Kate’s new sport: “15 or 50”

Arts, the, Fun Stuff, Local Color 1 Minute

(The Gadfly invites your “local color” reflections of this sort***)

Kate McVey is a concerned citizen, 30-year resident of Bethlehem, professional organizer, dog owner, mother of two children, been around, kosher cook . . . explorer.

Apropos, see these two articles in recent news:

Katie Park, “You know to kill the spotted lanternfly. But what if you could make it a game? You can.” Tribune News Service, Septwmber 30, 2019.

Michael Rubinkam, “Great Spotted Lanternfly War being waged to stop invasion of destructive, despised insect.” lehighvalleylive.com, September 26, 2019.

Gadfly:

My new sport is called “15 or 50.” Each day — frequency depends on my schedule — I go to my maple tree, in front of the house, and I am there either for 15 minutes or for the time it takes to kill 50 lantern flies, whichever comes first.

I must say, either they aren’t very smart, or I have become excellent at this game. I use a broom, a bag over my hand, and, depending on location, I smash them with my foot, hand, or broom.

I know this won’t make a dent on the infestation, but it is a very good activity for releasing stress and quite satisfying.

I surprise myself as I didn’t know I had this killer instinct in me!

Kate

*** From the Gadfly About page: “Local Color: original creative work with recognizably local Bethlehem subjects or connections — art, poems, mini-essays, vignettes, photographs, songs — that help us see or think about our town and townspeople in interesting ways.” Kate’s vignette is a good example.

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

Published by The Bethlehem Gadfly

Edward J. Gallagher, Bethlehem immigrant, retired, nearly 50 years as Professor of American Literature at Lehigh University, known as "Dr. G" and "Conan the Grammarian" to students, whose virtual world avatar "EdwardScholarhands" stares at you here, has reinvented himself as the Bethlehem Gadfly.

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One thought on “Kate’s new sport: “15 or 50””

  1. Might be a good stress reliever.

    Just a reminder that spreading to new areas is common for most species; in the era of global warming, that will increase as temperatures exceed the range in which they can survive. There is, of course, no contest for what is probably the most invasive species of all time — humans.

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