The Burrow

The Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, that is.  Once again Alex, alumna and zoo volunteer, was able to host the Cornell Club of Southern Arizona at a behind the scenes tour of our nationally accredited animal park. That national accreditation associates the zoo with other exemplary facilities with whom they share best practises and experts and expertise and elephants. Apparently, accredited zoos do not purchase animals.  Instead, the zoos trade among themselves, as Reid Park did with the San Diego Zoo regarding some elephants.  There was quite the kerfuffle here in Tucson regarding the breaking up of an established herd; the papers were full of how dare they 's and it's just so awfully sad 's but the people with the credentials seemed to think it was an appropriate move and I chose to believe them.  Certainly the elephants that we saw looked as if they were having  a fine time in their new home. Our group was the first to get a behind the sc...

The Cornell Club of Southern Arizona has a checkered history when it comes to event planning.  When The Big Red was involved in basketball's March Madness last year there were some well attended "watch parties" at a sports bar which drew new members and classmates who were looking for others who might be cheering for a team from the Ivy League.  But typically our events are attended by Board Members and their devoted spouses and reluctant children, with the occasional "maybe I'll see her there" hopeful newbie.  Luncheons, picnics, holiday parties.... we've tried them all.  Those who attend have a fine time, but we already know and love one another and Cornell.  We haven't been doing a very good job of attracting anyone else. Saturday was a different kettle of fish entirely.  One of our younger alumni has secured a job at the Reid Park Zoo here in Tucson, and she kindly offered to share her back-stage access with us.  The Crayola Kids agreed to keep...

I must apologize to those of you who use The Burrow to keep abreast of sports news. There's been a whole lot of baseball being played and I haven't told you anything at all about it.  That's probably because October is my favorite month of the year and I've been busy enjoying the sights and sounds of the great outdoors rather than hunkering down in front of a television watching other people play. But tonight is the 5th game of the NLCS and the Giants are one game away from going to The Series.  In non-sports-talk, the Giants, San Francisco's baseball team (which, unlike the New York Giants actually plays in its eponymous city) have won 3 out of the 7 games in the National League Championship Series which means that if they beat the Philadelphia Phillies tonight they will play against either the Yankees or the Texas Rangers in the 2010 World Series. This is a very big deal.  Like any good fair weather fan, I am enjoying jumping on the bandwagon of my once and f...