If you're near Duluth, Minnesota, and you're itching to join Mensa, here's your chance:
A group of 17 people is reviving a Twin Ports chapter of the international organization. The local chapter began in January. They've met three times now, most recently at the Chester Creek Cafe on Ninth Street in the East Hillside...
"It's a lot about socialization," said Anna Roos, a Duluth Mensa member and University of Minnesota Duluth associate professor of history and head of the school's honors programs. "We like lots of puns and word games that are always lively."
While most of those members say a high IQ is a big plus, they really want to find bright people who are willing to engage in open-minded and far-ranging conversations...
Everybody is invited into Mensa, just as long as he or she is a genius. The lone requirement for Mensa membership is to score in the top 2 percent on a standardized intelligence test.
While Mensa may have an elitist or exclusive reputation to many, local members said they try to make it inclusive and don't care for pretentious attitudes.
Problem is, political correctness being what it is, just supporting the use of intelligence tests is often considered pretentious (and bigoted) in and of itself.
You Duluthians can go here to test for Mensa, or you can peruse the list of acceptable scores on outside standardized tests on the Mensa US site.
In case you're wondering, I was a member of Mensa in my early twenties (my WAIS-R, GRE, and SAT scores all qualified; I'm nothing if not consistent). Those were the days before everyone had email, and I was looking to expand my penpal circle. And I got some very interesting letters from very, um, interesting people, not all of whom were men, and not all of whom were incarcerated (yeeks). Let's just say that I've since found it more entertaining and fulfilling to converse with people of all intelligence levels who have interests, goals, and life experiences similar to mine, than with people who are very smart, but often are disillusioned and unhappy underachievers.
Posted by kswygert at May 17, 2004 01:52 PM