The Editor Writes
The Word According to Beth Schwartz
Puzzle by Maria
Gerrymeandering
Ask Aunt Mensa
Status of the MERF Scolarship Essay Contest
First Place Scholarship Essay
Second Place Scholarship Essay
Third Place Scholarship Essay
Cooking 101, lesson 8
Carl Howes
Another month has flown by! Given the production schedule it has been a bit less than a month since I wrote my last column, but what's a few days?
This month we welcome back the Polish Prince after a break to take care of things in Real Life (nasty how that gets in the way of Mensa, isn't it?) Aunt Mensa also rejoins us after some time off, and LocSec Beth Schwartz sends a letter from camp. (Granada?)
This year's first place winner in our annual Scholarship essay contest is from my own town of Hudson! Thanks to the transcribing effort of our hard working Scholarship Chair, Ann Majeske, we have the essays written by our local winners in this issue.
Speaking of Scholarship awards, I hope to see many of you at our fund-raising Yard Sale, which is still three days off as I write this. The money raised by this event is part of what makes our local scholarship prizes possible.
I am still planning a gifted children's feature, but have not
had time to put one together. I would very much like to get input
on this from parents in our group, or even better the children
themselves.
The Word According to Beth
Schwartz
Beth Schwartz
I knew it would happen eventually. I would miss a deadline. We all know that I just forgot, but I'm going to use the AG as my excuse. Anyway, I was in Cincinnati for the deadline date, and didn't have access to a computer. (At a Mensa gathering... Yeah, right.)
Anyway, I'm back on track now. Back to camp, and back to the infirmary. Camp has been great. Very busy and challenging, both emotionally and physically. I miss my air conditioner , my bed, my husband, and my dog not necessarily in that order. Shaina was moved into a slightly older age group than we had originally thought, and she seems to be doing okay most of the time. Leah is the youngest child at the day camp, and it shows... but she seems to be doing much better now that Shaina is not there for her to lean on all the time.
As a learning and religious experience, I think this has been great for the kids. The other night, Leah started chanting the blessings after meals, IN HEBREW! I know I couldn't do that at the age of 3. Shaina has made lots of new friends and has also been increasing her religious knowledge. She's learned more in her two months here than she has in her first eight years of life. She seems to like not being the only Jewish kid around.
It has been a learning experience for me as well. I work
almost exclusively with geriatric and hospice clientele at home.
This has given me a much broader view in my practice. Maybe I'll
end up changing my focus at some point in my career. For now,
there's no place like home... There's no place like home...
There's no place like home.
In the puzzle below, fit the letters in each column into the boxes above them. Once you use a letter, cross it off the list and do not use it again. A black square designates the end of a word. When all the boxes are filled correctly you will be able to read a quotation and its author. Answer at the end of this page.
A C C A A E D E C E A A A
C A E D A
E F D E E I E E H H A C C
C C L H A
I N E L I I G H I I H E E
E E N I C
N O E O I N I O P N I E H
F O O I C
N P M S L N N O S N N I R
O T O I D
O T O N V S T O R S S R U
R R I
P U R W W T T V T U S U W
L
T Y Z T U T T W S
V S
From Momentum, November 1982, Judy Swank, Editor. I
think this puzzle was created by Maria Reynolds, but only a first
name appears with the original.
Gerry Riley
Once in a while, one of these columns seems to touch a nerve among several of you. The June Gerrymeandering was apparently one of those. Several people wrote (and thank you all for the feedback!) to share their views on how Mensa is or is not a welcoming organization.
No doubt about it, I'm biased. Since 1983, I've been an officer, a volunteer, co-chaired several gatherings, and most importantly, met my wife of eleven years. Mensa has been a very important part of my life. It can be for many more people, too, I'm convinced. If you're reading these words, you believe in Mensa enough to shell out $45 a year for membership.
Are you willing to put forth the effort to help others reach this conclusion? It's really not that hard. If someone asks you "What do you do at your Mensa meetings?", you tell them that we socialize, talk, play games, talk some more, eat, drink, talk yet more, and generally enjoy each others' company. For many of us, that socialization is the key part of Mensa. I have family in the real world. I also have family in the Mensa world. This past weekend, I saw a couple of young people, children of a member, who have in the last decade grown from kids into remarkable adults. There are children I met when they were only weeks old, and who are now walking, talking and otherwise amazing little people. They're family, even if they're not kin to me. How can I not tell people about that?
What about times when you're disappointed? You held an event, and only a handful of people showed up. Well, it's how you tell the story. "We held an event, and some folks showed up and had a good time" is a better sell than "We expected 25 people and only five showed." If this sounds like spin doctoring, it is. If you want people to share in your joys, you have to convince them. Nor is this lying. Sometimes, nowhere near the number of members that you'd like show up, but the ones who do have a good time, and that's the truth. Let quality, not quantity, be your guide.
New and recently active members deserve our special attention.
Do you like being a Mensan? Share your favorite stories and
chocolate delights with someone you've never met before. We all
know how hard it is to attend our first - or sometimes, second or
later - event. Don't leave someone standing at the fringes of a
group without a guide or shepherd. Be their shepherd, and show
them what it is about Mensa that makes you stay on. They
certainly won't take anything away from the group you know, and
they'll very likely add to it. And adding to your joys can only
be a positive thing.
Aunt Mensa
MY DEARS, HAVING SOLICITED AUNT MENSA'S ADVICE, YOU ARE FREE TO FOLLOW IT OR NOT, BUT JUST REMEMBER, AUNT MENSA IS NOT RESPONSIBLE.
Dear Aunt Mensa,
I enjoy the many wonderful opportunities Mensa provides to give and get hugs. But I don't like huggers who abuse it by using it as a chance to grope huggees. What can I do?
Friendly Hugger
Dear Hugger,
Having heard various forms of this complaint, Aunt Mensa hereby declares the Code of Hug Etiquette. It's quite simple:
1) Offer a hug, don't just grab.
2) A hug should be a brief embrace and only an embrace.
Obviously, the degree of relationship between the parties involved dictates the degree to which the code is followed. Don't offer more than you have reason to think will be welcome.
If one of the parties misjudges the degree of closeness, the other is free to end the hug (saying "let go" if necessary) and state pleasantly but firmly "Please don't do that".
In closing, I offer a gentle friendly hug from...
Your Affectionate,
Aunt Mensa
Status of the MERF Scolarship
Essay Contest
Ann Majeske
The results are in for the Mensa Education and Research Foundation (MERF) 1997-1998 Scholarship Essay Contest!
Every year MERF sponsors a scholarship essay contest. The contest is open to any U.S. citizen or legal resident who is enrolled in a degree program in an accredited U.S. institution of post-secondary education. Each applicant must write an essay which describes their career, vocational, or academic goals. Blind judging is done on three levels: local, regional, and national.
Not all Mensa local groups participate in the MERF Scholarship Essay Contest. A lot of hard work is necessary. Notices must be sent out to schools and the media. Essays must be scanned for eligibility. Each essay must be read and judged by at least 3 judges. The winning essays must then be sent on to be judged at the regional and national level. After a long wait for the regional and national judging there's the fun part, notifying the winners!
In spite of the fact that New Hampshire Mensa is a small group, we not only participate in the MERF Scholarship Essay Contest, we also sponsor 3 local group awards: A first place award of $400; A second place award of $200; And a third place award of $100.
Where do we get the money? From fund-raisers like the Scholarship Auction at the RG and the yard sale. If we don't collect enough money through fund-raisers, we either have to reduce the number or dollar amount of scholarships that we give, or we just find the money somewhere in the budget, if we can. We could this year, but there's no way of knowing if there will be enough money in the general budget to do this next year. If you have any ideas for fund-raisers that you would like to participate in, let the ExComm know. The MERF Scholarship Essay Contest is one of the few things that we in New Hampshire Mensa do that really makes a difference, if only for a few deserving scholarship winners.
This year, there are two regional scholarships that were awarded to New Hampshire residents, as well as the three locally awarded scholarships. Our winners are:
Katie Inderbitzen of Hudson, NH - Katie won the New Hampshire Mensa $400 first place award. She also won a Grosswirth-Salny regional award of $500! Katie graduated from Alvirne High School this year. She will start working on a Bachelor of Science in Geology this fall. Since she was in sixth grade she has dreamed of working in Geological Oceanography.
Shawna Benge-Strong of Center Barnstead, NH - Shawna won the New Hampshire Mensa $200 second place award. Shawna is the mother of two beautiful children. She is working on an Associates Degree in Nursing with emphasis in Obstetrics at New Hampshire Technical Institute. Shawna is very focused on giving children a healthy and happy start in life. Her long term plan is to become a midwife.
Bethany Cobb of Atkinson, NH - Bethany won the New Hampshire Mensa $100 third place award. Bethany graduated from Timberlane Regional High School this year. She will start working on a bachelor's degree in Science and English at Williams College in the fall.
Brian W. Corbett of Concord, NH - Brian won a Karen Cooper/Diana Mossip regional award of $200. Brian graduated from the Concord High School this year. He will start working on a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in the fall. He plans on becoming an oral surgeon.
Congratulations to all of our New Hampshire winners!
I'd also like to say a special thanks to all of the people
without whom New Hampshire Mensa's participation in the MERF
Scholarship Essay Contest wouldn't have been possible. I hope I
can remember everybody, it's been awhile since we started working
on this. Beth Schwartz helped in more ways than I can mention.
Tom Shiel and Deb Stone did the first pass judging as well as
participating in the second round. Shaina Schwartz and the rest
of the attendees at the December (or was it November?) FSM
stuffed hundreds of envelopes with contest notices for New
Hampshire high schools and colleges. Rich Schwartz read and
judged all but 5 of the essays in the second round. Jack and Sara
from Rhode Island took time out of a vacation weekend to help
with the second round judging and keep us entertained. Christine
Bartlett picked up all the bits and pieces we just couldn't
finish during the scheduled time for the second round.
Katie Inderbitzen
I have aspired to be a geological oceanographer for as long as I can remember. At the tender age of eleven, I read the book The Discovery of the Titanic by Dr. Robert Ballard. Because of Ballard's enthusiasm toward marine geology and archaeology, I discovered within myself a deep love for marine geology, a field about which I had previously known nothing. From that moment on, everything I have accomplished has been only to achieve this goal.
Two years after reading Ballard's book, I applied to be a Student Argonaut for JASON VI: Island Earth on the island of Hawaii during the spring of 1995. The JASON Project is an interactive expedition Ballard created to excite elementary students about science and technology. Student Argonauts are high school students who accompany the expedition team and serve as role models for the younger students. I cannot describe the elation I felt when I tore open the envelope and found that I had been chosen, one of only twenty-five selected from the hundreds of applicants across the country. During the week long expedition, I worked closely with scientists to gain a better understanding of the volcanoes of Hawaii and how they affect the geology and biology of the island chain. I brought away from that expedition not only geologic field experience, but the assurance that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
In the summer of 1996, I had the opportunity to take part in a program offered by the Sea Education Association based in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Their three week program for high school students involves on-shore education and one and a half weeks at sea aboard a working research vessel. I participated in this program and was both scientist and deckhand on board the SSV Westward. This allowed me to become familiar with some of the many facets of open ocean research and the workings of a research vessel. My goal was nearing me, readying me for its challenges.
Last summer, I was selected to be a part of Stanford University's Summer College for High School Students. I attended the University for eight weeks, taking ten credits of classes, an entire quarter's worth. Included in my classes was an Oceanography class, which I found both intellectually stimulating and challenging. Although I had already learned a great deal about the subject matter from my own studies, I found new subdisciplines about which to be excited. I returned at the end of the session realizing that I had truly found my calling in geological oceanography.
My future plans have also revolved about the attainment of my
goal. When I began my college search in the summer of my freshman
year, I looked at colleges that had well known or prominent
geology departments. I have also looked forward to graduate
school where I will pursue my Ph.D. in geological oceanography.
Finally, I hope to hold a senior scientist position at the world
renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. However, I
currently am a Bausch and Lomb Science Medal winner, the winner
of the New England Science Teachers Award, and the co-valedictorian
of my senior class. I believe that my achievements both past and
present will aid me in attaining my goal of becoming a geological
oceanographer.
Second Place Scholarship Essay
Shawna Benge-Strong
"There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies." This statement reflects my belief in the importance of healthy beginnings to the development of healthy individuals. While the quote suggests that this care would first be given directly after birth, I see a real need for such investments before and during childbirth. If the foundation of a healthy adult life if a healthy childhood, then the foundation of a healthy childhood lies in good prenatal and perinatal care.
The quality of healthcare given to women and infants has concerned me for as long as I can recall. I feel strongly that the medical industry in the United States has pushed for "improvements" in technologies and interventions that have been detrimental to the health of women and their newborns. Some examples of this kind of care would be unnecessary caesarean deliveries and unwarranted use of forceps, but on a less dramatic note simply a loss of control on the part of the woman involved. I would like to restore that control.
I have chosen midwifery for my career. I will accomplish this goal in three steps. First, I will complete the nursing program at New Hampshire Technical Institute. I have already been accepted, and I begin in the fall. After two years of academic and clinical training, I will graduate as a registered nurse with an associate's degree in nursing. Next, I will complete my training as a nurse at a four-year college such as the University of New Hampshire. After one year of course study I will have a bachelor's degree in nursing. Finally, after a year of clinical experience as a nurse, I will enter the midwifery program at Boston University.
I have been working toward this goal for five years by attending college part-time. During this time I have maintained a 4.0 grade point average, and am currently a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the national honor society of two-year colleges.
My enthusiasm for this field was heightened by the births of my children two and four years ago. Also, my great-grandmother was a lay midwife in the mountains of eastern Kentucky where I was born and raised. This tie to my rich Appalachian heritage is just one more influence in my decision to practice midwifery.
Midwifery, one of the oldest professions, is currently
undergoing a resurgence. A career in midwifery will be meaningful
and rewarding. Midwives are without question great assets to
their communities, for as that great statesman Winston Churchill
concluded in the quote I mentioned before, there is no better
place to put our passions and resources than with our children.
Bethany Cobb
As Editor-in-Chief of my school's newspaper, "The Scribe," I have had the opportunity to better my school by writing and publishing articles which inform and educate. For example, I recently decided to publish a controversial review of "Spirit Week," a week of activities, including competition between classes, designed to encourage unity at our school. In the article, the author dared to challenge the conviction that Spirit Week brings the school closer together. he argued that competition logically creates tension between the classes instead of breaking down barriers. I knew that I would be criticized for publishing his article, but I hoped that it would give other students the impetus to make conscientious changes for the betterment of Spirit Week. In college, I intend to further my knowledge of journalism so that I might have a large scale impact as a journalist in New Hampshire and beyond.
Since I also have a passion for the sciences, I hope to interest and educate people by writing factual scientific books and science fiction novels. My love for education has already been reflected in the volunteer work I have done as a peer tutor at my school and as a mentor in my public library's summer reading programs for children. It has also been illustrated by my involvement with severely disabled adults at the local Kimi Nichols center and by my participation, as a Girl Scout since first grade, in numerous community activities meant to promote knowledge and learning. I take particular pride in my time spent as a counselor at Girl Scout sleep-overs at the Boston Children's Museum.
My desire to combine science and English to promote science education was strengthened at the Phillips Academy Summer Session, where I took classes in astronomy and expository writing and received the top grade in both courses. This experience inspired me to write a young adult astronomy book as the major project for my Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award obtainable in Scouting. Using this book and class activities of my own creation, I will be introducing a New Hampshire sixth grade class to the wonders of our universe.
Thus I have demonstrated my work ethic, initiative, and
capability through my editorship of "The Scribe," my
school and community volunteerism, and my first place ranking in
my class. Now I look forward to attending college and graduate
school in order to gain the tools necessary to fulfill my goals
as an educator and as an instigator of change. I firmly believe
that the knowledge I will share through my books and the truth I
will impart through responsible journalism will help society to
successfully meet the inevitable challenges of the twenty-first
century.
The Polish Prince
Bread - part 1 of 2
Somewhere between 80 - 120,000 years ago, our ancestors in Mesopotamia discovered a grass that had recently come into existence by a happy crossing of genes between triticale and rye. The advantage gained is that the early triticale shed its seeds overnight, just when they turned ripe; the rye gene that crossed over caused the triticale berries (remember the column on grains?) to remain attached to the seed-head, making it harvestable. Thusly, was born wheat. Over the next few millennia, wheat varieties were selected for increased gluten content. Prehistoric genetic engineering? No, it's simply that the greater the gluten (the protein that makes dough gooey), the better the bread rises and keeps. Of course, this selection didn't become complete over one or two growing seasons. The Mendellian 25% that was lowest in gluten contributed to the invention of beer (perhaps more in a future column about that).
Types of Bread
There are two main categories of bread: Leavened and Unleavened. Unleavened breads have no component that produces CO2 (which makes the bubbles in bread), and are usually quite thin and flat. Leavened breads have components, e.g., baking powder or a tame fungus, that do produce CO2, causing the dough to rise and increase in bulk.
Unleavened breads are the oldest types that entered human cuisine and have stayed. The most universally known of these is the matzo, so quickly made that there is little chance that a stray yeast would enter the dough. From the New World, tacos and burritos have made a place for themselves. From India, we have the chippati and the poori, which are fried breads.
Breads leavened with chemicals include biscuits, muffins, `soda bread' and pancakes. The primary ingredient in `Baking Powder' is sodium bicarbonate, which reacts with anything of lower pH (the wheat flour, the milk, and nowadays, the water, thanks to acid rain) to release carbon dioxide gas, which makes the bubbles. There are other components that slow down the reaction to extend the time of rising. One of these, in some brands, is an aluminum salt. There is some evidence that aluminum that is metabolized accumulates in certain areas of the brain. Most Alzheimer's patients show abnormally high concentrations of aluminum in areas that have to do with cognition. There are brands of baking powder that do not contain aluminum. Those are the only ones the Polish Prince uses. Read the labels before you buy!
Breads leavened with yeast (actually, `leavened by yeast' is more accurate) rise because the yeast is eating the starch in flour and `evacuating' gas and a little alcohol (which explains the almost simultaneous invention of beer). Because the starch is being consumed, the ratio of starch to gluten changes. Gluten is what makes the baked bread `springy'. That's also why biscuits tend to be more crumbly (less gluten per biscuit). Gluten is a well-used protein in primates, except those with an allergy to wheat gluten called Celiac Disease. By the way, only wheat has useful amounts of gluten; when making `rye' or `corn' breads, there's always some amount of high-gluten wheat flour in the recipe, so that the bread is sliceable and doesn't fall apart when buttered.
Making Bread
At this point, I'm going to go out of historical sequence, and jump right into yeast-raised breadmaking. (Baking powder and unleavened breads will be covered in part 2, next month.)
Yeast are living plants without chlorophyll. They handle freezing pretty well, but are killed by temperatures much above 112F. Salt slows them down, and sugar causes them to produce more alcohol and bigger bubbles of CO2. They are most active at between 85 and 90F. They need vitamins B1, B6 and C. Why am I going on about what yeast needs? Because that determines what's in the dough recipe. For example, you can take care of the vitamins by using some whole-wheat flour in the mix. Also, instead of white table sugar, unsulphured molasses is better for the yeast and you. As for salt, I use between 1/3 and 1/2 the amount called for in most published bread recipes. And the dough rises higher with less salt. OK, enough of that. Here's the most basic bread recipe:
Ingredients & Tools
2/3 cup water
2 tsp. unsulphured molasses (or, sigh, sugar)
1 tsp. salt (sea salt or `koshering salt' is better)
1 tbs. oil (or melted butter or lard)
around 3-1/2 Cups unbleached flour (more about that in a moment)
1 tbs. dry yeast
A big bowl, a little bowl, a bread pan, and an oven with good temperature regulation (or a lousy oven with an accurate oven thermometer), a big mixing spoon.
Procedure
Measure the water, then gently warm to around 108F (for the moms out there, `baby bottle' temperature). Put into the small bowl, then dissolve 1 tsp. molasses and the yeast. Cover and leave alone for 10 minutes.
Put 1 cup flour into the big bowl, add salt and mix. When the yeast in the little bowl is bubbly, pour into the big bowl and mix with the flour to make a thin batter. This is called `the sponge'. You'll see why soon. Cover and let it work for around an hour in a warm place (85-90F).
After an hour, uncover the big bowl and you should see a big bunch of foam almost filling the bowl. That's why it's called a sponge. Add the oil and the rest of the molasses (or sugar) and slowly add one cup of flour while mixing. Continue adding flour , 1/2 cup, then 1/4 cup, constantly mixing, until the dough starts come away from the sides of the bowl. Now start adding flour 1/4 cup at a time, while mixing in with your hand, until the dough is no longer sticky. This will take a little time and cause some muscle pain in the forearm you were using to mix the dough, but really produces a bread worth feeding to others. This is also why I said around 3-1/2 Cups. The amount of gluten in the flour, the age of the flour, and the humidity in your kitchen at that time will all determine the actual amount of flour required to get to the `un-sticky' stage. It may happen at the 3-Cup point or may require almost 4 Cups. There is no way to tell in advance, so most professional bakers start with a known amount of liquid and work from there.
Cover and let rise in that same warm place for another hour or so, until the dough looks like it's trying to crawl out of the bowl (doubles in size or more). Lightly grease the inside of the bread pan.
Punch the risen dough down and turn out onto a clean surface. Slap it hard, 5 or 6 times, as if you are spanking it, then cover and let rest for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, lightly dust your hands with flour and shape the dough into a rectangle as long as the pan and three times as wide as the pan. Fold one edge over to the (new) center, then fold the other edge over that, producing a loaf as long and wide as the pan. That's all the kneading it needs. The `spanking' produced shock waves moving through the dough, releasing the gluten in the same way the 10 or 15 minutes of kneading would have done.
Place the formed loaf into the pan with the seam down, cover and let it rise in that warm place for the third hour of this procedure, or until it has doubled in size in the pan. While it's rising, start preheating the oven to 375F. When risen, uncover and place in the center of the oven, look at your watch, then go away and enjoy a nice glass of wine for exactly 45 minutes. Do Not Look At It Before The 45 Minutes Is Up.
When the 45 minutes has expired, turn the oven off, then remove the pan to a cooling rack. Don't try to turn it out of the pan until it has cooled down to just lukewarm. At that point, it will slip out of the pan easily and can be sliced (just one slice at this point) to try with some butter. Yes, it is really the best bread you ever tasted. No, it's not because of this recipe. Any bread that is even approximately right, is heavenly for the first slice while still a bit warm.
Variations
You can make the white bread richer by adding an egg, after the sponge stage is complete. You can substitute milk, but the milk should be `scalded' (brought to a simmer, then taken off the heat just before it boils over. This is to inactivate an enzyme in the milk that inhibits the yeast.
You can substitute up to 1/2 of the flour with whole wheat, or
soaked and softened cornmeal, or with rye flour. You can add
ground nuts or seeds, or bits of fruit or raisins. There are over
a hundred recipes out there. Have fun!
To live in accordance with nature is to live in accordance with virtue. In doing so the wise man secures a happy and peaceful course to his own life.
- Zeno the Stoic
©1998 New Hampshire Mensa - All Rights Reserved