AG 2007 Birmingham, Alabama
By S Martha Montevallo
September 2007
The AG gave me the incentive to make a road trip to Alabama where I have relatives, a good friend, and an interesting destination or two. Until I got to Tallulah, Louisiana, approaching the bridge over the Mississippi river, I had not been on any interstate. The US Highways are much more attractive to me.
Now I am the matriarch of the remaining nineteen of twenty-three first cousins.
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Tuscumbia, Alabama is the birthplace of Helen Keller, a pretty little town with a beautiful old courthouse, and the home town of a Morris clan, all nine families of my father’s generation. Now I am the matriarch of the remaining nineteen of twenty-three first cousins. On the third [of July] we had a family reunion.
On the fourth, the holiday, driving south to Birmingham on the interstate was a snap. Another snap was the precise directions provided by the AG planners for getting off the freeway and to the hotel. Over a thousand were there and the ballroom was noisy with people talking, getting acquainted, finding friends, shaking off the every-day and entering into the Mensa Annual Gathering mode. I looked for a second cousin from Cherokee, Alabama (home of the Coon Dog Cemetery) and found him the following day. What an animated, happy, noisy, milling crowd!
I wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or annoyed at the array of offerings. It was hard to choose which to attend since each one was appealing. It would be a very picky person who couldn’t find a lecture or activity to their liking morning, afternoon, and evening. And apparently there were sometimes quite a few who preferred to stay in the ballroom and reconnect. My other difficulty was that there was no time between offerings to comment, exchange addresses, or even to find my way to the location of the next presentation. As a result, some that I had intended to take in got left in the dust of a conversation or distraction. My loss. A couple that I selected turned out to be not what I expected and were disappointments. One takes one’s chances.
Some that I attended and would like to pursue more were The Art Of Creativity by Debra Davies. A dynamic presentation by an established painter, potter and teacher. T’ai Chi Ch’uan by Edward J Kesgen, PhD got me moving in ways I haven’t in YEARS! And the practice sessions the following two mornings consolidated my desire to look for a teacher or probably a DVD. Contra Dance started me out with an experienced contra dancer but I was dismayed to learn that after a few turns I was in another group, as we all were. Maybe I could learn it, but not in one session.
Possibly the highlight in terms of humor was the Mr. Mensa pageant. Six Mensa extroverts (Is that a double positive?) competed with grace, charm, braggadocio, a range of exposed flesh, and a variety of formal wear. My choice won! Paul Levine, I think is the correct spelling of his name. He was at Fort Huachuca a while and said he went to happy hours here, so some of y’all will remember him. I believe he is in Boston now.
One of the highlights was the presentation of Huh??! By Kathryn Tucker Windham who is even older than I! She is a story teller and frequent NPR guest who now lives in Selma, Alabama. Here’s one of the things she shared with us: ‘On the first day of the month when you wake up, the first thing to do is shout, out loud, “RABBIT, RABBIT,” and you will have good luck all that month.’ She has an old fashioned cultured Southern accent that makes her stories delightful to hear. Another Southern woman was younger, full of fire, p & v. Loretta Nall was listed as A Dope Smoking Country Girl's Run For Governor Of Alabama. I wouldn’t have missed it. She is hilarious and SERIOUS about decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana for personal use.
A SERIOUS presentation was Fate Of The Earth Vs. Modern Methods Of Ingenious Problem Solving. Like feeding the hungry. It seems I signed up to be in a SIG for this. Almost too erudite for me but since the first problem we will work on is Illegal Immigration, I’m IN there!
The Essence Of Reality, Part II made me wish I’d gone to Part I. Tom Nehrer has studied the great thinkers and religious leaders from antiquity to now. His was a dynamic presentation that really got my attention. Contact him at www.nehrer.net to learn more.
These are only some of the ones I attended. Many more were interesting to me, but so far, I can be in only one place at a time. I’m certainly looking forward to the AG in Denver next year.
Food in Hospitality was plentiful. In a discussion with another Southerner I remarked that it wasn’t really Southern food, except for the grits at breakfast. Well, it’s been a LONG time since I lived in the South so it probably is Southern food for 2007. As for the grits, one Yankee said he’d put sugar on it. UGH!!! The farewell brunch included, among other delights, cheese grits which improved the dish significantly. But at the awards luncheon they served Yankee cornbread. The cornmeal was as fine as flour and it had SUGAR! in it. UG! I was able to avoid the sweetea altogether, there and elsewhere in the South where I was able to spread the word of Arnold Palmer here and there.
On the last evening I got myself all gussied up to dance. I wasn’t the only one. Many lovely flowers emerged from their shorts and capris into gowns that transformed them into stars. Down the elevator, around the corner, up the escalator, down the corridor, turn the corner, another corridor, up the stairs and into the dancehall. The music was DEAFENING. The place was packed and the floor alive with whirling, twirling dancers. Putting my fingers to my ears I made one pass into and out of the place and returned to my room to pack up for departure the next day.
Next year Denver! with a little detour I’ll tell you about later.
Copyright © 2007 S Martha Montevallo.
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