Volume 2, No. 17. September 13, 2002
AZA Report
Cuddled
and hugged
To say the American Zoo and Aquarium Association members partied hard Tuesday
night at Billy Bob's Texas—"the world's largest honky tonk"—is
like saying Beethoven tinkered a little on the piano. From the redemption game
center to the dance floor, pulsating with shoulder-to-shoulder people, this
crowd was loud, it was laughing, it was drinking, it was partying "like
it's 1999."
Or, like it was 9/10.
The next morning, the AZA Annual Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, officially kicked off with a ceremony of remembrance of the events of last 9/11. The ceremony included local representatives of the U.S. military, police and fire departments. William tucker, chancellor emeritus of Texas Christian University, filled the ceremony with a sermon about the emotional and social importance of remembrance and reflection.
"Today we remember," he said, "knowing that remembering is hardly a wooden exercise on the edge of the essence of life." In fact, remembering is a way toward immortality for those remembered, he said.
This crowd not only was remembering the lives lost in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania one year ago, they also were recollecting their own feelings of being lost and helpless when the terrorist attacks left them stranded at the interrupted AZA meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.
"I know it's difficult to be away from home today," Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr told the assemblage. "Many of you had to spend last September 11 alone, away from your family and friends."
The greater image in that ballroom Wednesday was the crowd itself—a large crowd. More than 1,700 people were expected for this year's show, 5,000 more than the most optimistic estimates even a month ago. True, some stayed home because their memories of their own 9/11 hardships are too fresh to revisit, but many more were here to share ideas, give and hear papers, shop the exhibit hall and party like only an AZA member can.
The 15-minute ceremony concluded, the opening session moved swiftly on to the welcoming remarks by host Fort Worth Zoo and city officials and to the keynote speech of Pete Emerson, senior economist with the Environmental Defense Fund, who exhorted the delegates to look at new approaches to accomplish conservation objectives by developing public/private partnerships and incentives.
When all was done and said, and the delegates filed out of the ballroom for the exhibit hall, for more meetings and for various social clusters, left lingering was the morning's most eloquent lines, spoken by AZA President John Lewis. He started his one-year term last September with an abbreviated, tear-filled address proclaiming the conference concluded. Referring to the St. Louis Zoo staff and volunteers, he said, "Last year we were cuddled and bid farewell. Here we've been hugged and told 'hello.'"
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