📝 Meet the zoo’s new baby

💭 Help the Search for MMSD’s Next Superintendent

• The Madison School District is in search of a new leader and is looking for your input. The consultant group leading the superintendent search will hold three in-person community input sessions next week. [MMSD]

🏫 Naming Ezekiel Gillespie Middle School

• The Madison Metropolitan School District is holding a renaming ceremony for Ezekiel Gillespie Middle School today. The school was previously named Thomas Jefferson Middle School for the country’s third president. Ezekiel Gillespie was a community leader in Milwaukee and voting rights champion. [Madison365]
• The bigger picture: The middle school is one of four schools in the district to receive a new name in recent years. The other three schools have been renamed for Black women with local connections, including Vel Phillips, Virginia Henderson, and Milele Chikasa Anana. [Cap Times]

🦩 Introducing Badgerland Bird Alliance

• The Madison Audubon has officially changed its name to Badgerland Bird Alliance. "Our previous name was creating significant barriers for people to really benefit from and enjoy our work and for our work to benefit from inclusion of all people," Matt Reetz, executive director of Badgerland Bird Alliance said. [WPR]
• If you’ll recall, the club announced it would seek a new name after several other chapters of the national society announced their intentions to rebrand in an effort to distance themselves from the racist legacy of famed ornithologist John James Audubon. [Tone Madison]

🚼 Henry Vilas Zoo’s newest resident

• Madison’s Henry Vilas Zoo recently welcomed a baby Geoffroy’s marmoset to its family. The baby’s mother Iris is 15, making her one of the oldest marmoset to have successfully bred in the U.S. The zoo doesn’t know the sex of the baby yet, Iris along with dad Miguel and big brother Pip have all been taking turns carrying the baby.
• Marmosets are typically found in the lowland rainforests of Brazil. But you can see this family in the free-flight area of the zoo’s Aviary. [Henry Vilas Zoo]

This week’s floof is a two-for-one, aren’t we lucky? Meet Finn and Freya. These two are certified besties who love playing together, drinking from the faucet, and spooning on the couch (as pictured).

Do you have a floof to share with the Madison Minutes community? Fill out the form below for a feature.

Friday, Sept. 29

• The Art of Cheese Festival at various venues around Madison
• Brandee Younger at Memorial Union
• CloZee at The Sylvee
• DJ PRESS PLAY of FRIDAY BEERS at Liquid Madison
• Les Cordes en Blue at Memorial Union Terrace
• Mad Lit at 100 Block of State Street
• The Wisconsin Cheese Ball at Garver Feed Mill

Saturday, Sept. 30

• 15th Annual Black Women's Wellness Day at Monona Terrace
• The Art of Cheese Festival at various venues around Madison
• Cheese Fair Off the Square at East Washington Ave. & Capitol Square
• Día de Fútbol at Breese Stevens Field
• Family Music and Stories with CASEY DAY at Java Cat Coffeehouse
• Fuego y Forma: Fire and Form in Latin Art at 100state
• Harvest Folk Festival at Allen Centennial Garden
• LunART Chamber Music Collective: Voices Unbound at Arts + Literature Laboratory
• Madison Vegan Fest at Lunney Lake Farm Park
• The Midnight at The Sylvee
• Monona's 40th Chili Cook-Off at Ahuska Park
• Monsters of Poetry at North Street Cabaret
• The Moth Grandslam Championship at The Barrymore Theatre
• Purple Veins: The Essential Prince Tribute Band at Majestic Theatre
• Snakehips "Never Worry" Album Tour PT. 2 at Liquid Madison
• Star 67 at Red Rooster Madison

Sunday, Oct. 1

• The Art of Cheese Festival at various venues around Madison
• The Best Westerns at The Bur Oak
• Sips & Slices: A Pizza Party Taste-off for The River at Garver Feed Mill
• Sunday Afternoon Live: Pro Arte Quartet at Chazen Museum of Art

Future of Affirmative Action at UW-Madison and Mister Rogers’ Favorite Neighbor

City Cast Madison’s Dylan Brogan and Bianca Martin round up the news this week. UW-Madison says it’s continuing diversity, equity, inclusion initiatives but is letting a student group do the talking. And Madison names a new accessible playground after the late activist Jeff Erlanger.