I bought the t-shirt back in 2011, during the last great cicada invasion, and joked at the time that I wouldn’t be able to wear it again for another thirteen years. In fact I’ve worn it several times since then just because I like it. It was created by local artist Eli Moody who works as a freelancer. You can also check out some of his work at Eli’s Art Pad. He has a very distinctive art style I really like. He does great pictures of people but it’s his animals, with varying degrees of anthropomorphism, that really stand out to me. It’s also really cool that he sometimes includes detailed rough drafts, as in his Dapper Armadillo picture.
He also did the art for a fun webcomic about working behind the scenes at a library called Search & Research with a main character named Marc Record. That’s a joke for the librarians out there.
Source: Search & Research
The cicada is a good example of that. It’s definitely a cicada but it’s also got a slight smile. Their adulthood may be short but the cicadas are going to make the best of it. And one of the fun things about this shirt is sometimes when I’m wearing it people come up and tell me it scared them because they thought at first I had a giant bug on me. I wasn’t trying to scare people, and neither was Moody, but it does make me laugh.
He didn’t make one for 2024, having a lot of other projects going on, and who knows where we’ll be in 2037? Maybe I should put the shirt in storage, though, to preserve it for the next time around, just in case.
And, yes, that’s an actual cicada on the shirt. It’s been thirteen years since I’ve been able to have one on it. Maybe it thought the picture was real too, only it wasn’t scared.
This double cicada brood that’s coming is something out of an apocalyptic nightmare! You need a shirt just for that–the 13 year and the 17 year cycle double header!
mydangblog recently posted…Zoology 101
I so wish I lived in a place that had the double brood, though the single brood we’ve got here in Nashville is still pretty impressive. As I’m typing this I’m sitting inside behind a closed window and I can still hear them singing. It’s really delightful.
Definitely keep the shirt!
Although I appreciate the bugs place in the ecological systems that is nature, they should stay off my shirts and out of my hair in general. 🙂
By the way my blog/website is undergoing some restructuring and I noticed some old posts are floating around. I appreciate you reading and liking them but if you’ve seen a huge volume come through all at once, that’s a mistake. Please accept my apologies if that happened… I’m renewing on May 23 but have some major cleanup to take care of.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to read some different type of writing, why not check out my substack newsletter? I’d love to see you over there. Subscribing is free:
https://writerofwordsetc.substack.com/
Claudette recently posted…First week back from Europe and some beagle shenanigans
The only problem I have with bugs landing on me is there are better places for them to be, but I understand not everyone is as casual about them. And thank you for letting me know about your substack newsletter! I haven’t seen any issues with your blog, at least in the app I use, but I’ve subscribed to the substack newsletter now.
Hey, Chris! You’re always in style and nothing you do or wear scares me.
ANN J KOPLOW recently posted…Day 4152: Expectations
I’ve already said I like your style recently but, what the heck, I’ll say it again. I like your style, Ann.