The organizers of the events listed on this calendar have expressed willingness for members elsewhere in the world to join in. Please don’t give them a bigger crowd than they can handle, and do be careful about time zones. The displayed time zone is GMT! If you add them to your own calendar, the time zone should convert to your specified time zone.
To have your virtual event added to this calendar, contact Matt C., the CAM International Calendar contact.
There may be other virtual events, as well as in-person events, which may be of interest to CAM members, hosted by various local groups listed on the American Mensa Calendar of Events.
20/ Saturday
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Conservatives Lunch 11:30 AM. Join other members of the Mensan cell of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy for lunch and civilized un-PC conversation. No forbidden questions, no unchallengeable answers. This lunch happens on the third Saturday every month, but the location changes and can’t always be determined in time to make the ChiMe schedule. The venue will be The Patio, 2780 S. Highland Ave. in Lombard (NW corner of Butterfield and Highland, but you can enter only from Highland). RSVP by emailing Jim Z. the event coördinator. You may also RSVP via Meetup. Open to non-Mensans; bring a curious friend.
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Beverly Area Saturday Salon (B.A.S.S.) ~Noon. Spontaneous conversation in far SSW Chicago, approximate vicinity of 107th St. & Western Ave. Please contact Rick E. the Beverly Area Coördinator, for this month’s location and the exact time as well as more information; if emailing, put “BASS” in the subject line. This event usually recurs on the 3rd Saturday of the month, about midday.
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SEMM: 28,800 Rubber Duckies 6 PM CDT. On the night of January 10, 1992, an enormous container ship from China, crossing the north Pacific, ran into a storm and eventually lost several tractor trailer sized containers to the sea. This actually happens quite often and some people get their kicks hunting down Adidas sneakers, or the ten thousand catcher’s mitts or hockey sticks that bob to the surface after the ocean pops the container open. But on this Friday night, the cargo was 28,800 floating bath toys.
Our guest speaker Donovan Hohn tells of how he read an article about the 28,800 floating toys, and the search for information about them took over his life for the next three years! He figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, read up on Arctic science and geography, and ascertain the global ecological impact. But questions can be like ocean currents — wade in too far, and they carry you away. Hohn’s accidental odyssey pulls him into the secretive arena of shipping conglomerates, the daring work of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick sailors, and the shadowy world of Chinese toy factories. This is the true story of a journey into the heart of the sea and an adventure through science, myth, the global economy, and some of the worst weather imaginable.
Donovan Hohn is the author of The Inner Coast: Essays (2020) and Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea (2011), a New York Times Notable Book and runner-up for both the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction and the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. His essays have appeared in such publications as Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Lapham’s Quarterly, and The New Republic. A recipient of the Whiting Writer’s Award and an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, Hohn spent a number of years editing essays, fiction, and literary journalism at Harper’s. He has taught nonfiction in the MFA program of the University of Michigan and is now Director of Creative Writing at Wayne State University.
See the full write-up and find contact info on the American Mensa Events website. All attendees must preregister by visiting the SEMM gathering page.
Virtual Event!!
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CAM Election. The candidates’ statements are available on our website as well as in the April issue of ChiMe. The Election Notice can be found in Appendix B.
If you’re not attending April’s Monthly Gathering on Saturday, April 27th, please cast your vote electronically using this fool-proof online ballot at or before 8 PM on Saturday, April 27th. If you prefer a paper ballot, mail it so it is received by Friday, April 26th or give it to a trusted messenger who can drop it into the ballot box at the Monthly Gathering. Visit our Voting Info webpage for all the details.
In the case multiple ballots are received from a member, only the most recently received ballot will count. For mailed ballots, the postmark will be used as the date of submittal. The results will be announced sometime after in-person voting closes at the April Monthly Gathering. The results will be available on the website a few days later and in the June issue of ChiMe. Our Officers webpage will reflect the new ExComm members as of May 1st, the first day of their term. If you have questions, please contact Deb Johnston, our Election Procedures Committee Chair.
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53rd Chicago Annual Pride Parade held Sunday, June 30th, the last Sunday of the month. The CAM contingent is sponsored by the Rainbow SIG. The Rainbow SIG will be marching and riding on their float again this year in the Chicago Annual Pride parade. There will also be a GOBS-subsidized meal nearby after the parade. For all details, visit the Parade Info webpage or see the articles in the April ChiMe, May ChiMe, or June ChiMe (when it becomes available). Register by Monday, June 17th.
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Mind Games® 2024 held Thursday, April 18th through Sunday, April 21st, in Charlotte, NC, at the Sonesta Charlotte Executive Park Hotel located at 5700 Westpark Dr. in Charlotte, NC. See Thursday, April 18th for more information.
22/ Monday
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Earth Day
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Passover begins
23/ Tuesday
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Breakfast in Mount Prospect 10 AM. Breakfast or lunch and conversation at Jelly Café located at 1784 W. Golf Rd. in Mount Prospect (northwest corner of Golf Rd. and Busse Hwy.), featuring a large and diverse menu. Dining might be indoors or outdoors, depending on conditions. Separate checks are available. Use Meetup, but if not on Meetup, RSVP to Ken L. via email. If you RSVP by email, your reservation is not confirmed until you receive a confirmation email.
24/ Wednesday
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GOBS Request Deadline Noon. Today is the last day to submit a request for GOBS funds to be approved at this Saturday’s Business Meeting for any planned, eligible event, activity, or class taking place after Saturday, April 27th and through Saturday, May 18th or later; to be eligible, events involving CAM members must be published in the issue of ChiMe corresponding to the month in which they occur. For CAM events, it’s recommended you submit the GOBS request and get it approved before submitting your event information for publication in ChiMe — so no later than today for events planned for June or later. June events need to be submitted by the 1st of May to the activities editor to be included in the June ChiMe. An article must be featured in the June ChiMe for GOBS-subsidized July events with an RSVP deadline in June (same 1st of May deadline but article emailed to the editor; see editorial deadline).
If you’ve registered for CultureQuest® XXXV (get all the details), but have not submitted your request for GOBS funds, you still have time before the April monthly Business Meeting. The entire registration fee (and only the registration fee) will be covered and reimbursed after the event for approved GOBS requests.
25/ Thursday
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Conversation with London Mensans 8 AM. Join a video chat with our kin from across the big pond in London at 2 PM BDT. I [Carey] participated previously, along with a few other CAM members, and had a very nice chat with some of our “siblings” in the London area. RSVP (via Meetup preferred) to local host Carey S. to receive the Zoom sign-in information. The London host is Ian David Moseley.
Virtual Event!!
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Zoom Lunch 1 PM. Perhaps the longest running Mensa event anywhere, Chicago’s Zoom Lunch (formerly known as the Downtown Lunch) is held every week, alternating between Tuesday and Thursday. Join us for conversation, laughs, and attempts to define words you’ll never use again. The Zoom id is 836 1178 6315 and the passcode is 190710; it is also included as part of your host Jon G.’s contact information if you prefer a link. Questions? Contact Jon via email or call/text him. You may also RSVP via Meetup. We’d love to have you join us!
Virtual Event!!
26/ Friday
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Arbor Day
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CAM Election Mail-In Ballot Deadline midnight.
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Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) through Sunday, April 28th. This event promotes the latest and greatest from the worlds of comics, movies, television, toys, anime, manga and video games, and is being held in the South Building of McCormick Place in Chicago. For more information, see the C2E2 website.
Public Event!!
27/ Saturday
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CAM Election Electronic Ballot Deadline 8 PM.
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CAM April Monthly Gathering @Rolling Meadows Community Center
Monthly Gathering
The location of our April Monthly Gathering is the Rolling Meadows Community Center
3705 Pheasant Dr. in Rolling Meadows.Games and hospitality are in the spacious auditorium, with overflow space in the lobby. The speaker event is in the Card Room. A Parents-Kids Play Room is available after the Mensa Test. Park in the NW lot behind the building and use Entrance K (near inner corner). Please note that we have this venue only until midnight, so plan accordingly. This gathering is open to the general public. So if you’re interested in learning more about Chicago Mensa, come join us. There is an admissions fee to help cover costs (major credit cards accepted); the April MG is free to all CAM members. Members, RSVP via Meetup to let your friends know you’re going to be there.
Test:5 PM.Business Meeting:5 PM.Game room opens:6 PM.Voting opens:6:30 PM.Program:7:30 PM.Voting closes:8 PM.Refreshments:8:30 PM - Midnight.Time to vote for your Chicago Area Mensa ExComm Members!! See the candidate statements here or in the April ChiMe. If you can’t attend today’s gathering, please use either the online electronic form or the paper version of the ballot and follow all the instructions. You may print out the pdf version of the ballot from our website or from the April ChiMe. Your mail-in ballot must be received at or before midnight on Friday, April 26th. Make sure you mail it at least 5 business days prior to the mail-in deadline. Your electronic ballot must be submitted at or before 8 PM on Saturday, April 27th. If you have questions, please visit our election information webpage or contact Deb Johnston, our Election Procedures Committee Chair.
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The CAM Executive Committee has allocated GOBS funds to be used for the reimbursement of either or Uber ridesharing services from/to the Arlington Park METRA station. Details are on our Monthly Gathering page.
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Volunteer
Get involved! Hone your leadership, organizational, or web skills. We’re looking for volunteers to fill some of the open positions listed both near the back of ChiMe or on the List of Officers. Try your hand as the Gifted Youth Coördinator, a co-Program Officer, a website designer, or a MG Hospitality Volunteer. You can view the job descriptions and the required qualifications for all the open positions and ones you may be interested in. Or consider supervising the children at the MG for some extra cash.
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Express Yourself
Write an article, submit a photo, or create a puzzle for ChiMe; see our Submission Guidelines for contact information and deadlines. Host your own event or your own virtual event using Discord!
If there is a spike in Covid cases, the in-person MG may become virtual & testing would be cancelled!!Program Topic: To Be Well—Nurturing Our Mental Health and Wellness
We all want to have good mental health, but do you or someone you care about ever feel down or anxious? Are there strategies an individual can use to combat those feelings or is professional help needed?
As our speaker, psychologist Kelli Johnson writes, “While not always at diagnosable levels, most of us, at some point in our lives, experience levels of stress, sadness, and/or overwhelm that significantly influence the sense of joy, fulfillment, and wellness that we experience in our day-to-day lives.”
Show all…The focus of her presentation will be identifying signs and symptoms that alert us to pay attention. It will outline how to recognize when “a little out of sorts” is becoming more than “a little.” She will also provide strategies for nurturing positive mental health in ways that preserve our overall wellness and functioning in sustainable ways.
Kelli F. Johnson, Ph.D., serves as Dean of the College of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at National Louis University. She has been a licensed psychologist in Psychotherapy and Counseling since 2016 and maintains a small private clinical practice in Chicago.
Dr. Johnson earned a PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Miami. She completed her internship and post-doctoral residency at the University Counseling Center at Florida State University and remained there on the counseling staff until 2008.
She has been the Training Director of the predoctoral internship program at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Director of Clinical Training for the Clinical Psychology PsyD program at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in Schaumburg, and Department Chair for the Clinical Psychology PsyD program at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Xavier University of Louisiana.
Beyond clinical and academic activity, Dr. Johnson has held multiple roles in the professional community. Her interests include multicultural competence in clinical practice, intersectionality, social responsiveness in psychology, and professional identity development. In addition to her commitment to mentorship, Dr. Johnson’s current focus is on advocating for equitable access to a healthy educational experience for students from historically marginalized populations.
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Rainbow Mensans Potluck 5:30 PM. The Rainbow SIG will host a potluck at the home of members living close to Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. Please contact Jim, the Rainbow SIG coördinator (email or text preferred) to reserve a seat, coördinate dishes, and receive address and parking instructions.
28/ Sunday
Photo from Museum
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Theodore Talk: Why Black Baseball Matters 2:30 PM. In 1920 Andrew "Rube" Foster established the Negro National League in Kansas City, Missouri. Featuring teams in Chicago, Cincinnati, Dayton, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and St. Louis, the NNL adopted the slogan, “We Are the Ship, All Else the Sea” as a pledge to set its own course. Many teams discovered financial success coming out of the gate; Foster’s American Giants drew nearly 200,000 spectators during the 1921 season.
The NNL created a forum where many star players could make a bigger name for themselves — especially to white audiences. Future Hall of Famers Cool Papa Bell, Martín Dihigo, Willie Foster, Judy Johnson, Satchel Paige, and Turkey Stearnes all flourished in the NNL, along with many others. The creation of the Negro Leagues proved that Black players could play on even terms with their white counterparts — and draw just as much interest from baseball fans.
Larry Lester, co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, located near the AG site, will discuss how these men of color changed the landscape of American history and became a bridge over troubled waters. When you place their achievements against the background of discrimination and political resistance it makes all of baseball history more impressive in its efforts toward social change. See the full write-up and find contact info on the American Mensa Events website. Even if you can’t attend the live Talk, as long as you register you will receive a link to a recording of the event. Closed captioning enabled.
Virtual Event!!
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CultureQuest® XXXV 3 PM. Today, all across the country as well as Canada, all at the same time, teams of Mensa members will participate in a 90-minutes-long contest to test cultural literacy administered by American Mensa. Prizes will be awarded to twenty “Classic” (no age restrictions) teams and one “Next Generation” (youth) team with the highest scores! The registration deadline was Sunday, March 31st. Get all the details including how to get the registration fee covered by GOBS funds and, if you want your team to meet virtually, how to request your own Discord channel. After CultureQuest® has ended, you may use the Reimbursement Form to get your approved GOBS funds. We wish our teams the best of luck today!
30/ Tuesday
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Zoom Lunch 1 PM. See Thursday, April 25th.
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1 May/ Wednesday
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ChiMe Activity Bulletin and Advertising Deadlines. Last day for these submissions to the June ChiMe. Interested in organizing and hosting a virtual or in-person event? There’s bound to be an activity or a restaurant you want to try, but you just want some other people to experience it with you. So invite your fellow Mensans. Find out how by visiting our guide to hosting events.
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ChiMe Editorial Deadline. Last day for editorial submissions to the June ChiMe. Please submit original articles, insights, puzzles, brain teasers, photographs, or short poems. Your fellow Chicago Area Mensa members would love to hear from you.
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53rd Chicago Annual Pride Parade held Sunday, June 30th, the last Sunday of the month. The CAM contingent is sponsored by the Rainbow SIG. The Rainbow SIG will be marching and riding on their float again this year in the Chicago Annual Pride parade. There will also be a GOBS-subsidized meal nearby after the parade. For all details, visit the Parade Info webpage or see the articles in the April ChiMe, May ChiMe, or June ChiMe (when it becomes available). Register by Monday, June 17th.
Activities Bulletin
April 2024
Already a CAM Discord member?
Simply open up the Discord app, look for the
CAM 
icon on the very left, and tap/click on it. You’ll often find fellow gamers online
even when no official CAM event is taking place.
New?
A few days before the event, check out the Introductory Guide to Discord as well as our CAM Discord FAQ for instructions about downloading the Discord app on the device you’ll be using, and registering yourself. Read the doc and/or peruse the various questions and answers to familiarize yourself with our customized version.
About three days prior to the event, the Invitation Link, needed only by new CAM Discord users, will be available as part of the event host’s contact info as a button. Tap/click on the button, then tap/click on the Invitation Link, and it will open the Discord app you installed. You must acknowledge the displayed Code of Conduct to see all the rooms (aka channels). Do this by tapping/clicking on the emoji symbol at the bottom that best describes Your membership category. Once you’ve done that, you’re in and won’t need an Invitation Link again.
When you join a Discord event you won’t automatically see all the participants like in Zoom when the host lets you in or you join a meeting in progress. Instead you’ll scroll down and find the channel specified as part of the event info. You get to see the list of names indicating who is in the channel before you tap/click on it to join. And if there is someone presenting, you’ll need to tap/click on the presenter’s feed or double-click the Live button next to the presenter’s name to enlarge the feed.
It may feel weird at first but the learning curve is pretty short and chances are you’ll like it better than Zoom and choose to use it to video call a fellow Mensa member/group who is part of the CAM Discord community and definitely to play online games while chatting with everyone participating.
RSVPs - Always contact the CAM event host as specified in the event details — email , phone , text , or Meetup .
Meetup
Chicago Mensa Meetup - All our events are listed; see who signed up, get notifications, and add the event(s) to your personal calendar. Check out the April calendar.
Chicago Mensa Meetup - All our events are listed; see who signed up, get notifications, and add the event(s) to your personal calendar. Check out the April calendar.