she saved in 1995 when they were BOTH hit by a car while exercising, causing the injured Joan to get up and chase after the car which was dragging Monroe! By the way, did I mention Joan is blind? Legally blind, Joan will be reading this Glance at herself as she does all the Mensa newsletters -- one character at a time. Joan’s seeing-eye dog participates with her in many of these sports activities -- and sometimes gives her a run for her money! (In 1995 they did a fun walk for Senior Olympics, in which Joan placed first -- although technically Monroe was the winner because, as Joan described the finish, "He was three-fourths of a dog ahead.") They take care of each other while training along the busy streets and sidewalks of town, and are now preparing for a race-walking marathon. (At age 48, Joan set a world record in the marathon for the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes.) In fact, Joan joined Mensa for its physical activities; however, she is in many ways an "Isolated M" due to a lack of transportation. Perhaps if you’re heading out to a Mensa athletic event you might want to give Joan and Monroe a call -- they’re in the directory.
Has your inspiration gland been stimulated enough? Then put down the article now, because I have one final Glance for you. What were you doing in 1973? Joan Lincoln was busy. She started reading books for the blind, she was awarded an MFA in pottery from ASU, and she was one of the first in the country to undergo an operation providing her with a new hip socket. Today, more than 25 years later, Joan is still a busy woman. She writes for Ceramics Monthly magazine, and you can find her article, "What do you do with 314 pots?" in the April issue. She makes her own pots and collects those in the Contemporary American style. She sings in a choir and is getting her thoughts together in hopes of writing a book about various attitudes regarding the treatment of women through time, noting the huge changes in women’s lives in the short span of a few recent generations. She was mayor of Paradise Valley for two years (1984-1986), and has a husband, four children, and grandchildren to keep her company. Her volunteer work with the Talking Book Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped is something I thought might interest many Mensans, considering the penchant for reading I’ve noticed in the past year’s Glances. She is recording her 87th book at the moment, at the rate of 20 to 30 pages every couple hours. (Her longest book took her 18 months to finish!) The process involves passing a test to demonstrate the volunteer’s ability to read out loud at a certain speed with proper diction and pronunciation -- once you start the recording process, other volunteers double check for correct pronunciation and skipped words. Professional actors often read "the big ones" (e.g., Shakespeare, best sellers, the Bible), which is probably fine with Joan since reading science fiction is her special preference. If you’d like to get involved with this group--and there are other things to do besides reading aloud if that worries you--give them a call at 255-5579.
And with that, we conclude a year of Glances at just a few of our local members. My great thanks go out to every member we Glanced at in this column, most of whom were called one night by a woman unknown to them claiming to be writing columns for Mensa, who then barraged them questions about their private, professional, and family lives.
When I began this series a year ago, my hope was to provide those of us whose hearts and minds are with Mensa -- though perhaps not always our physical presence at events -- a look at just who we have in this large but mysterious group of ours. I learned we have a very diverse and fascinating membership, full of people who can teach all sort of things about subjects the rest of us know little about -- and I "cold-called" just a fraction of the members listed in the directory. It has been a pleasure for me to talk with all of the Mensans we Glanced at, and leads me to wonder just who else is out there waiting to inform or entertain me at each event I don’t attend. The theme of this final column was Inspiration--and I hope your membership in Mensa, no matter how involved you are or aren’t, is a lasting source of inspiration for you.