Ninety members and spouses of the Class of ’59 met on the Stanford campus for four information-packed days (August 25-28, 2011) and vowing to do this again—soon. Thankfully, Meeting of the Minds (MoM) organizers appeared to be willing to produce another one in the future. Wonderful! Maybe they’ll make this an annual event!
The August 2011 MoM included an unstructured check-in and dinner on Wednesday, August 24, and a final breakfast on Sunday, August 28. Paragraphs about the faculty presentations and Thursday evening’s Jeffersonian dinner are or will be summarized in other paragraphs on this blog. Now don’t get the impression that we had time off between faculty presentations. Oh no. Our brains continued to be challenged via Open Space Technology, at which discussion topics are suggested, and attendees select themselves into topic(s) of interest. Everyone participates.
It was startling for women attendees to share dormitory floors (at Lagunita Court) with men! And to not have to sign out for an evening. And to not have to worry about what time they returned to their rooms. And to find out that beds are about five feet of the floor, allowing space underneath for actual university students to store their belongings.
Howard Elkus is credited with planting the seed for the Meeting of the Minds during 50th reunion festivities in October 2009. Gail Aguilar Stypula, Kay Sprinkel Grace, and Gay Hoagland picked up the ball and produced an unforgettable experience for all attendees. Thank you, thank you, committee members!
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