From mid-May to early June, a brood of periodical cicadas (Brood XIV) are emerging for the first time in 17 years.

Today on The Common, WBUR Digital News Producer Katie Cole tells us everything we need to know about these noisy summer insects, and what makes this particular brood special.

Also, we end with a note from Host Darryl C. Murphy about the conclusion of The Common.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

This week Team Common is bringing you a story from WBUR arts and culture reporter Amelia Mason. It's a story about one of hip-hop's greatest wordsmiths Lupe Fiasco.

Lupe, a visiting scholar at M.I.T., has been writing new music using the artwork on campus, and Amelia got the opportunity to talk to him about it.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

In February, references to the words 'transgender' and 'queer' were quietly purged from various National Parks Service websites.

That includes pages dedicated to Boston’s many national parks.

Among the resources that were taken down from Boston’s National Parks was an audio tour of Downtown and Beacon Hill titled “Their Dreams, Their Rights, and Their Love.”

The tour was meant to show how Boston’s LGBTQ+ community has lived and thrived despite oppression and erasure. The tour still exists on the History Project's website, where it was posted after it was removed from the National Parks Service website.

To get a sense of what the "Their Dreams, Their Rights, and Their Love" tour has to offer, The Common met up with Theo Linger, History Project board member and former National Parks ranger; and Meaghan Michel, History Project volunteer and former National Parks ranger.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

WBUR's Candice Springer shares three awesome, local events that will get you outside in May. Check them out:

Big Queer Food Fest

Boston Public Art Triennial

WBUR Festival

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Local organizers plan to mark MLK Jr.'s historic 1965 Freedom Rally in Boston by holding a march of their own.

Journalist and Historian Dart Adams is the co-chair of Everyone250. The organization's mission is to highlight stories and histories that often get overlooked — especially during celebrations marking America's independence.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Martinus Evans' doctor told him he either had to lose weight or risk early death. So he took up running - both out of necessity and perhaps a little spite. Evans has since run several marathons. He also founded the Slow AF Run Club, which is an organization meant to inspire and encourage runners of all shapes and abilities.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Little self-published booklets known as 'zines' have long been a staple of DIY and counter-culture movements. They have deep roots in underground music scenes like punk. Today, zines are having a renaissance, with more DIY-ers returning to the medium to spread information and stories - as well as to avoid increased censorship.

The Common recently visited the Boston Public Library's Jamaica Plain branch to check out the BPL's zine collection with children's librarian and local punk drummer, Chris Strunk.

• • Boston Public Library Zine Collection
    • Participating branches include: Central, Codman Square, Connolly, Egleston Square, Grove Hall, Jamaica Plain, Parker Hill, Roslindale, Roxbury,
  • Framingham Public Library
  • Harvard University’s Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America

• MassArt Morton R. Godine Library
• School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University’s W. Van Alan Clark Jr. Library
• Somerville Public Library (all locations)
• Watertown Free Public Library

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Catholic nuns and priests led Boston's anti-war movement during the Vietnam era. A new podcast tells the story of the lengths many Irish Catholics went through to protest the war — including breaking into official buildings to steal draft cards.

The Common spoke to Host and Producer Brendan Patrick Hughes about his new podcast "Divine Intervention."

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.