Media Madness

There's a really nice story about the Butterfly Haven in today's Chicago Tribune. As is very typical of such stories, they don't get the chrysalis stage quite right. A butterfly does not "weave" its chrysalis. They chrysalis forms under the skin of the caterpillar. When the butterfly pupates, the skin splits open, revealing the chrysalis underneath.

Even better than the story is a really cool video that they shot of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. You are hearing Vincent on the voice over. Amusing story about the video. The reporter and photographer/videographer arrived in early afternoon a couple of weeks ago. The photographer said that their editor wanted him to get video of a butterfly actually emerging from the chrysalis. That can be a tough assignment, because it's really hard to tell exactly when the butterfly will emerge. We told him his best bet would be early in the morning, so he came back the next day.

The butterflies cooperated beautifully and we had great footage of 2 butterflies emerging and he was on his way in 45 minutes. While waiting for the butterflies to emerge, we were making small talk. He mentioned growing up in a really small town in New England that I wouldn't have heard of. I asked him which one, and he said Manchester-by-the -Sea in Massachusetts- my old home town (pop. around 6,000). We had gone to the same high school and even had a couple of the same teachers, albeit 21 years apart.