As May Flies By

I’ve been sitting on the edge of my seat for weeks awaiting the arrival of the Brood X periodical cicadas and while we wait for them to emerge, I’ve been thinking about shadflies. I know it’s weird to feel nostalgic for insects, but the shadflies are something I remember from my youth. They’d come out for a few weeks in June each year along the St. Lawrence River between the U.S. (Ogdensburg, NY)/Canada (Prescott, ONT). With their thin, long bodies and upturned wings, these flying bugs swarmed through the air, filling the sky like a misty rain. When not teeming through the atmosphere, they papered the walls of buildings and trees and any other surface they could find. They were harmless except, of course, to your car’s finish. Having them around really made you choose when to open up your big mouth. I looked up shadflies on the internet and found that, according to Wikipedia, they are also known as mayflies. I learned that these bugs belong to the order Ephemeroptera. The entomologist and the etymologist in me are excited about this, noting how the shadflies live for just short while and signify the ephemeral nature of life. I guess it wasn’t just my mother, but the shadfly mothers too, who told their young “This too shall pass.”

Stay safe and healthy,

Tracy Jacobs

Tiny House Concerts

Your front row seat is right in your living room.
Tiny House Concerts offer music with meaning.

May 16 at 3 p.m. via Zoom
Free. Registration not required.

Meeting ID: 944 9678 5282 Passcode: 04037701

TU Department of Music distinguished faculty invite you into their homes with a 50-minute live-streamed ‘concert with context.’ You’ll enjoy hearing perspectives from the musicians about their chosen piece and a chance to talk about it afterwards via a moderated Q&A.

Enjoy a diverse array of intimate chamber music, virtuoso solo performances and thrilling jazz combos. Concerts are free through partnering senior communities and organizations.

Towson University College of Education presents

Asian American Families’ Experiences with Racism and Racial Discrimination during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Parenting, Identity, and Mental Health

Presented by Charissa S.L. Cheah, Ph.D.

Tuesday, May 25, 1–3 p.m.

In this presentation, Dr. Cheah will provide a context for understanding anti-Asian violence during the COVID-19 pandemic with an overview of the Asian American historical landscape. She will share present findings from her team's NSF-funded research study demonstrating the various forms of racism and discrimination experienced by Asian American adults and youth during the pandemic.

She will also facilitate a Q&A and small group discussion to further explore issues related to parenting, identity, and mental health. Dr. Cheah's webinar will help to develop ways that Towson University can support the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in allyship to amplify marginalized voices.

Please submit your questions for the Q&A session prior to May 25.

BTU and TU Office of Inclusion & Institutional Equity presents

Black Butterfly: A Conversation with Dr. Lawrence Brown
Community engagement, strengthening Black neighborhoods, and the role of higher education

On May 4, 2021, BTU and the Office of Inclusion & Institutional Equity invited Dr. Lawrence Brown, author of "The Black Butterfly," to hold a conversation on racial equity in Baltimore City and to understand the role everyone has to play in making a real difference and strengthening Black neighborhoods. This presentation was moderated by Dr. Matthew Durington, director of community engagement and partnerships.

The Return of Brood X: The Mysterious Magicicada

Jane Wolfson, Ph.D.

Periodical Cicadas, Magicicada spp, remain a mystery to biologists. The public becomes aware of their existence only when vast numbers emerge from the ground synchronously, every 13 or 17 years. While their presence is hard to ignore when they are out and about, what they are doing the rest of their lives and why they are doing it is only partially understood. Emerging broods consist of more than one species and different broods are emerging in different regions of North American almost every year. Discover what we know about Periodical Cicadas, their development, how they sing, their impact on wildlife, and the threats that they face so that you will better be able to appreciate Brood X when it appears in May.

Related links mentioned in the lecture:

• Use your smartphone and join Cicada Safari to help map the 2021 emergence of the periodical cicada Brood X.
• Looking for a culinary adventure? Check out CICADA-LICIOUS: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicadas