Arts & Entertainment

Calendar through September 5

Gay Softball World Series, The Coolots & Manny Lehman hit D.C.

Published

13 years ago

August 29, 2013

Will Owen

‘Fallen Youth,’ a sculpture by Janathel Shaw, is on display at Touchstone Gallery. (Image courtesy Touchstone)

Friday, August 30

Aqua Bar and Lounge (1818 New York Ave., N.E.) hosts “Club Fuego,” a Latino gay dance party, tonight from 10:30 p.m.-3 a.m. Admission is $10 and limited to guests 21 and over. For details, visit aquadc.com.

Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) hosts Bear Happy Hour tonight from 6-11 p.m. There is no cover charge and admission is limited to guests 21 and over. For details, visit towndc.com.

Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) hosts “Grand Slam with DJ Manny Lehman,” the finale to the Gay Softball World Series, tonight at 10 p.m. The World Series is the largest LGBT sporting event in the country, welcoming more than 170 teams to D.C. this year. Cover is $8 from 10-11 and $12 after 11. For details, visit towndc.com.

The Coolots, a local all-female rock and soul band, perform tonight at Phase 1 of Dupont (1415 22nd St., N.W.). Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $10 and limited to guests 21 and over. For more information, visit phase1dc.com.

The Club (5268 Williamsport Pike, Martinsburg, W.Va.) hosts a patio “Foam Party” tonight. Doors open at 6 p.m. Cover is $5 and unlimited bottomless rail drinks are $20. Admission is limited to guests 21 and over. For more details, visit theclubwv.com.

Saturday, August 31

Phase 1 of Dupont (1415 22nd St., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Booty Beach Ladies Dance Party” this evening. The winner of the party’s bikini and board shorts contest will receive cash and prizes. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and admission is $5. Visit phase1dc.com for more information.

Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St., N.W.) hosts its new “Saturday Brunch” at 11 a.m. Guests can enjoy one free mimosa with their meal. For more details, visit nelliessportsbar.com.

Adventuring, a gay outdoors group, hosts a Great North Mountain hike near the Virginia-West Virginia border today. Participants meet at 8:30 a.m. at the East Falls Church Metro Station (2001 N. Sycamore St., Arlington, Va.), and should bring bug spray, lunch, water, sunscreen, sturdy boots and $20 for trip fees. For more information, visit adventuring.org.

Sunday, September 1

Busboys and Poets (2021 14th St., N.W.) hosts “Sparkle,” its monthly LGBT poetry open mic night, from 8-10 p.m. this evening. Admission is $5. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit busboysandpoets.com.

K&C Productions hosts its weekly “Sizzling Hot Sundays,” an LGBT hip-hop and house music dance party, at Club Muse (717 6th St., N.W.) tonight from 11 p.m.-2 a.m. For details, visit clubmuse.com.

Perry’s (1811 Columbia Rd., N.W.) hosts its weekly Sunday Drag Brunch today from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The cost is $24.95 for an all-you-can-eat buffet. For details, visit perrysadamsmorgan.com.

Black Fox Lounge (1723) hosts “Tula’s Cabaret,” a classic lip-sync drag show, from 8-11 p.m. tonight. Admission is free. For more information, visit blackfoxlounge.com.

The Bachelor’s Mill (1104 8th St., S.E.) hosts karaoke tonight from 9 p.m.-midnight. There will also be pool, video gaming systems and card games. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and admission is $3 after 9. For more information, visit bachelorsmill.com.

Monday, September 2

The D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.) hosts coffee drop-in hours this morning from 10 a.m.-noon. for the senior LGBT community. Older LGBT adults can come and enjoy complimentary coffee and conversation with other community members. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Adventuring, an LGBT outdoors group, host a Wilson Bridge hike today. The group meets at the King Street Metro Station (1900 King St., Alexandria, Va.) at 11 a.m., and then walks through Old Town Alexandria across the Wilson Bridge to the National Harbor in Maryland. Participants should bring $2 as a trip fee, $8 for a water taxi back to Alexandria, lunch and plenty of water. For more details, visit adventuring.org.

Tuesday, September 3

Green Lantern (1335 Green Ct., N.W.) hosts its weekly FUK!T Packing Party tonight from 7-9 p.m. For more details, visit thedccenter.org or greenlanterndc.com.

Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St., N.W.) hosts karaoke tonight at 9 p.m. For details, visit nelliessportsbar.com.

Wednesday, September 4

Midtown (1219 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) hosts “Mix It Up 2.0,” an LGBT dance party, from 8:30-midnight. All groups of six entering together get a free bottle of champagne. For details, visit midtown-dc.com.

Us Helping Us (3636 Georgia Ave., N.W.) hosts a support group for black gay men living with HIV tonight from 7-9 p.m. For more details, visit uhupil.org.

The Tom Davoren Social Bridge Club will be meeting at 7:30 p.m., at the Dignity Center 721 8th St., S.E. (across from Marine Barracks) for social bridge. No partner needed. Call 301-345-1571 for more information.

Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) hosts “Bare!,” a storytelling show of true stories of sex, love and desire, from 8-10 p.m. tonight. The show is based in New York and also has monthly performances in Boston. Admission is $8 and limited to guests 21 and over. For more details, visit blackfoxlounge.com.

Thursday, September 5

Rude Boi Entertainment hosts “Tempted 2 Touch,” a ladies dance party, at the Fab Lounge (2022 Florida Ave., N.W.). Doors open at 5 p.m. for happy hour until 9, and the club closes at 1 a.m. Admission is $5 all night and limited to guests 21 and over. For details, visit rudeboientertainment.wordpress.com.

The D.C. Health Link and the Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs host an LGBT Leadership Summit at Busboys and Poets (2021 14th St., N.W.) today from 6:30-7:30 p.m. LGBT community leaders and business owners will meet with health care experts to learn how to find the best and most affordable health insurance. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Touchstone Gallery (901 New York Ave., N.W.) hosts a preview from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. today of its new exhibit “ReBirth” by Janathel Shaw. The exhibition features clay sculptures that address racism and sexism through Buddhist influences of rebirth. For more information, visit touchstonegallery.com.

The Gay Softball World Series holds its championship games today from 7:50 a.m.-4 p.m. at Fairland Regional Park (3928 Greencastle Rd., Burtonsville, Md.), and from 7:50 a.m.-2 p.m. at Watkins Regional Park (301 Watkins Park Dr., Upper Marlboro, Md.). There will then be a closing street party and awards ceremony in the Renaissance Hotel courtyard from 5-9 p.m. with food, entertainment and drink specials. For more information, visit dcseries2013.com.

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Books

New book reveals what we can learn from animal sex

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

Published

23 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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