Arts & Entertainment

Calendar: Oct. 1

AIDS Walk, Brandi Carlile in Baltimore, RAW at Green Lantern and much more

Published

16 years ago

September 30, 2010

Juliette Ebner

PHOTO: Openly gay singer Brandi Carlile is at Rams Head Live Monday in Baltimore. (Photo courtesy of Brandi Carlile)

Friday, Oct. 1

Beat the Clock Happy Hour at Nellie’s, 900 U St., N.W., is tonight from 5 to 8 p.m. All bottles, Miller Light, or house vodka drinks are $1 from 5 to 6 p.m., $2 from 6 to 7 p.m. and $3 from 7 to 8 p.m.

AIM presents Jason DeRulo at Rams Head Live! with Auburn tonight at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7. Tickets are $27.50 can be purchased at ramsheadlive.com.

Gloss presents Halloween Scream Dance Party at Apex, 1415 22nd St., N.W., tonight at 9 p.m. featuring music by DJ Rosie in the main room and a show by the D.C. Kings and the D.C. Gurly Show at midnight. Everyone is encouraged to wear their Halloween costume. There will be $3 long island iced teas all night. Cover is $10. Attendees must be 18 to enter.

RAW will be at Green Lantern, 1335 Green Court N.W., tonight from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. featuring resident DJs Bill and Shea plus guest DJs the Witches of Shade: DJ Boom Boom Box and DJ Soft Shoe. Also featuring Colby Keller and his “spanking station.” There’s no cover before 11 p.m. and a $5 cover after 11. There will be an open bar from 10 to 11 p.m. on the second floor.

DJ Seth Gold and NiteCamp will be at Town, 2009 8th St., N.W., tonight at 10 p.m. For those 21 and older, cover is $5 before 11 p.m. and $10 after. For those 18 to 20, cover is $10 all night. “So you think you’re a drag queen?” will also be tonight starting at 10:30 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 2

The 24th annual AIDS Walk Washington to benefit the Whitman-Walker Clinic is today starting at 7 a.m. Same-day registration for the walk only, the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt display and other activities begin at 7. A program of music, speakers and warm-up exercises being at 8:15 a.m. The fourth annual 5k timed run begins at 9 a.m. and the AIDS Walk step off begins at 9:15. Visit aidswalkwashington.org for more information and to pre-register.

Cobalt and LevelOne will be holding the Official AIDS Walk Brunch from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. A portion of the proceeds will benefit AIDS Walk Washington. LevelOne is located at 1639 R St., N.W.

Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens will be holding its ninth annual Gay Day today. The event will be a special wedding-themed day to celebrate gay marriage in D.C. Some of the morning activities include an LGBT family garden party with Rainbow Families and an imagination station featuring books, games and fancy dress-up. Some afternoon festivities include two sessions of storytelling with Speakeasy D.C., a wedding reception-style “punch on the Portico,” square dancing with D.C. Lambda Squares and Broadway love songs performed by the Rock Creek Singers of the Gay Men’s Chorus. Visit hillwoodmseum.org for more information including program fees.

There will be an opening reception for “Action Painting: the work of M.M. Panas” at City Gallery, 804 H St., N.E., tonight from 6 to 9 p.m.

Seth Glier will be at Jammin’ Java, 227 Maple Ave., East, in Vienna, Va., at 8 p.m. Glier is a 20-year-old singer, pianist and guitarist from Mass. His debut album is “The Trouble with People.”

Furious Dance Party at Busboys and Poets, 1025 5th St., N.W., is tonight from 8 p.m. to midnight to celebrate the publication of Alice Walker’s new volume of poetry, “Hard Times Require Furious Dancing” with featured speakers Walker and Ben Jealous, President of NAACP. Tickets range from $25 to $70. Visit busboysandpoets.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

Superheroes in 3D at Town, 2009 8th St., N.W., is tonight. Everyone will received 3D glasses on the way in and the club will be offering multiple Superhero 3D experiences. Music will be provided by Kidd Madonny from Miami. Doors open at 10 p.m. Cover is $8 before 11 p.m. and $12 after. Must be 21 or older to enter.

Sunday, Oct.3

Team D.C. presents the 2010 Champions Brunch today at 11 a.m. at Nellie’s, 900 U St., N.W., with unlimited brunch and mimosas with special guest speaker, former NFL Commissioner, Paul Tagliabue. The Campions Awards recognizes leaders in the LGBT Sport community and include MVP Award, Trailblazer Award and Community Support Award. The brunch is $30 per person and tickets can be purchased at teamdc.org.

Monday, Oct. 4

D.C. Center is having its volunteer night tonight from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Center is located at 1318 U St., N.W. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Out artist Brandi Carlile will be performing at Rams Head Live with Katie Herzig tonight at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7. Tickets are $26 and can be purchased at ramsheadlive.com.

Tuesday, Oct. 5

Burgundy Crescent Volunteers needs help packing safer sex kits for FUK!T from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight at Green Lantern, 1335 Green Ct., N.W.

Wednesday, Oct. 6

“Fagbug” will be shown on the deck at Nellie’s, 900 U St., N.W., tonight at 8 p.m. following a happy hour at 5 p.m. “Fagbug” is a documentary following Erin Davies’ 58-day cross-country trip in her car to evoke a dialogue about homophobia after it was tagged with the words “fag” and “u r gay.”

Mautner Project presents its Speakers Series: African American Women who Partner with Women Health Issues with D. Magrini and Rachelle Dixon tonight at Equality Maryland, 1201 Sharp St., in Baltimore, at 6:30 p.m.
BookMen D.C., an informal group of men who are interested in gay literature (both fiction and non-fiction), will be diccussing “The Satyricon” by Petronius at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Sumner School, 1201 17th St., N.W. Visit bookmendc.blogspot.com for more information.

Thursday, Oct. 7

“Happy Hours” at the Fireplace, 2161 P St., N.W., is today from 1 to 11 p.m. From 1 to 8 p.m. is “Happy Hour with Tommy” downstairs. From 3 to 8 p.m. is “Happy Hour with Scott” upstairs. Rail drinks and domestic beer are $2.50 until 11 p.m. Rail vodka is $2 from 9 to 11 p.m. VJ Dina Valentine will be downstairs.

Books

New book reveals what we can learn from animal sex

‘Poking the Squid’ on homosexuality, gender swapping, and more

Published

8 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy W.W. Norton)

‘Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex’
By Perrin Roosevelt Ireland
c.2026, W.W. Norton
$29.99 241 pages

Birds do it.

According to Cole Porter, bees do, too, but it’s not exactly what he imagined. Wild and tame, avians, insects, and mammals all have sex – although not always as you’ve been told or for reasons you might think. Even educated fleas do it and, as in the new book, “Poking the Squid” by Perrin Roosevelt Ireland, humans can learn from them all.

If you read through scientific papers on animal reproduction, you might notice something unusual: for scientists, the word “sex” means a lot of different things.

Says Ireland, “It’s used to describe behaviors, biology, life histories, and more.”

That might be because animals are not simply binary.

Take, for instance, hyenas. It’s easy for the casual observer to mistake a male hyena for a female and vice versa because of stereotypes of anatomy. Mating, for hyenas, requires subordination for the male and a nifty trick on the part of the female’s body to get things done.

Our feathered friends are no birdbrains, either: black-browed albatrosses were once thought to be monogamous but global warming seems to have changed their nesting habits sometimes. Male flamingos have sex with one another, as a territorial thing; other birds and animals form same-sex pairs for other reasons.

The Chinese mantis eats her mate after fertilization. Female snakes, alpacas, guinea pigs, and monkeys are anatomically able to enjoy sex. Genitalia between species varies quite a bit; in fact, the vaginas of ducks “are highly complex.” Lionesses will mate up to 100 times when in heat. Female damselflies will change into a “third sex” to avoid overly aggressive mating males. Bearded dragons can change their sex, if needed, as can yellow clown goby fish. And seahorse pregnancy and birth sparked a book banning in Tennessee.

So, asks Ireland, if animals, including us, vary so much in biology and life, “… why are we using the word sex like it means something, anything, consistent?!”

Pick up “Poking the Squid,” page through it a few seconds, and you’ll see that the information here is largely told through cartoon-like drawings mixed with captions. It seems to be something on the lighter side, but don’t let that artwork fool you.

Author Perrin Roosevelt Ireland offers readers solid information that cozies up to the scholarly, with hard science, philosophy, feminism, and quotations from researchers to support it, thus furthering the narrative and hitting the points squarely. If you see the art and expect something lighthearted, comic, and small-talk-worthy, you could be disappointed.

On the other hand, if you want solid, wryly serious facts, you’re in for a treat.

There’s lots of learning to be gleaned here, and some slight nudge-wink whimsy to emphasize the absurdity of wrong-headed thinking. This can make readers feel like they’re in-the-know on the jokes, and the playfulness balances the seriousness of the information well.

So, serious, scholarly, or slightly silly, none of these are negative but you’re going to know what you want from a book like this. For the right reader, someone in the mood, “Poking the Squid” is wild.

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