Keeping Hope (the polar bear) alive (in our memories)
Hope, the St. Louis Zoo’s last polar bear, died at the end of March at the age of 23.
Last spring, Kevin Horrigan and I produced a video about Zoo president Jeffrey Bonner’s long term vision (zoo 2033), at the end of which Hope appears.
I searched my computer’s hard drive and found several other clips of Hope, which I have strung together and present with this post.
She really is lovely, and I think this is a nice way to remember a beloved zoo animal.
A remembrance that has iconic status at the St. Louis Zoo, of course, is the mounted remains of Phil the Gorilla, who died more than 50 years ago.
Use of a taxidermist might not be considered in the best of taste by today’s standards, and maybe would be considered unnecessary given all the options for digital recording.
But that has risks, too. It’s worth pointing out that Phil sat for a rather undignified film shoot, that had a near disasterous ending.
Eddie Roth writes about education, social justice, public safety, transportation, legal affairs and historic preservation. He joined the Post-Dispatch editorial page in 2008 after six years as an editorial writer with the Dayton Daily News. But he is not new to St. Louis. Eddie grew up in Webster Groves and south St. Louis County. He's a lawyer who for many years practiced with a downtown firm, and was active in civic affairs, including serving a term on the St. Louis Police Board. He and his wife, Jeanne, and their three daughters, Emily, Julia and Alice, live in the Shaw Neighborhood.
When it comes to community organizing, he endorses Quentin Crisp's advice: Rather than keeping up with the Joneses, it's better to pull them down to your level. 
Eddie… You should have included the clip of the gorilla attack in `Kentucky Fried Movie.’