Arts & Entertainment

Calendar: Sept. 28

Parties, concerts, exhibits and more through Oct. 4

Published

14 years ago

September 27, 2012

Ayanna Alexander

Stewart Lewis (photo courtesy Stewart Lewis)

TODAY

The National Gay HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Conference and reception are both held today. The Conference occurs from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at Barbara Jordan Conference Center: Kaiser Family Foundation (1330 G St. NW), while the Reception will take place at 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Number Nine (1435 P St. NW).

Arena Stage begins its “One Night with Janis Joplin” show tonight at the Kreeger Theater (1101 6^th St. SW) at Arena Stage. The show continues through Nov. 4. For more information, visit arenastage.org.

Thank GLAAD It’s Friday, a networking event for young LGBT professionals, is tonight from 7-9 p.m. at the Penthouse (1612 U Street, NW). This is part of a national series offered by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Visit glaad.org for details.

Local gay singer/songwriter Stewart Lewis plays from 6-8:30 p.m. tonight at Beacon Bar & Grill (1615 Rhode Island Ave. NW) on its rooftop Sky Bar area. No cover. More information at stewartlewis.com.

The National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day events continue today with a conference today from 8:30 a.m. ti 4:30 p.m. at the Barbara Jordan Conference Center at the Kaiser Family Foundation (1330 G Street NW). A reception follows from 5:30-7:30 at Number Nine (1435 P Street NW). This is a National Association of People with AIDS event. Details are at napwa.org.

Saturday, Sept. 29

The Green Festival Eco Fashion Showcase is set today from 1-4 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (801 Mount Vernon Place NW). For more information, visit greenfestivals.org.

DJ Cottontail will be making his East Coast debut at Town (2009 8^th St. NW) tonight at 10:30. There is an $8 cover charge from 10-11 p.m. and a $12 cover charge after 11 p.m. For details, visit towndc.org.

Biometric palm prints, known as “next generation identification” for this FBI-developed ID database, are being offered free today as part of a child safety program at Don Beyer Volvo (1231 West Broad Street, Falls Church, Va.) today from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Parents can have the palm prints, fingerprints, a color digital photo and a child safety journal — all free — on a disc. These are the only copies that are kept — prints and photos are not made part of a database. These are provided for parents whose children go missing. Organizers say about 40 percent of prints left are palm prints so having these on file can be an added resource in helping police find missing children. Visit lifeprintevent.com to RSVP.

Opera in the Outfield is today at Nationals Park with a free simulcast of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” Gates open at 5 p.m. Opera starts at 7. Details are at operaintheoutfield.org.

The D.C. Eagle (639 New York Ave.) is having a yard sale today from noon to 4 p.m. prior to its moving to a new location. Details at dceagle.com.

Sunday, Sept. 30

Dignity Washington, a local LGBT Catholic group, holds its weekly Sunday Mass tonight at 6 at St. Margaret’s Church (1820 Connecticut Ave. NW). For details, visit dignitywashington.org.

Joey Arias performs with drag legend Lady Bunny today at the Speak Easy at L’Enfant Café (2000 18^th Street NW) in Adams Morgan tonight at 7 and 10:30 p.m. Details at laboumbrunch.com.

Monday, Oct. 1

Cobalt (1639 R St. NW) holds its weekly Martini Monday tonight at 10. There is no cover charge and you must be 21 and older to enter. For more information, visit cobaltdc.com.

Nellie’s Sport Bar (900 U St. NW) hosts its daily Beat the Clock Happy Hour tonight starting at 5. This includes bottles of Miller Lite, and house vodka drinks. The specials are: 5-6 p.m. $2 drinks, 6-7 p.m. $3 drinks and 7-8 p.m. $4 drinks. For details, visit nelliessportsbar.com.

Tuesday, Oct. 2

Green Lantern (1335 Green Court NW) and Burgundy Crescent will team up for safer sex, during their weekly Safer Sex Kit packing session tonight from 7-10:30 p.m. Volunteers come together to pack kits and pass them out in as many bars, clubs and other venues in the D.C. area. It creates a way to make new friends in the LGBT community as well. For more information, visit burgundycrescent.org.

Treble Tuesdays are back at Mova Lounge (2204 14^th St. NW) with special music of any request, all night. There will be no cover charge and $8 martini specials. For more information, visit movalounge.com.

Special Agent Galactica performs a rock show tonight at MOVA (2204 14^th Street NW) from 8 to 10 p.m. She headlines there the first Tuesday of each month. Guests tonight are Thomas J and David Knight. Details at pinkhairedone.com.

Wednesday, Oct. 3

Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St. NW) will hold its weekly game of Smart Ass Trivia tonight at 8 and 9 p.m. Each game includes five questions per round that get progressively harder. The winning team receives $40 off of their bar tab, while second prize get $20 off their bar tab. Third prize receives $10 off. For details, visit nelliessportsbar.com.

BOGO nights at MOVA Lounge (2204 14^th St. NW) are back in D.C. tonight from 5-close, everything is two for one. There is no cover charge and all of the specialty drinks can be found on their site. DJ Neekola will be spinning all night. For more information, visit movalounge.com.

The Tom Davoren Social Bridge Club, an LGBT group, meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8^th Street, S.E.) across from the Marine Barracks for social bridge. No partner needed. Click on “social bridge in Washington DC” at lambdabridge.com for more information.

Bookmen D.C., an informal gay men’s literature group, meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. to discuss “The Unreal Life of Sergei Nabokov” by Paul Russell. The discussion will take place at Tenleytown Library (4450 Wisconsin Ave. NW). Visit bookmendc.blogspot.com for details.

Thursday, Oct. 4

The Rainbow History Project Pioneer Reception and Exhibit is tonight from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Thurgood Marshall Community Center (1816 12^th Street NW). This year’s honorees are Robert Alfandre, Colevia Carter, Keith Monroe, Paulette Goodman, Jose Gutierrez, Susan Hester, Len Hirsch, Robert Miailovich, Bob Summersgill and Jessica Xavier. Now in its 12^th year, the Rainbow History Project is dedicated to preserving LGBT history for the D.C. area. For more information, e-mail to [email protected] or call 202-431-9139. More information is at rainbowhistory.org.

The Adah Rose Gallery (3766 Howard Ave. Kensington, Md,) will showcase Thomas Drymon and Julie Wolsztynski works beginning today through early November. Drymon’s series “End of Empire” started his D.C.-based work in 2007.Wolsztynski’s series “New York Poetry” is a series of films. For more details, visit adahrosegallery.com.

Howard Theatre (620 T St. NW) hosts Peaches and DJ Extravaganza tonight at 9 p.m. The Toronto-born Peaches is known for her sexually progressive lyrics, rock and electro sound and bold performances. Her first single, “Fuck the Pain Away” is still circulating in the indie, fashion and queer circles. For details, visit howardtheatre.com.

Books

New book reveals what we can learn from animal sex

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

Published

15 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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