Most of us know Mae West as the wise cracking Hollywood icon of the thirties. Many, however, do not know that she was one of the first women to write a successful Broadway play and pen her own Hollywood script. Jana Bickel will describe Mae West’s early years in vaudeville; her middle career years as a notorious playwright on Broadway, novelist, and Hollywood scriptwriter; her later years as Las Vegas performer and a return to movies in her seventies.

Jana Bickel, a life member, has been an active member of GLAAM for over thirty seven years as GLAAM Board Member, Area Secretary, RG Chairman, Program Chairman, Registrar and Treasurer, SIG leader and party host. She holds a silver medal in the GLAAM Hall of Fame.

The 1040 Tour Guide will take you on a trip around John and Jane Doe’s tax return covering types of income deductions, tax credits, and audit preparation. The new tax law, good, bad, or ugly, will be explained before it is amended with technical corrections. See how John and Jane Doe are affected by the new law. The lecture will discuss wage earner income and expenses and self-employment issues including office in the home, depreciation of assets, and self-employment tax. Education credits and adjustments will be explained. If you want a better understanding of what you file under penalty of perjury with the government each year, this session is for you.

Linda Dorfmont has been doing other peoples’ taxes for over 40 years. She has taught taxation for the Small Business Development Centers, the IRS TCE/VITA Program, the College for Financial Planning, local colleges, and private education providers. She is a frequent speaker at Mensa events.

Dr. Ped Bunsongsikul will present five to seven medical myths, explain their origins, and uncover the truths. Followed by an open discussion about any medical related questions.

Gordon Glattenberg has lived in Southern California all his life and has been taking photos here since the early 1950s.

In 1982 the first digital compact disc was manufactured, launching a decades-long debate about whether analog or digital sounded better. This talk will reveal the hidden variables and assumptions that deceived people on both sides. It will also include a brief history of audio recording, discussing important advances and events.

Vance Gloster is a member of GLAAM. He is a toastmaster, having given hundreds of presentations, including a talk at a previous RG. He is a record producer and recording artist, with five albums out on several independent labels. He was involved in recording albums during the analog vs. digital debates and has direct experience and insights from the record production process that can provide a perspective most will be unfamiliar with.

This talk follows the spectacle of opera from it’s beginnigs in 1957. Narrative and Opera clips show the developent of opera as it progresses through the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern periods. Significant composers of the day will be highlighted in each period. Musical style changes in each period and the way those changes impact opera will be shown.

StaRGazing 2024 welcomes back Mary Johnston to share this presentation.

With special guests Monisha Brewer & Brittani Monroe

Azadeh Khatibi discusses the journey of producing the film Sinjar, a narrative independent feature film that is one of the rare independent films picked up for distribution. Sinjar follows the intertwined lives of three women whose lives are shattered by ISIS as they journey on two continents to find their destiny to endure despite genocide, slavery, the loss of children, and the over-arching politics and society.

Guest speakers Monisha Brewer & Brittani Monroe, launched BritMo, Inc.,  professional management, casting, special event production and event staffing company.

By offering a team approach to provide services in a creative and professional way, Mo and Brit enhance the image and concept of each and every client. In 2021, BritMo, Inc. transitioned its expertise and experience in launching a SAG Franchised Talent Agency.

Azadeh Khatibi was a Regent’s Scholar at UCLA and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Highest Honors. She studied medicine at UCSF and received her MPH and MS at UC Berkeley. Her acting credits include Man, Moment, Machine; 60 Seconds of Distance and The Truth is Hard To Find, directed by Darren Aronofsky. She was a producer and voiced two characters in the feature Window Horses starring Sandra Oh and Elliot Page, which was shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination, and also helped produce the documentary feature Finding Farideh, Iran’s submission to the 2020 Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. She is the lead producer on Sinjar. Dr. Khatibi is also a fellowship-trained ophthalmologist and published author and researcher, with the honor of having discovered and named an eye disease. She is also an advocate for free speech and medical ethics. She recently testified before Congress on the impact of the federal government’s COVID response on the patient-physician relationship, and sued the state of California for first amendment rights violations of physicians. She is currently working on a documentary on free speech and medical freedom in the context of our post-COVID world.

New Member Meet and Greet – Join in the New Member Meet-and-Greet! New to Mensa? New to GLAAM? Come meet members, get an intro to what Mensa is about, and figure out your place here!

Regional Vice Chair Meet and Greet – Come meet your representative on the American Mensa board! Rachel will talk about what’s going on in Region 9 (your region), what’s going on nationally, and her vision for what Mensa can be. Come prepared with your questions, complaints, and energy!

Rachel Kibler is the Region 9 Vice Chair, halfway through her 3-year term. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah and has been a member of Mensa since 2003.

We will start by examining, what is the likelihood intelligent extraterrestrial life exists? If there is advanced intelligent life on another star, could we travel to it or it to us? Could we even communicate with? What would be the risks of doing so? What about non-carbon-based life? From here we will take a rigorous and methodological approach to UFOs. You may find the material surprisingly different from other presentations you’ve heard. Part of my preparation for this topic was interviewing a family member regarding two separate events that happened over 60 years ago.

Perry Lanaro holds a B.S. in physics and an MBA, both degrees from UCLA, and consults in finance for the entertainment industry. For over a decade he has studied and lead meetings exploring the intersection of science and faith. He combines a natural understanding of science with the story-telling aspect of the entertainment industry to present sophisticated scientific concepts in an understandable and entertaining manner.

Program 1:
We are up to the 80’s. This is the last of the decades that have two GLAAM programs, one for pop and one for rock. This is the pop one. No, we haven’t got to Taylor Swift yet. But we have The Bangles, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Linda Ronstadt, and Katrina and the Waves. We have some male singers too, like Bobby McFerrin.

Program 2:
What!?! More 80’s!?! This is the second of two GLAAM programs about the music of the 80’s. It is rock. So if you don’t like AC/DC, Poison, Def Leppard, or Motley Crue, this is not the program for you. We will also play “Straight Outta Compton” by N.W.A, so don’t bring any children.

Richard Lederer, longtime Mensa Bulletin language columnist will answer your questions about puns to punctuation, pronouns to pronunciation, diction to dictionaries, and palaver to palindromes. He’ll also be launching his bouncing baby book, A Feast of Words, illustrated by Bulletin artist Bret Radlicki.

Richard Lederer is the author of more than 60 books about language, history, and humor, including his current titles, Lederer’s Language & Laughter and A Feast of Words. He is a founding co-host of “A Way With Words,” broadcast on Public.

Dr. Emily Loi is the Founder and President of Wealth Creation Insurance Services, Inc. She is an accomplished asset and retirement protection specialist, and her background is unique and different from most other financial professionals.

Dr. Loi is a physician having graduated with a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the AUC School of Medicine in 2002. In 1996 she received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California Los Angeles.

Muffy Marracco is a regular cast member on the Game Show Network’s series Master Minds, in which three contestants square off against three trivia Master Minds in multiple rounds of intense competition, culminating in a one-on-one Ultimate Trivia Challenge and the chance to win $10,000. She’ll talk about her path from competing on the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament, The Chase, 500 Questions, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire – where she won $100,000 – to joining the regular cast of Master Minds in 2019 (originally called Best Ever Trivia Show). She may even share tips on how YOU can be a Master Mind!

Muffy is a Los Angeles-based writer, trivia expert, and TikTok personality. She was born in Philadelphia, graduated from Brown University, and earned a Master’s Degree from Stockholm University in Sweden. She wrote the 2008 Lifetime movie Girl’s Best Friend, starring Janeane Garofalo. She has been a guest on various trivia podcasts. Since November 2021, she has written and hosted one-minute quizzes on her TikTok account. She has over 190,000 followers and 5 million likes as of January 2024 and is known by her tagline “It’s trivia time!” She is an internet-ordained minister who has performed two weddings, works and volunteers as a tutor, and has two rescue dogs, Rex and Baloney Sandwich.

In this fun and action packed presentation, we’ll explore genius strategies, based on brain science, that will make your next trip, and your precious life, an Epic Life-Changing Adventure. Jennifer will share brilliant strategies, tips, tricks, and hacks, fun true stories, and inspiring photos from fifteen years of experience leading and mentoring travelers through sixty countries. You’ll learn the twelve tricks to tap into your happiness hormone chemistry set to create Extreme Happiness, and the five hacks to create your rocket ship to Peak Experiences and rapture. We’ll explore the three strategies to capture every precious, and more vivid, memory for a lifetime, limit after adventure amnesia, and create more passionate personal work of art photos, all using just your smartphone camera as a visual aide and memory device. We’ll then focus on making your adventure life-changing after your trip, by developing your Big Life Passions, personal strengths, superpowers, your life-calling, and finally creating and enriching your new, more intimate, lifelong friendships.

Jennifer earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering, an MS in Systems Engineering Management, and an MBA in Social Entrepreneurship. She’s an Advanced Communicator Gold Toastmaster and a very proud Mensa member. After thirty years leading Satellite Systems Engineering teams, she followed her life-calling and now leads small boutique groups on epic adventures around the world. She teaches life leadership, brain science, adventure travel skills, and memory enhancing photography, to her life-coaching clients, world travelers, and students in her OLLI courses at CSULB. Her books include: Life-Changing Travel and Epic Adventures, Travel Ecstasy, Genius Travel for Smart Women, Mastering Extreme Happiness & Workbook, and Passionate Photography.

As a film and television producer, the question Brian McLaughlin most often hears is, “What does a producer do, anyway?” In this talk, he will answer that question.

Since 2005, Brian McLaughlin has produced four feature films and has developed eight others. Two of his films are on Amazon Prime Video. He recently developed a comedy series, which he pitched to ABC. He has also been a department head on several popular TV series. He is a member of the Producers Guild of America and there was a three-page article about him in the PGA’s Produced By magazine. Along the way, Brian was also a visiting film producer at the University of Notre Dame and the media production advisor to General Petraeus in Afghanistan.

In a world filled with constant visual and uditory stimulation, we are always on and ready to engage. Our memory banks are full, recall can be difficult when overwhelmed and the mind skips and loses connections little by little. The senses are a conduit through which we engage with others and ourselves. Seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling are vital signs of lifedirectly associated with memory and meaning. Memories fade, senses dull and for many their ability to interact lessens until the cognitive ties no longer serve.

Research into brain function in dementia and Alzheimer’s patients has been vital in understanding the effects on human interaction as the brain’s capacity diminishes.

How do we keep our memory alive and engaged as we age in the 21st century? Join us for an interactive session to explore how the sense of smell solidifies memories and helps us keep a strong connection to our world.

To be gifted is a gift, but IQ isn’t the only aspect of our Mensan brains that is supercharged or unique. This lively talk merges stories with research as we dig into the cognitive science and behavioral science behind strange things your mind is doing right now. Throughout this talk you’ll say, “So that’s why I do that!” and will look at your thoughts and behavior in a whole new way. With an enhanced understanding of what drives your quirks and makes you unique, you’ll leave this talk even smarter than before.

Dr. Jenny Grant Rankin has two doctorates (a Ph.D. and L.H.D) and is a Fulbright Specialist for the U.S. Department of State. She has lectured at such institutions as the University of Cambridge (teaching the PostDoc Masterclass), the University of Oxford (St. Anne’s College), and most recently Ivy League at Columbia University (teaching a class for its SAFE Lab research initiative). She delivers keynote/plenary presentations at conferences and teaches workshops for researchers, educators, federal agents, and others on the brain, data, and the best ways to share information. She also speaks at non-academic venues (such as TED), has authored 14 nonfiction books, and writes an ongoing blog column for Psychology Today. Dr. Rankin was honored multiple times by the U.S. White House, and the American flag was once flown over the White House (Capitol Building) in honor of Dr. Rankin. Her media appearances include the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), HuffPost, The Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio (NPR), NBC News, Newsweek, The New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Reader’s Digest, The Sun, U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and congressional testimonies to inform legislation. She also volunteers for Mensa, of which she is a lifetime member. Visit jennyrankin.com for her full bio.

Individuals all over the world claim to have superpowers beyond those of mortal people. And millions believe in the alleged ability to read minds, see into the future, move objects through mental processes, and more. But are these abilities real? That’s where Jim Underdown and the Center for Inquiry Investigations Group come in. Jim’s team tests more paranormal claimants than anyone in the world. He’ll go over the processes and detail-specific methods he and the CFI Investigations Group employ when designing scientifically controlled tests for the CFIIG $500,000 Paranormal Challenge, which happens to be the largest such prize in the world.

Jim Underdown is executive director of Center for Inquiry West and the chair and founder of the CFI Investigations Group. He is also one of the host of CFI’s flagship podcast, Point of Inquiry, (available at pointofinquiry.org) and also hosts SkeptiLab: The Bunk Stops Here!, an online webseries that can be found at skeptilab.tv.

Learn about the rich marine life of the Pacific Ocean at the largest aquarium in Southern California, home to over 11,000 animals across 500 different species. The building’s bold facade is inspired by the fluid motion of the Pacific waves; step inside and you’ll find over 100 exhibits and 19 unique habitats. Outside, check out the expansive Shark Lagoon with shark touching pools, and the Lorikeet Forest, a 5,400-square-foot aviary.

Callum Watson is the youth and family volunteer coordinator at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Watson has a strong academic background and expertise in marine science education, which includes a master’s of arts in educational leadership and administration. Some examples of projects volunteers in his program have led include the Antarctic Women in Science Series, short-film production, children’s book publication, tree plantings, and other community outreach.

Bad Girls! Music from the past 100 years, celebrating our mischievous nature.

Intellectually, I always have found it fascinating that each fledgling generation, feels they are the originators of sin. They are continually shocked, shocked I tell you!, that their forbears engaged in some pretty frisky behavior themselves. With that in mind, I bring you a music set I call “Bad Girls”, celebrating the more “adventurous” nature of the female sex. The set spans the years from 1920 until today, and genres from jazz, to rock, to show tunes, and more! Don’t worry, all of the songs are rated G… well, mostly…. well, maybe there’s one or two that Moms For Liberty would have a problem with…oh, and there’s one that’s kind of racy… well, definitely racy, – but it’s in French, so that doesn’t count right? I’ll be throwing in a few interesting facts along the way you may not have known about, so come on out, sit back, close your eyes, and get your listen on!

Vox MetalluM, a fanzine published by the Headbangers SIG, was my first experience with Mensa beginning in the 1990s. I shared photo pits, press passes, and record release parties with Spin, Metal Edge, Rolling Stone, RIP and other music magazines, and I interviewed the same musicians. If you aren’t finding a SIG to suit you, create one and make your dreams come true!

June Woodruff serves as GLAAM’s Public Relations Coordinator.

Ed You will be hosting Family Feud, based on the popular television program featuring two teams who compete to determine the answers to survey questions, plus several other games including Big Bang Theory Trivia, Lawyers Games & Minute Mysteries, Werewolves & Villagers and Kids Werewolf.  Full descriptions can be found on the Games and Kids Track pages.

Ed is a retired pharmacist and current actor, known for The Crusaders, Project Vampire and Vision: The Story of Sir Harold Christie. He played a boxer in the music video for the song “Old Time Pugilist” by Rose’s Pawn Shop. He also starred in the play Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You by Christopher Durang, which he performed at StaRGazing 2015. He proudly brought the Mr. Mensa crown home to GLAAM in 2014.