How long is 17 years?
An infant fussing in a cradle is getting primped for the junior prom in 17 years. Brood X and other specific broods of North American periodical cicadas spend 17 years underground as nymphs feeding on tree sap before emerging all at once.
(Surprised you with that one, right?)
Seventeen years ago, Barack Obama was less than a year into his first term as President. Michael Bloomberg was on the precipice of being the last of four men who will ever serve three terms as Mayor of New York. Twitter, now known as X, was voted a “Breakout of the Year” Webby Award. Taylor Swift was in the news, of course, but that was because the 19-year-old’s acceptance speech at the VMAs was famously interrupted by Kanye West.
