The Magazine of New Orleans Mensa Information and Entertainment
2008 promises to be an exciting year. Whether it pleases you or not, we will see the end of the Bush administration and new leadership for our country. NOM leadership is not exactly new–we have only one new face on our EXCOM–congratulations, Anne Hatfield! But our officers are filled with enthusiasm to make New Orleans Mensa even more interesting and enjoyable in the new year. We seem to be emerging from the post Katrina landscape determined to make our city and our group better than ever. We need ALL of our members to be involved. If you haven’t been active in the past, I urge you to make a resolution to get involved this year. Host an event, make a suggestion, write an article for La Plume, or just get out and attend an activity–there’s so much to do.
Hooray for Mike Cahill! This talented NOM has a new book in print, Just Who Is Stocker Fontelieu, Anyway?–a biography of the New Orleans theater icon.
In this issue Gerry outlines her plans for the new year for NOM. We have poetry by Nick Gebhardt and Henry Bertrand has a somewhat strange reading list. Cover art is by Gerry Ward.
Thank you for returning me to office. I will continue to work to increase
attendance at our activities by giving you the type of activities you want.
I always welcome suggestions for new activities or suggestions to make the
existing ones more enjoyable.
Would you be interested in attending some plays and musicals this year? The Jefferson
Performing Arts Society has quite a full schedule. I am looking at Fiddler on
the Roof either Jan. 20 or 27. Let me know if you are interested as soon as possible.
Their website is www.jpas.org and their phone number is 504-885-2000 if you want
to check the schedule for the year.
Anyone interested in going to a plantation this spring? Destrahan has been suggested.
If there is enough interest, I will make plans. Possibly the Greater New Orleans
area members could meet at a mall parking lot and carpool. The North Shore members
could make plans with their coordinator.
Strangely the North Shore members are divided between us and Baton Rouge Mensa.
We have the Slidell area, and they have the rest. Most members on the North
Shore preference in to New Orleans Mensa. Before I was aware of this, I appointed
Henry Bertrand coordinator for activities for the North Shore. He still has his
job, but now I think it would be a good time to petition National to redraw the
boundaries and include them in New Orleans Mensa. It will only happen if our
North Shore NOMs want it to. So please get with Henry Bertrand at eplanet@bellsouth.net and let him know how you feel on this subject.
I would still like to see a group in our western area coming together. A Laplace
area group would be good. Anyone interested in coordinating an activity once
in a while.
To update your membership information or to change your directory privacy releases,
please visit www.us.mensa.org/profile. Or you can call 817-607-0060 ext. 199
to update your information with a member services representative. If you don’t
have your web login, contact webservices@americanmensa.org.
By the time you read this, it will be 2008. Have a very happy new year!
I’ve received several telephone calls and emails recently from new members
and people considering membership. The topics of most interest were the demographics
of membership on this side of the lake and the Mensan activities here. It is
rather embarrassing to report that nothing much is going on in the St. Tammany
branch of New Orleans Mensa. My attempts to generate interest in SIGS with
coffee shop and restaurant meetings here have come to nil.
As for our current stats, reported as of September 30, 2007, by National, of
the total 205 listings for New Orleans Mensa, 30 reside north of the lake, Zip-Code
704–. (31 are named, but I know of one who has moved to Lafayette.) There
are 24 males, 6 females. 14 males and 2 females have given email addresses. 19
males and 2 females gave telephone numbers. A breakout by town show Bogalusa
1, Bush 1, Covington 1, Franklinton 1, Madisonville 1, Mandeville 5, Pearl River
2, and Slidell 18.
If you live over here, please consider hosting a meeting at your home or some
public facility. Call or email me if you come up with a plan, and I will do my
best to help make it happen, if it is practicable. I can be reached at 985-674-9229
or eplanet@bellsouth.net. Also, your wishes are certainly to be honored when
it comes to unlisted phone numbers and email addresses, but meeting other Mensans
and communicating with them is usually one of the major motivations in joining
this society. I hope to hear from you.
Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: A Theory of Relativity
(Family Secrets of Dr. E) by Albert Einstein
The Greatest Hoax Ever...Whitehouse Gases & Global Warming
(Confessions of a Closet-Environmentalist) by George Bush
Solar-System Warming: A Convenient Lie
(Human Actions Don’t Affect Martian Climate) by Al Gore
The Demise of Species
(A Scientist Responds to Intelligent Design) by Charles Darwin
The DaVinci Area-Code
(From the Italian Yellow Pages) by AT&T
I’m OK, You’re F*!&#ing Not
(Personality Checks) by Dick Cheney
The Moon Also Sets
(Novelist Discovers a New Cosmology) by Ernest Hemingway
Terror-fied of Flying
(Feminist Does Post 9-11 Sequel) by Erica Jong
Peace and War
(Russian Reverses Ideology) by Leo Tolstoy
A Long History of Time
(Watchmaking From the Pre-Cambrian to Now) by Stephen Hawking
God Help Us!
(Atheist Laments Religious Wars) by Richard Dawkins
Trillions & Trillions, Maybe Quadrillions
(U.S. Deficit Dwarfs Star Count) by Carl Sagan
2001 BC: A Space Pre-Odyssey
(UFO Parachutes int Roswell, NM) by Arthur C. Clarke
(Add to the list. Send Suggestions to the Editor)
I dream of flights of fancy,
Of romance long and true.
I dream of feats of valor,
And skies of lasting blue.
I watch the magic kingdoms,
Or the battles in the air.
Daring rides and rolling hills,
The hero’s always there.
I read the dashing stories,
And how the villains plot.
I know about the vampires,
And how the knave is caught.
I’ve even played fantastic games,
And traveled to many lands.
I’ve even flown above them,
From seas to boiling sands.
I play my games and watch tv.
And read books from my shelf.
While I’ve lived the lives of others,
Did I ever truly live myself?