April 16-20
For much of the country, spring warmth is too long in coming this year. Much too long. But we are well past the equinox and the days are getting longer, and that means the running and buzzing and frolicking is under way. Some of the heightened activity means animals are getting busy, Ann recalls, but some of it is just jumping and leaping and boinging because it’s spring, and there’s just something about spring.
Traveling can be exhausting, but staying anchored in one place can also bring on a sense of restlessness. After frenetic months of globetrotting, Sarah is not traveling for a while, and instead stares out the window in an effort to conjure words and meaning. But she remembers why it’s important to keep the possibility of distant places close at hand, and close in mind.
Meanwhile, the Earth itself moves, in a destructive act of creation. Or maybe a creative act of destruction. Lava flows consume homes, structures, living things, entire swathes of rainforest on the islands of Hawaii. But as Craig learned, molten rock moving over the face of the Earth leaves something new in its wake.
Guest Emily Underwood tells us how some types of spiders move around: By paragliding, using wispy sails of their own making. Spider ballooning is still not well understood. Sometimes spiderlings do it to escape cannibalizing siblings; adults might do it to flee floods or other hazards. They don’t overthink it, or worry about where they’ll end up: They just let go, and sail away.
In a similar way, preteen cheerleaders may be less concerned with how they are perceived than we might expect. Jessa stumbles upon the international Sea to Sky Cheerleading Championships and realizes the glitzy girls are not sexualized prepubescents, but serious competitors who are in their element: Memorizing and performing long routines, just as any child would at that life stage.
See you next week, when spring will have finally arrived, we hope!