Linda in Northfield, Mensagenda Editor
About Mensagenda
Minnesota Mensa published Vol. I, No. 1 of our newsletter, then called the Minnesota Mensa, in June of 1965. Approaching six decades later and winning awards along the way, we continue to provide a monthly publication, now called Mensagenda.
As expected in a newsletter, we inform our local membership with organizational updates and provide details about our events. The real benefit is that, just like our events, Mensagenda is for our members, by our members.
The love of learning in Mensa is not just about supporting our scholarship but in enriching your own mind and sharing your knowledge, skills, and interests. Read articles and regular columns ranging from scientific explanations to humor in everyday life. Check out our members’ photography, drawing, painting, knitting and quilting, and crafting skills.
What would you like to share? Do you have expertise in a particular field of study or hobby? Want to express your opinion? Have you traveled recently? Do you write poetry? Can you create word games, numerical puzzles, or trivia questions? What could you say about…well, you get the picture.
Mensagenda is another way that Minnesota Mensa provides “a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members.” What could you contribute if you joined Mensa?
There’s More to Read
Mensa membership provides access to the publications from other chapters, American Mensa, and Mensa International. Click here to learn more.
Featured Cover Art
Sir Isaac Newton’s birthplace and home at Woolsthorpe Manor in Grantham, UK. Photo by Angela in Winona.
Vantage Point: Passport
by James in Saint Paul
Every January I make the same New Year’s resolutions: eat healthy, exercise, meditate. Sometimes I add a creative or professional goal as well. This year I’m adding something new to the list: make plans to go abroad. While I’ve traveled across much of the United States as an adult, the only time I ever left the country was on a field trip with my French class in junior high. We spent a week sightseeing our way through Quebec City and Montreal, and I took lots of photos. One of my French teachers later said that eventually we would all make it to France. You don’t study French for several years and never go there, she explained.
Now well into my adulthood, I still haven’t been to France. I haven’t even traveled abroad since that class trip, well before Americans needed passports to visit Canada. Until recently, none of my friends ever suggested that we travel outside the 50 states, and I didn’t want to go to another country alone. I basically put off any dreams of international travel until I approached retirement. In retrospect, I realize how pedestrian that might sound.
I now have someone in my life who prioritizes international travel, so my priorities have changed. I finally applied for a passport this past fall. The build‐up took some time, as I first had to order a new copy of my birth certificate. (I’m not sure what happened to the original.) Next, I had to update my driver’s license to a REAL ID. That alone took four months. When I look at my new passport photo, with a picture of me in my midfifties, I am reminded how quickly time slips away. That raises some further questions. With my new passport, where exactly would I like to go?} When I was much younger, I thought Antarctica might be fun. The novelty of the South Pole has since worn off. The older I get, the less interest I have in the cold. At other times I’ve thought about seeing the Great Wall of China, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the impressive architectural structures still standing from ancient Greece. France remains a possibility, of course, but to say my French is rusty would be an understatement. One of my college professors specifically recommended seeing the medieval castles of Europe. Pourquoi? To appreciate how relatively small they actually are.
Some of my friends highly recommend Puerto Vallarta. A popular tourist destination, the Mexican city looks beautiful and the climate is warm. Plus, I would like to see lucha libre wrestling in person, given the chance. I know a minuscule amount of Spanish, however, and have some concerns about coming across as an American stereotype who expects everything to be in English. Learning more Spanish might be a more pressing resolution before making the trip.