Hornets
For the last three days, as I’ve faced my computer in my office, I’ve heard this insistent tapping at the windows in front of me; dozens of hornets buzzed outside, looking for ways in. A couple each day succeeded, sending me in search of campus maintenance, as I’m fairly seriously allergic to all sorts of flying, stinging insects. But even when they were safely outside, something about that tap tap tap, just barely above the level of my hearing, really had me on edge — a much too literal manifestation, I think, of the swarming demands currently begging for my attention.
17 November 2007, 8.27 am
Full Hitchcock! It’s like The Birds but The Hornets. Or Killer Tomatoes or any other filmic manifestation of the Natural Real. Do you know that chapter about The Birds in Edelman’s book?
17 November 2007, 10.12 am
Oh, yes. These hornets were much too Freudian for my comfort. Happily, as of yesterday afternoon, all but a couple of them had retreated into the unconscious, where they belong…
18 November 2007, 2.04 pm
At least you have a window!
/ obligatory junior faculty whining.
18 November 2007, 4.06 pm
Up here we had a moth infestation for a while so it was like the cherry blossom season; now we’re just back to banana slugs everywhere. Ugh.
I’m not a fan of the Real.