14 Comments
User's avatar
Lynne Cody's avatar

I really enjoyed the song, hehe :-)

Expand full comment
Abigail's avatar

As a long standing fan of the cicada and you, I loved this reading. Thanks for the laughs, as always!

Expand full comment
Scarlett's avatar

Thank you for this little gem in my inbox this morning. It’s a somber morning for me and mine in the Midwest. Nothing quite so trying as what that little bug must go through, but then we do have each other to lend an ear no matter the time of day or decade. Your story and your voice helped me get by this morning. And I feel as though I’m standing right beside you on that C train staring into the same nothingness.

Expand full comment
HIPOLITO PENZO's avatar

Thanks for the laughs, is very refreshing to read your essays.

Expand full comment
Cate's avatar

Hahahahahahah ---- I have felt that love of humanity on a NYC subway, and shoot I am from Puposky , MN pop 85 - land of the shaking earth but few cicadas ... thanks as always for your exquisite humor that hyberbolizes so beautifully .

Expand full comment
Garrison Keillor's avatar

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about being a tight crowd of polite people.

Expand full comment
Ron Hansen's avatar

Amid the social media that swirls around me, your “I like to involve myself in other people’s problems where I myself have nothing at all at stake” seems particularly apt. I appreciate your insight.

Expand full comment
Lynn Nash's avatar

On my drive home from Raleigh yesterday, I listened to this story on NPR. I suspect you already heard it, but just in case you didn’t:

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/18/997998920/the-fungus-thats-making-cicadas-sex-crazy

Aside from the election of 2020 and subsequent events, that may be the weirdest news report I've heard lately. Poor little things. Their butts fell off.

Expand full comment
Garrison Keillor's avatar

I don't read stories with "sex-crazy" in the headline. I am Episcopalian.

Expand full comment
Frank's avatar

Cicadas. Impending crisis? Ha. Invisible whales, Mr. K., is the real impeding crisis. These specific type of whales are going to devour your retirement plan and eat the real green we think we have.

Expand full comment
Maxwell Ryan's avatar

Xoxoxox

Expand full comment
Jeannine Lawall's avatar

Thank you for this. I have tinnitus in both ears, so I kind of enjoy it when the cicadas come out and the ringing is no longer all in my head!

Expand full comment
Garrison Keillor's avatar

I have tinnitus too and now I wish we had cicadas in Manhattan. Sort of.

Expand full comment
Jeannine Lawall's avatar

I'm very much pro-cicada - I think that they are cool insects. :) I suspect that you would be able to find more cicada recordings than you'd could ever want on YouTube. Movies, music, and books can help me forget it's there for a while. Crickets chirping and spring peepers peeping help, too. My tinnitus is a constant high pitched screech in both ears. It doesn't bother me too much, though, I'm used to it. :)

Expand full comment