I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself

by Marisa Crane

“I sit on chairs, rocks, counters, floors, ground, cars, sand, slides, you name it, I sit on it,” she says, raising her eyes.

I told you I wanted to live in a world in which the antidote to shame is not honor, but honesty. MAGGIE NELSON

Here’s the thing: when an insect grows too big for its exoskeleton, it sheds it, a process known as molting. This may sound benign, but insects cannot breathe while molting. They must stop eating and lie very still. Completely incapacitated, they are vulnerable to a predator attack.