Fourth Annual Spring Event

Choosing a Path For Adventure!

In past years we've celebrated size acceptance and we've learned how to better take care of ourselves, so this year's Big As TEXAS theme is "Choosing a Path for Adventure!" The fourth annual spring assembly was held the weekend of March 12-14, 1999, in the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Marriott Hotel.

In keeping with tradition, Friday night kicked off with some informal hi-jinx intended to reacquaint returning attendees and introduce newcomers in an easy and friendly atmosphere. They say that Texas is a friendly place, but we want to prove that Big As TEXAS is the friendliest of all!

Friday night opened with a Tex-Mex dinner, followed by an official Big As TEXAS fashion show, and the customary late-night swim.

Some of the group enjoying the Friday night swim.

Although there have been fashion shows at previous Big As TEXAS events, they have been organized independently. For the 1999 event, Big As TEXAS sponsored an official fashion show.

On Saturday, March 13, attendees had a choice of four workshops and panel discussions:

The Double Whammy. Many people deal with more than just being fat, and society's prejudices seem to know no bounds, so we hosted a panel discussion concerned with how to handle multiple prejudices.

Saturday panel, "The Double Whammy." Ray Hackney, Steph Smart, Terry Early. Not pictured: Martha Black.
Size-Friendly Commercial Travel. Because we want to be a more adventurous group, we offered a workshop to talk about the pros and cons of planes and ships, and some of the inventive ways we can make travel more pleasant.

Jay Early presenting the "Flying the Unfriendly Skies" workshop.
Seat Belts. Since travel most often involves automobiles, we also had a hands-on letter-writing activism workshop specifically targeting the seat-belt issue. At this workshop,we also discussed some of the fears and questions about airbag safety.
Sewing Big for Survival II. Last year's workshop on altering patterns to fit specific body types was so well-attended we out-grew the size of the room. For those diehard seamstresses, we offered the graduate program.

Big As TEXAS served lunch on Saturday between workshops, and an Italian dinner on Saturday night, which was followed by our keynote speaker, Paul Delacroix, a Dallas-area artist and activist, who spoke on "Broadening Our Image."

Gathering of the troops for the Saturday night banquet.

Following Paul's speech, we once again danced the night away, this time under the care of a new DJ, Terry Johnson.

On Sunday morning, March 14, we concluded with brunch and a second, less formal talk by our keynote speaker. Paul Delacroix has titled his Sunday talk "New Horizons."

Sunday brunch crowd listening to keynote speaker Paul Delacroix's Sunday talk.

More photos of "Choosing a Path For Adventure!"
Collection #1
Collection #2

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