LIVING HERE
The Kellogg Family Foundation donated $10 million to the Milwaukee Public Museum to help build its new museum.
This brings the projects funding total to $148 million, about 60% of its goal. With The Kellogg Family Foundation’s gift, the future museum’s Wisconsin-focused exhibit floor, previously known as the Wisconsin Journey gallery, will be called the Winifred & Spencer Kellogg Gallery: Wisconsin Journey. Wisconsin was a special place for Winifred and Spencer Kellogg who traveled to northern Wisconsin and experienced some of the topics that will be discussed in the new museum’s exhibits.
Exhibits in this gallery will focus on the geological wonders and strong and varied cultures of Wisconsin – from the Driftless Area to the Northwoods, the Apostle Islands, the Great Lakes and Wisconsin’s vast prairielands. It’s the largest private donation so far in the museum’s fundraising campaign, said President and Chief Executive Officer Ellen Censky. The new 200,000-square-foot building will include exhibit space totaling 80,000 square feet. The new museum is to open in 2026 at West McKinley Avenue and North Sixth Street.
Giant Panda bears are native to only three mountain regions of China.
There will soon be no pandas in the U.S. for the first time since 1972, after U.S. zoos’ agreements with China are set to expire by the end of next year. Some suspect the relations between the U.S. and China are why pandas in the U.S. are returning to China. The U.S. was awarded its first panda by China in 1972. China’s gift was given after President Nixon formalized normal relations with China, a practice that some have dubbed “panda diplomacy.” For decades, China has loaned pandas to other countries in hopes that it will build ties with said countries. Beijing has grown increasingly frustrated with how relations between China and the West have deteriorated in recent years. Panda diplomacy refers to the practice of the Chinese government gifting or loaning giant pandas to other countries as a symbol of friendship, goodwill or to strengthen diplomatic relations.
The black and white bears are sometimes described as the world’s cutest ambassadors. China has offered pandas as diplomatic gifts to the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, among others. After a change in policy in 1984, pandas were leased instead of given as a gift, often accompanied by large fees and a set of terms and conditions. The National Zoo in Washington, D.C. announced that its pandas Tian Tian, Mei Xiang, and Xiao QI Ji will return to China by December. Atlanta will soon be home to the last group of pandas in the U.S., but those four are set to leave soon as well.
Place of the Week
Gear Heads Garage. Tony putting up his banner at his place out on Highway H at the north edge of Lake Geneva.
