Cicada summer is on its way
And what a weird insect, huh?
I have been thinking about cicadas. Here in Illinois, we are due for the rare emergence of two different breeds of cicadas this year, one on a 17-year cycle and one on a 13-year cycle. People are getting anxious, waiting to see if we’ll be completely overrun or just annoyed by the noise. We’ve had a warm winter, so it’s possible that they’ll emerge this week!
I’m trying to understand the evolutionary purpose of an insect that emerges, breeds, and lays eggs. The larvae then burrow into the ground for 17 years. I know teenagers like to sleep, but come on.
The last time the 17-year brood emerged in the Chicago area, a local band called the Chi-Town Kids that was mostly just people goofing released a song called Cicadas. It’s fun.
In 2021, cicadas overran Washington, DC, and the Smithsonian published this nice piece about cicadas in folklore. It covers the ways that different cultures around the world have used cicadas as symbols. In 2020, an artist group in Baltimore used their pandemic downtime to conceive of an art project to mark the 2021 brood emergence. Dubbed the Cicada Parade-a, the group developed cicada sculptures and invited artists to decorate them for public display. The Cicada Parade-a will be coming to Chicago this summer, and I’m looking forward to it.
Two things not related to cicadas:
The other night, I saw Jason Alexander in the world premier of his new play, Judgment Day, at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. It was hilarious. It reminded me that he started life as a Broadway actor, and then I remembered this excellent 90th birthday celebration for Stephen Sondheim created in the early days of the pandemic lockdown. (Alexander’s in it.) Check it out to see outstanding performers making sure that the show went on. (YouTube)
On Tuesday, I wrote about how greed causes people who have a lot do to stupid things in the pursuit of more. Then, the New York Times had this story of a literal billionaire who got caught insider trading (NYTimes gift link). Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.
What are your thoughts on cicadas? Or anything else?