Mid-Mensan The Newsletter of Mid-Hudson Mensa

June 1997

The movies have their Oscars. TV has its Emmys. The Theater has the Tony awards and Mensa has the Owl. The Owl is given to the best Mensa newsletter and obviously is a very prestigious award. One can also be nominated for an award in a specific category (sort of like best supporting actress in a documentary). This year the Mid-Mensan has been nominated for a total of 6 awards. I've been a member of this chapter for over 15 years and we've never been nominated for this many awards. You should certainly be proud of your newsletter. Congratulations go to the following:

In the category of Entertainment - Humor - Ron McMurdy, Editor
Individual Achievement - Artwork - Alan Hauck
Individual Achievement - Humor - Barbara Neumann, Dear Miss Mensa
Individual Achievement - Loc Sec Column - Bill Zigo, BillBoard
Individual Achievement - Continuing Column- Bill Zigo, Living Smarter
Owl - Medium Group - Mid-Mensan - Ron McMurdy, Editor

There's a new award being given this year for the best home page. We're one of 8 nominees. Congratulations to Tom Rankin who was our Webmaster. What's interesting about this award is that Alan Hauck has been asked to design it. Alan is also our new Webmaster.

Nancy Keyes-Crosby, Ron McMurdy and I are all going to the AG in Birmingham this year. Normally we tend to skip the banquets but we're definitely going to the award luncheon this year to both dine and hope. (May I have the envelope please...)

Interesting goings on in the chapter this month. I've been getting e-mail and phone calls from people who have heard of Mensa from WAMC (Northeast Public Radio) on a show called Vox Pop. It seems that the Albany Chapter was interviewed around the time of LOTS (See last issue). As a result of this publicity I've had the pleasure of talking to several potential new members. Somehow Les Herring's name was given as phone contact, and he fielded calls without knowing how people got his number. Thanks, Les.

Do you hide your Mensa membership? I'm not talking about constantly boasting about your intelligence; you don't need to. The world knows you're smart, but there's also nothing to be ashamed of in belonging to Mensa. In May the intrepid Pizza SIG group traveled to the wilds of Port Jervis. Margaret Disilvestro, a member in that area, called every Mensan she could think of and reminded them of the local event. She even called some (gasp) lapsed members. Well, two members, Helen Schimpf and a lapsed member, both of whom knew the other, were among the attendees. Neither one had realized that the other was a member. Why not tell your friends you belong? Even better, why not come to some events or sponsor an event and see some of the other members?

As you may have already noticed, I'm experimenting with some changes to some of the fonts we use in the newsletter, one of those things new editors do when they feel the need to "play." Some contributors, such as Vehig Tavitian, provided their own suggestions. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the fonts change a few times before they settle in. I'm hoping to find several different fonts to use for the headers of various articles, to reflect their moods. But the font we use for the articles themselves won't change.

As Betsy said, we received numerous Publication Awards nominations this year. Congratulations to all nominees, and to Ron McMurdy for the excellent job he did as editor, especially in 1996 through the January 1997 issue.

While not every contributing member of our newsletter received an individual nomination this year, both the Entertainment and Owl nomination reflect the quality of our newsletter as a whole. Every article included adds to the overall great quality of our newsletter.

And our momentum has continued to increase over the past year as well, with more contributions and more members involved than ever before. It's exciting to work on a newsletter when it's making great strides, and I hope this momentum has a cascading effect on all aspects of our chapter activities.

Easy:

CXSR UKQQ CF CXSR; BVE RX UKQQ B QXO

XH TKEEQF-BIFE TFV.

Hard - no punctuation and groups of 5:

TUBCU VCXQC YTQCX QBXUA CQBCP YBCLO

NQMQC HQQOC HURUY OCBYB FOPQA NUOBC

AFNCY UO

Answers near the end of this newsletter.

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS:

Eugene Primoff had a letter published in April's National Bulletin (pg.5). He and his wife Joanne, also a member, live way up in the NW part of the chapter (Delaware County). He is also a member of both Triple-9 and ISPE, and is interested in hearing (pun intended) from musicians who want to practice. And in May, member David Nuss had a letter published as well.

Eric Kollenberg's April Fool's cover about "our" efforts to clone a marmot was cloned, uh, copied by North Dakota Mensa's Prairie Dawg May newsletter, as "copying the prairie dog".

Vehig Tavitian was again active at the Dutchess County chapter of Literacy Volunteers of America's annual spelling bee, running their boutique. This year's spelling bee was their most financially successful ever. Member Charlie Rovner is also a Literacy Volunteer.

In the "Bibi's still catching up department": Candace G. Cowan had the top of the Opinion Page headline and the Vantage Point, "Apathy is Democracy's Biggest Foe", in the Poughkeepsie Journal back on Sunday October 20. They printed her picture with the caption, "co-chair of voters service of the Dutchess Unit of Mid-Ulster League of Women Voters." Perhaps this is a good place to give a reminder that smart people should always re-register whenever they move, even if it's just across the street.

MEET THE MEMBERS

Andrew Kostic is one of our newer members - new to Mid-Hudson Mensa anyway. Andy recently moved from Minnesota to Kingston, where he has begun a new career with IBM. For those of you in the chapter who are avid dog lovers, Andy is an AKC conformation judge, and he raises, shows and trains several breeds of dachshunds plus the occasional greyhound and basset hound.

One of the more interesting events Andy would like to see on our calendar is an Army of Darkness movie night. Hmmmm, perhaps he'd be willing to start with Bill Zigo's annual Bad Film Festival on New Year's Eve? There's no guarantee he'd show Army of Darkness, but he might show Amazon Women On the Moon, another of Andy's favorite movies.

Andy's birthday falls on the same day as June's Pizza SIG, which is conveniently (for him) in Kingston this month, which he hopes to attend. So if you show up, be sure to meet Andy, and also to wish him a happy birthday.

This month's contribution comes from Carl Altman.

How many of you belong to book clubs, record clubs, marmot of the month clubs, etc., where each month (if not more frequently), you get one of those "special" forms? You know, the ones which advertise one or more featured selections, which you can receive by doing absolutely nothing at all. I can remember when I was in book and record clubs such as these, 9 times out of 10 I didn't want the selection, so I had to use my own postage to notify them that I wasn't interested. And thanks to the beauty of bulk postage, sometimes I received my selection card too late to respond promptly and had to deal with returning the item. Some clubs have even gone so far as to provide 2 featured selections, increasing the odds they can send you something, while increasing the likelihood you have to mail the form back.

For me, the way to get out of that situation but still have a mail-order option was to drop these services and get only catalogs.

But there is another option. What is described above is called a "negative option plan." In other words, you have to respond negatively to NOT receive the selection. But what they DON'T tell you is that for many clubs, after you have fulfilled any basic obligations, you can contact the customer service department and request a switch to a positive option. With this plan, you get your offering notice, but it will not be sent to you unless you explicitly request it. Not every club provides this offer, but it doesn't hurt to inquire, especially if their customer service number is toll-free.

Sharing helpful tips is another positive option. Send yours to Living Smarter, c/o Bill Zigo Remember, if you don't send me your tips, you'll have to put up with mine.

This one is from Tom Rankin:

A hungry African lion was roaming through the jungle looking for something to eat. He came across two men. One was sitting under a tree reading a book; the other was typing away on his typewriter. The lion quickly pounced on the man reading the book and devoured him. Even the king of the jungle knows that readers digest and writers cramp.

Send in your favorite groaner to PUNS c/o Jim Jelacic.

As the new GCC Contact, I thought you'd like to know what's been happening. I've fielded several inquiries so far this year, including a fellow who heard of me from a World of Science customer I'd talked to several times. His son is 8 years old, has IQ test scores to qualify him for membership, and is an extremely gifted pianist who plays organ for his church already! He's inquiring about membership. Other inquiries have come from members in Ulster and Orange Counties.

I met in March with the National President of Girl Scouts of the USA, Ms. Elinor Ferdon. Although much of the conversation involved activities not relating to Mensa, my position as Mid-Hudson Mensa's GCC gained her approval and was met with genuine interest!

At work, a customer asked about the Mid-Hudson Astronomy Association, saying she had seen it mentioned in our Mensa bulletin. While I told her of my position as MHAA Publicity Director, I mentioned that I'm the GCC. She was taken aback; her 11 year old son next to her was the Mensa member. That was the first young member I had the opportunity to meet in person. We plan to keep in touch.

There are already at least 6 mothers who are joining Karen Ditsch and me in starting a Motherhood Correspondence SIG for e-mail. Look for us in the Bulletin, and please join in!

I've been in contact with every GCC in the country who has an e-mail address listed in the Bulletin. Many have offered helpful information or words of encouragement even if they themselves are new to the position as well, but none like Bill Slankar of Chicago. I plan to develop a resource guide similar to the one he has for his area; the copy he sent me was quite complete and informative.

Besides the resource guide, future plans include calling every college in our area to compile information on available programs for children, both on Saturdays and in the summer, and becoming more familiar with the school districts' resources and evaluation procedures. A friend of mine is the teacher representative to the NYS government for gifted children in this area, so it's time I called her to chat!

I took this position because in third grade I was tested at second year college level in reading, and nothing was done about it. I want to help others avoid having their lives go the more difficult path because of such neglect. That's my real plan for the future of Mid-Hudson Mensa's GCC, to help the ones whose parents don't call. I'm laying the foundation for it now. There are many things that need to be done. Please volunteer to help make even one phone call, and we'll be able to provide that help just a little bit sooner.

This month, I'd like to thank many people for valuable contributions they provided in May or that they will make in June or over the summer.

First, the same day that they received their May newsletter, both Elizabeth McAllister of Liberty and Donna (Sivertsen) Hughes, now of Cornwall on Hudson, called to let me know that Cafe Miltonberg, our May Mirthday site, had closed (much grumbling on my part). Donna also checked for several possible alternate locations for Mirthday. We finally decided upon Blueberry Mountain, also in Middletown. By notifying us quickly, we were also able to 1) announce the change on our home page; 2) announce the change at our monthly gathering on 5/2; 3) contact all our May birthdays to let them know; and 4) spread the word to many people by e-mail. While we couldn't contact everybody, it did work for Mike Messina of Blooming Grove, who made it to his first Mensa event. Mike is one of the Mid-Hudson members whose home page is pointed to from our own home page (and we recognized him from his picture on his home page). If you have a home page you'd like pointed to from ours, please contact our webmaster, Alan Hauck.

Demetri Kolokotronis called right after receiving his newsletter to let me know that Woodstock would be holding a Renaissance Faire the same weekend as our visit to Catskill Corners to see the kaleidoscope. With that prompt notification, we were able to inform our Albany contact for the joint event and to let everyone who RSVP'd know about this opportunity. I wasn't able to attend the Faire, but several others did.

Which brings us to the kaleidoscope event itself. We had not 10... not 20... but 30 people attend, from Mid-Hudson Mensa, MONNY and MOST (!). Special thanks to Jeanette Durand (MONNY's editor & gifted children contact) for contacting members of MONNY and coming up with the idea in the first place. Thanks also to Mary Jo Kelleher (loc sec of MOST) and Anne Taft (editor of "the MOST") who also mentioned it in their newsletter. Everyone had a great time. Watch for group photos to show up on our home page sometime in the future. It was so popular, we're thinking of coming back in the fall... after they've expanded again!

Thanks also go to Margaret Disilvestro of Port Jervis. Margaret requested the Pizza SIG in Port Jervis (see last month's Pizza SIG), and when we came through, she contacted as many local members as she could remember, to remind them about it. As a result, our Pizza SIG at Gino's was one of our largest ever. And the pizza was great also, rating 7 1/6 slices, qualifying it for our hall of fame (the April pizzeria, Chez Joey of New Paltz, rated 5 1/6 slices). Besides great pizza, we were also treated to some very interesting quotes from our waitress, such as, "Hand me your plates and I'll dish out the garbage" (as in garbage style pizza), and "When I put it in I took it off so it didn't come up on the thing" (referring to an error on our bill).

Alison Bentley, besides being our Gifted Children's Coordinator, has been quite helpful in locating speakers for this year's monthly gatherings. Thanks Alison.

Thank you, Eugene and Joanne Primoff, for the enjoyable conversation we had, after I noticed Eugene had a letter in the April Mensa Bulletin. If you're a closet piano player but are willing to perform among a small group of peers, and if you're willing to make a drive to the absolute remotest part of our chapter, Eugene invites you to participate in an informal piano-player get-together. For details, please contact our Calendar Editor.

I'd also like to thank Linda Spellmon, who will be coordinating a July museum trip between Mid-Hudson Mensa and Greater New York Mensa. Linda recently moved to this area from Atlanta. She was previously in Rhode Island (a former editor and later loc sec) and is originally from New York City. Though she currently lives in Beacon, Linda's post office box is in Peekskill, where she works. So officially, she's a member of Greater New York Mensa until she moves to her house in Poughkeepsie. So even though you won't see her on our roster for a little while, you'll see her attending and possibly hosting local events. Linda is also an avid tennis player and is always looking for an opponent. But beware - she's good.

The details for Susan Berbec's book sale are in a separate article on pages 10 and 11. I hope you take advantage of this opportunity. It's a win/win situation for everyone, plus you can have your cake and eat it too, as we celebrate June Mirthday with Susan. Thank you, Susan, for being willing to part with your books for a good cause, and for agreeing to host Mirthday during the book sale.

And thanks, in advance, to Tom and Barbara Rankin, who are hosting a picnic this month, and Karen Ditsch, who may be hosting another picnic later this year.

Don't be surprised if, at events this summer, you see someone approach you with a questionnaire. Traditionally we've run "Audience Participation Jeopardy" at our Regional Gathering for the last few years. This year, with the Transylvanian Summer Camp theme, we're switching to "Addams Family Feud". But to play the "Feud" game, we need questionnaire results. So at many gatherings and events through the rest of the summer, we'll bring questionnaires for you. If you aren't planning on attending the RG (or are attending but aren't interested in being on one of the teams), we'd like to tally your responses.

And for those of you planning ahead, one of our favorite events, Moonlight Madness, will be Saturday, July 19. Also that weekend - our third annual camping and picnicking weekend (contact Bibi Sandstrom for more on that).

Brunch SIG is Getting a Facelift

We're thinking of modifying Brunch SIG, which currently meets 4 times a year (March, June, September, December). In its place we're considering Sunday Social, which would meet the same months, but would be more generic in scope. Sunday Social could still include brunch as a possibility (and we wouldn't dare change Green Eggs and Ham), but would be open to other possibilities. It could include, for example, an afternoon putting jigsaw puzzles together. Another possibility could be to revive "Coffee and Conversation", which was a frequent calendar event when I joined in 1988. If you have any comments on this proposal, or if you have a suggestion for a future Sunday Social event, please contact me.