Cartoonist Mari Naomi raises monarch butterflies!

June 10, 2020 4:28 PM

Mari Naomi is best known as a gifted queer Asian-American comics artist and illustrator, but she also raises monarch butterflies and has a lengthy twitter thread about this spanning the last year, filled with photos and videos of monarchs at various stages in their life cycle.
posted by bile and syntax (6 comments total)

I found this while scrolling twitter and it was just so sweet and wholesome that I wanted to share it, I figured we could all use a little escape.
posted by bile and syntax at 4:29 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

A couple years back, we planted some milkweed in the front yard and loved the monarchs it drew. Last year, the plants came back strong, along with the monarchs and caterpillars. I started raising them when I noticed the paper wasps catching and literally ripping the caterpillars apart. It was brutal! So I started rescuing them, figured out what the eggs look like, and ended up raising a couple dozen monarchs. This year, they seemed to start a bit earlier, and we already have ten caterpillars and three chrysalises. They really are amazing to see, as they grow so fast. And they're ravenous. I'm needing some more milkweed plants. I've got hungry mouths to feed!
posted by 2N2222 at 5:52 PM on June 10, 2020 [3 favorites]

MariNaomi is one of my most favorite people to ever walk this earth and I'm so confused that I actually know her a bit because how did I get so lucky? She also has the most adorable pets ever.

She also maintains the Cartoonists of Color, Queer Cartoonists and Disabled Cartoonists databases because she's that awesome.

Everything she does is great.
posted by darksong at 6:14 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

We hatched monarchs from caterpillars in my first grade class. I’ll never forget that moment the first one hatched, busting out of the gray-green chrysalis. It was magical.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:37 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

I loved her Turning Japanese and I'm super-happy that she's so involved with my favorite butterfly, which is beautiful at every life stage.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:38 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

I always like seeing Monarchs, so this post is tasty as milkweed and much less poisonous to humans!
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:40 AM on June 11, 2020 [1 favorite]