ARE CICADAS BLIND FULL

This year, amid this tragic pandemic, vicious politics and general anxiety over the future, the return of these crunchy, clumsy bugs reminds us of reliable, steadfast cycles that can restore a sense of predictability, comfort and peace.This summer, prepare for the return of Brood X. They’ve marked important events to many people, including Bob Dylan, whose song “Day of the Locusts” was inspired by the Brood X appearance on the day he received an honorary degree from Princeton in 1970. Knowing they are buried deep beneath the surface waiting to return and the good memories they bring always reminds me of freedom, adventure and warm, humid summer nights.

The cicadas have served as somewhat of a comforting hallmark in my life. That summer, I threw a graduation party where the theme was “Show Your Cicadas!” We wore tank tops with cleverly placed pictures of cicadas pasted strategically to the chest area. Seventeen years after that, I graduated from college, experiencing life without a script for the first time and recovering from my first heartbreak on my parents’ screen porch when I remember the thunderous roar of the cicadas coming from the woods behind the house. My first memory includes peeling the crackly exoskeleton of a cicada from the bark of my grandmother’s large oak tree that grew in her backyard. I’ve had the privilege of living through three cicada summers. without remembering the summers of the 17-year cicada on a visceral level. One cannot live in the forested areas of the Eastern U.S. They become an undeniable presence the moment you step outside, the thunder of their synchronous buzz pulsing disturbingly, omnipresent. They fly perilously in every direction, seemingly clueless and blind to their destination, often flying into cars, faces or even your freshly washed and curled hair. When they reach maturity, they surface, simultaneously, in hoards of billions that fill the air with a thunderous buzz. They spend their lives underground, feeding on the roots of deciduous trees in the Eastern U.S. This year’s brood is called the Great Eastern Brood, or Brood X and will populate 15 eastern states’ forests. Often mistaken as locusts, the Magicicada, or Periodical Cicada is a baby-carrot-sized, surprisingly rotund insect with red beady eyes and wings that crackle to the touch.

One cycle that will come full circle this year is that of the 17-year cicada. These new routines have morphed into our new cycles for which we’ve surrendered uncomfortably. In lieu of meeting friends for drinks on Thursdays, we’ve worn a comfortable indent into our office chair as we gather virtually. Instead, we are making large bulk orders from big box stores delivered in neat packaging to our doorsteps. We’ve stopped going to the grocery store daily to get ingredients for that night’s dinner. We left our 9 to 5 office workday routine in favor of the safer, more controlled habit of working from home. Regardless, we found ourselves abandoning our old cycles for this new one. Some are still reporting to an office each day in a mask, and some took refuge in a home office 12 long months ago. Lately, we’ve found ourselves in a new kind of cycle, the quarantine routine.

ARE CICADAS BLIND FULL

Are cicadas blind