Herding Cats
PUBLIC IMAGE
The second in a series of twenty-four

When I moved to the Philadelphia area, I was already aware of Mensa. I then met one or two DVM members and learned about the local group first hand. I was made welcome by the group and for the first time in my life, felt that I had found people similar to myself. Therefore, I was amazed at the unfavorable articles that the local reporters wrote concerning the organization whenever DVM was mentioned in the papers. A few years later, as I flew across the Atlantic to participate in the International Annual Gathering and 50th Anniversary Party in London, I read one more hatchet job in Vanity Fair.

Does Mensa deserve such a bad rap? That can be debated; any organization that sets itself apart from the rest of society based on IQ score (read that as intelligence / smarts) opens itself to criticism, deservedly or not, every time the organization does anything. But does DVM deserve the bad press it has historically received? I, for one, do not think so.

At the July Ex-Comm meeting (open to all members) we took the first step to address our image. It is with great pleasure for me to announce that Charles Martin (September's General Membership Meeting speaker) was appointed DVM's Public Relations Chairperson. He is taking on the assignment to make DVM more visible before the general public.

He is going to look into the state program of Adopt a Highway and Adopt a Waterway. He will be talking to the local media to establish a repor with them and have new articles written about DVM. He is also reexamining the long dormant idea of putting a program on CH 35, WYBE. He has many ideas and is also anxious to hear ideas from the members at large.

When people you associate with discover you are a member of Mensa, do they look at you funny because of this association? Help us to reverse this image. Take your ideas to improve our public image, to Charles or to any of the Ex-Comm members. Working together, DVM can become move visible in the community and an organization we can openly and publicly take pride in. This is your chapter. I can not stress that concept enough.