Author Archives: Panda in Chief

About Panda in Chief

Anne Belov paints, writes, makes prints, and is the founder of The Institute for Contemporary Panda Satire. You can find her paintings at the Rob Schouten Gallery and Fountainhead Gallery, her cartoons on The Panda Chronicles, and her new book here. She also writes regularly for The Whidbey Life Magazine, a free journal of art and culture on Whidbey Island. Her main regret in life is that there is no MacArthur Grant for Panda Satire.

I Appear to Have Been Careless, Once Again

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Hey everyone, friends to bears and all. Popping in on a Friday with a sad announcement. I just learned that my dear friend, friend to bears, and especially friend to Princess Pinky Bao Bao has departed from this world.

Judy Young was among the first of the panda people I met IRL when I stepped out from behind the ‘toons to go to the National Zoo to meet the real life panda fans for the first time in 2012. Tai Shan had already moved to China. Pinky Bao Bao had not yet been born. I remember coming to the zoo, going to the Panda House and Cyndi Anderson picked me out of the crowd with her innate panda sense.

Judy was among the people who I met that day, there in the back room at Lillie’s restaurant, just beyond the gates of the zoo. In the 11 years since we met, Judy has been a staunch supporter of all my creative pursuits. She hosted me several times when I visited DC. She was an extremely talented photographer, and like the panda whisperer Mollie Rivera, had an unerring instinct for soulful photographs of our beloved bears.

The real world is a little poorer today. I am reminded that life can be short. That we never know when our last chance to tell someone how much they mean to us and how much they have added to our life. I am reminded that I have one last person in my corner, having been so careless as to let them slip off the earth with no word of farewell.

I hate that the pandemic years robbed me of almost 3 years of seeing my friends at zoos around the country and the world. I’m mad that I won’t get to see her when I hope to visit our pandas one last time before they go to China. I’m sad she won’t have another chance to go to China and see the pandas.

Fuck cancer.

day — As you know, pandas are big fans of Shakespeare.

If you feel like it, please feel free to share your thoughts and memories of Judy Young in the comments. I know I’m not alone in being devastated at the news that she is gone.

Panda on
Bob T Panda

Now where were we?

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Oh yes…As we return to our previous story…let’s see…Josie arrived looking for her cub Pookie. Pookie and Bikkie did not want to be separated, so somebody (who knows who…maybe Bikkie?) invited Josie to move in too. We’ll see how long that lasts. Lun Lun snuck out with Yang Yang after Ya Ya’s goodbye party, leaving Six and Sebben behind.

Fortunately, construction was completed on Pinky’s penthouse suite (hey, it’s fiction!) in advance of scheduled completion, so looks like there is room for everyone! As usual, Mei Xiang must make everything work and keep everything from falling into chaos.

Mei Xiang holds a meeting with all the cubbies and bears Frank, Mikey, Josie, and Pookie. Pinky, once again, takes advantage of the situation to get extra stuff for herself.

I’ve been writing a little Inner Panda Diary over at my Substack home. You could check it out.

Also, I have procrastinated getting these original watercolors from The Panda Cub Swap posted. Rather than bombard you with all of them, all at once, I thought it might be easier to post them in groups.

This group is the small spot illustrations that appear in a double page spread in the book. They are each $95 including US postage. Outside the US (if anyone is interested) postage will be at cost. International shipping has gone up, so be forewarned. If you are interested, use the Contact Me page, and identify the painting by number.

The individual paintings are all about 4″x6″ ish, and are matted at 6″x8″

Be the Bear!
Bob T my house is still standing after the fireworks Panda

We All Wish We Could Sit At The Cool Kids Table

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A few thoughts for our nation’s Birthday Season

Today is the 4th of July, Independence Day for all who celebrate. It seems like we have both a lot to celebrate (TFG is NOT the “President”!!!) and much to mourn.

In the last year SCOTUS has taken a sledge hammer to rights we thought were ours for the rest of time. The right wing is doing their best to dismantle justice, education, and the right to live your life without being discriminated against. Smarter people than me have explained what is happening. as always, I recommend Joyce Vance, Heather Cox Richardson, Teri Kanefield, the Strict Scrutiny podcast, #Sisters in Law podcast and The Daily Beans (and their associated Clean up on Aisle 45 & Jack) if you want to know what’s going on.

As I write this on the evening of July 3rd, people are setting off fireworks, which I can only pray are being set off over the water instead of the bone dry woods surrounding my house. This is probably what it sounds like in Kyiv. If my house is consumed by flames, at least I will have scheduled this post! I’ll let you know!

Democracy is not a spectator sport. At the very least, we need to vote. If you have the time and energy, see how you can get involved. Check out the very excellent organization Run for Something and Vote Save America.

Panda on!

And since it’s our country’s birthday, we should have CAKE!!!!

Be the Bear
Bob T is for DEMOCRACY Panda

Interview With an Orca

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You knew it had to happen!

PODcast!!! Get it?

Be the Sea Panda
Bob T I’m a bitch, I’m an orca Panda

Orca Orca Orca

Secret Agent Bear

Truth…or BEAR!

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There have been so many stories of bears in the Nooz lately. Are the bears being especially naughty? Or are there just more people filming the naughtiness of bears since almost everyone has a camera in their pocket?

Whatever the reason, we have bears coming out of our ears! (Which is better than hair coming out of our ears…) But here at The Panda Chronicles, we say, you can’t have too many stories about bears! Here, to tell you about bears and play a little Nooz quiz, are some of our favorite bears: Frank and Mikey (an don’t forget Pookie!) on a show we are calling;

Wait, Wait, Don’t Eat Me

Can you tell I listen to Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me?

Be the Bear!
Bob T I crack me up! Panda

Keep those bear stories and videos coming!

Pandas! (and a Bear)

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After all that folderol of TFG’s arrest and all the blathering he and the rest of the GQP are doing, I think we need something light and fluffy.

Here ya go!

We are not even close to be out of the soup, not by a long shot, so take two small bears, a cuppycake, and some hot cocoa with little marshmallows, and call me in the morning.

(Just kidding. Don’t call me!)

Be the Bear
Bob T on the edge of my seat Panda

Today’s the day we’ve been waiting for.

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Maybe not the ultimate day we are waiting for, of course. But it is the day he will have to appear in court, in Floriduh, and be confronted with the charges against him, and plead guilty (guilty guilty) or not guilty.

Honestly…I’m really not sure how we’ve survived this long, what with the completely lackadaisical storage that top secret documents were stored, hauled around, and left in public spaces that anyone with access to Merde-A-Lago could just slip into and rifle through some boxes.

Considering the outrage over Hilary’s emails, the cries of “No fairs! He’s done nothing wrong!” coming from the seditionist caucus of the GQP are especially outrageous. Now Bill if the president does it it’s not illegal Barr is going on his redemption tour, saying, “Yep, if he did even half of what the indictment says, he’s going down.” TFG, predictably, now calls his former Roy Cohn lazy and incompetent, no more than a coffee boy, and claims he fired him, rather than that Barr’s obsequious resignation letter told TFG what an honor it was to serve him.

Am I mad? You bet! I hope you’ve read the full indictment by now. It’s easy reading with a lot of blank space, so shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes or so. Here’s a link to Teri Kanefiled’s excellent annotation of the indictment.

Meanwhile, I thought the day should be commemorated in The Panda Chronicles

I’m afraid things are probably going to get ugly as we see this indictment, along with the coming ones for January 6 and the investigation in Georgia. But the alternative to facing these things head on would be far, far worse.

We cannot be fated to fall into fascism

Be the Bear
Bob T I’ll be brave if you are Panda

A Bear is a Bear (Especially when there are cuppycakes!)

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Once again I want to thank all my observant readers who alert me to stories of bears in the Nooz. That most of these bears are caught in the act of behaving badly, well…bears will be bears!

Yeah! Why does everyone think that Frank and Mikey were involved in any bad behavior by bears?

Stay ‘tooned! It might actually be indictment week!

Be still my heart!

Be the Bear
Bob T it’s always time for cuppycakes Panda