Mensa offers plenty of intelligent discussions

by Teresa Santoski
The Nashua Telegraph, 10/12/2004
reprinted with permission

Everyone’s heard the typical urban legends: Serial killers who hide in the back seat of your car, alligators roaming the storm drains, various internal organs exploding due to a combination of Pop Rocks and Coke. But there’s another urban legend floating around most people haven’t heard about.

Mensa, an organization made up of some of the top 2 percent of the world’s intelligent people, is officially said to have been founded in Great Britain in 1946 by two English barristers for the promotion of intelligence.

But according to New Hampshire/Maine Mensa local secretary John Bauman, Mensa is rumored to have started out as a think tank of undergraduates at one of the more prestigious British universities. These smart young people sat down, discussed the difficult issues of their day and, upon reaching solutions, promptly informed Parliament that they had solved all the problems faced by the British Empire.

Perhaps the New Hampshire/Maine chapter of this now-international organization isn’t advising Parliament, but that doesn’t mean it is not interested in a good conversation. If you head to Milly’s Tavern in Manchester, you might run into its members at the monthly meeting of the not quite appropriately named Temperance League, talking about politics, religion, science, art and more over a couple steins of beer.

According to the chapter’s Web site, www.nh.us.mensa.org, “mensa” is Latin for “table,” which “indicates that all members are equal.” It is mostly this prospect of discussion with intellectual equals and open-minded and inventive thinkers that draws people to Mensa in the first place.

“Many of the Mensans I have connected with . . . prefer complex and demanding problems, and welcome ambiguity,” said Dr. John Sheehan, a Mensan from Deering and the public relations officer for New Hampshire/Maine Mensa. “Mensa membership (also) provides opportunities to socialize with others who have similar interests, and, most importantly, it keeps me interested in the latest in research, studies and findings regarding giftedness.”

And with the wide variety of activities planned by New Hampshire/Maine Mensa, there are plenty of opportunities for intelligent conversation. On the local level, there’s intelligent conversation while hiking, intelligent conversation over brunch and silly conversation while talking like pirates. (The New Hampshire/Maine chapter of Mensa is a proud supporter of one of the most underappreciated of all the global holidays - International Talk Like a Pirate Day on Sept. 19.)

On a larger scale, there are regional gatherings throughout the year in various parts of the country designed to bring Mensans across the nation together to talk, learn and just have a good time, and annual colloquiums to inform Mensans on the latest developments on a range of topics. There are also events for the global Mensa community.

In addition to a higher caliber of conversation, Mensa provides an especially comfortable social environment for the introverted intellectual who may be too excited about the latest geological or historical finding to be concerned with proper etiquette.

“Many, but not all, Mensans are not . . . good in social situations,” said Darlene Alleman of Weare, treasurer for the New Hampshire/Maine chapter. “Mensa gives them a chance to be themselves in an accepting environment. (It’s a) diverse group of people, very accepting of personality ‘quirks.’ ”

Sheehan agreed.

“(Mensa) has, repeatedly, allowed me to walk into a room with a couple of hundred other Mensans and feel perfectly comfortable. One can enter, participate in or leave a conversation without the correctness that usually attends a non-Mensa function.”

“There’s as much to get involved in as you’re comfortable with,” added new member Jez Gagnon of Londonderry.

Some Mensans are content to pay their annual dues and read through the newsletters they receive in the mail. Others enjoy connecting with Mensans across the country and around the globe through special interest groups, or SIGs. Members of these groups correspond through mail or via the Internet on everything from Edgar Rice Burroughs to Asian food to motherhood. Maine and New Hampshire also sponsor shooting clubs for Mensans.

“Smart people with guns seem to scare people,” said Bauman, laughing.

There are, however, the few, the proud and the extremely busy who go above and beyond the call of duty to keep Mensa alive and well. Many of the New Hampshire/Maine Mensa officers do double or even triple duty to make sure the chapter operates smoothly and efficiently.

“First, it should be noted that, by definition, 2 percent of the general population qualifies for Mensa,” said Bill Alleman, the chapter’s Webmaster, a member at large and husband of the treasurer, whom, incidentally, he met at a Mensa regional gathering. “Only a small percentage of that 2 percent ever joins, and of that small percentage, only a small percentage ever gets involved, ever comes to a single event.”

Mensa is always on the lookout for new members, especially those who are willing to get involved with the actual nuts and bolts of the organization.

And who knows? Maybe you have what it takes to join the swashbuckling, smart-talking fun.