The Stormer Pass allows students free or reduced access admission to local museums including the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) along the lakeshore and Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) , which is very close to the Downtown MATC Campus.
The weather forecasters keep saying that April showers bring May flowers; but the flowers appeared at MAM this weekend for the annual four day “Art in Bloom: A Tribute to Art and Flowers” exhibit. The flower arrangements combined with the works of art were breathtaking! The Art in Bloom exhibit seemed to bring works of art to life that I had previously found somewhat unmoving. The color patterns were brilliant and dramatic.
The tribute to art and flowers featured local Wisconsin artists and vendors. Also featured this year at MAM were the other worldly flowers of the Proteaceae family. Known as protea, these peculiar plants are native to South Africa and Australia.  I am familiar with these strange plants from many pleasant days on the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) campus. I was never a UCSC student, but Santa Cruz is a fun beach town, and the university campus is like a park in the redwood forest.
UCSC has a protea garden in their campus arboretum. It is not uncommon to see the school’s mascot (the Banana Slugs!) while strolling through the network of trails beneath the coastal redwood trees.
You may be familiar with the UCSC Banana Slugs thanks to pop culture reference in Quentin Tarrantino’s cult classic Pulp Fiction (John Travolta is seen wearing and commenting about a UCSC shirt.)
The banana slugs happily gorge themselves on the litter and debris of the coastal redwoods that thrive in the Pacific coast fog.
I encourage fellow students to take advantage of reduced cost membership at MAM and MPM. Where will your Stormer Pass take you today?