Arts & Entertainment

Calendar: Nov. 11

Concerts, happy hours, parties and more through Nov. 17

Published

15 years ago

November 10, 2011

Juliette Ebner

Melissa Manchester, once a back-up singer for Bette Midler, plays Wolf Trap Thursday. (Photo courtesy of Wolf Trap)

TODAY
The Foo Fighters play Verizon Center (601 F St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. with Social Distortion and The Joy Formidable. Tickets range from $37.50 to $57.50 and are available for purchase online at ticketmaster.com. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Green Lantern (1335 Green Court, N.W.) presents Fahrenheit with music by Anthony Murphy, tonight from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. with free rail vodka upstairs from 10 to 11 p.m. There’s a $5 cover after 10 p.m.

This week’s Bear Happy Hour at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) will featuring a special comedy show with Frank Liotti and special guest, Neil Thornton. Happy Hour starts at 6 p.m. and there’s no cover.

Nellie’s (900 U St., N.W.) presents Beat the Clock happy hour tonight from 5 to 8 p.m. Prices for all bottles, Miller Light and house vodka drinks start at $2 and go up a $1 every hour.

DJ Petworth of Moon/Bounce DJs, will be spinning at Red Palace (1212 H St., N.E.) tonight from 10 p.m. to close. Pentworth spins hip hop, house disco, pop and more.

The Kensington Arts Theatre (2710 Mitchell St.) presents “Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $13 to $20 and can be purchased online atkatonline.org.

Saturday, Nov. 12

DJ Drew G will be spinning at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) tonight with Wess downstairs and the drag show starting at 10:30 p.m. Doors open at 10 p.m. Cover is $8 from 10 to 11 p.m. then goes up to $12. Attendees must be 21 or older.

Zoom Urban Lesbian Excursions presents Equestrian today. The group will be meeting at Marriott Ranch (5305 Marriott Lane) Trail Ride Barn in Hume, Va. at 11:30 a.m. before going on a 90 minute guided trail ride followed by lunch. Tickets are $75 and must be purchased in advance. Visit phatgirlchic.om/zoom for more information and to purchase tickets.

Mixtape D.C. is tonight the Black Cat (1811 14th St., N.W.) from 9:30 p.m. to 2:15 a.m. Mixtape is a dance party for queer music lovers and their pals that features DJs Shea Van Horn and Matt Bailer playing an eclectic mix of electro, alt-pop, indie rock, house, disco, new wave and anything else danceable. There is a $10 cover for this all ages event.

Washington National Opera presents “Lucia di Lammermoor” at the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. “Lucia” tells the story of a woman who loses her sanity, kills her bridegroom and succumbs to madness. Tickets range from $25 to $300 and can be purchased online at kennedy-center.org.

Laurel Mill Playhouse (508 Main St.) in Laurel presents “In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)” tonight at 8 p.m. “Next Room” tells the story of Dr. Givings, who has invented a device for treating “hysteria” in women — the vibrator. Tickets range from $10 to $13. For more information, visit laurelmillplayhouse.org.

Sunday, Nov. 13

The D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.) is screening the film “Signified” today at 4 p.m. followed by a question-and-answer session with the creators Anna Barsan and Jessie Levandov and a panel discussion. “Signified” is a web-based, multi-platform documentary project featuring the work of queer identified individuals who are fostering, enriching and sustaining vibrant and diverse communities.

The Fridge (516 1/2 8th St., S.E.) is hosting a curators talk with Luna George and Alex Goldstein for its current exhibit, Above the Radar II, which will be on display through Dec. 3. The exhibit features more than 100 pieces by more than 140 artists, specifically, graffiti and street artists. For more information, visit thefridgedc.com.

D.C.’s Different Drummers is putting on its second annual “DCDD Does Drag Too!” fundraiser tonight at Omega D.C. (2122 P St., N.W.) at 7 p.m. There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door. For more information, visit dcdd.org.

The D.C. Kings present a “Thankful” king show tonight at Phase 1 hosted by Rock and Ken Vegas. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show begins and 10. There’s a $10 cover for this 21-and-older event. For more information, visit dckings.com.

Monday, Nov. 14

Busboys & Poets presents its Monday open mic poetry night hosted by poet-in-residence Beny Blaq tonight at 8 p.m. at its Shirlington location (4251 S. Campbell Ave.) in Arlington. There’s a $4 cover charge for this event and wristbands will be available for purchase starting at 10 a.m. until sold out.

WEAVE, a support group for LGBT survivors of intimate partner violence/abuse will be meeting from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Lighthouse Center for Healing (5321 First Place, N.E.). For more information and to register, call 202-280-6391.

Tuesday. Nov. 15

The National Center for Transgender Equality is celebrating its eighth anniversary tonight with an event at The Mayflower Renaissance (1127 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) from 7 to 9 p.m. in the State Ballroom. Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will be the keynote speaker and Brian Bond, former Deputy Director of the White House Office of the Public Liaison and Donna Cartwright, founding NCTE board member and co-president of Pride at Work will be honored. Tickets are $125 and can be purchased online attransequality.org.

Join Burgundy Crescent Volunteers to help pack safer sex kits from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight at FUK!T’s packing location, Green Lantern, 1335 Green Ct., N.W.

Nellie’s (900 U St., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Glee” watch party tonight at 8 p.m. on the deck in the pub room.

Wednesday, Nov. 16

Owl City plays an early show at 9:30 Club (815 V St., N.W.) tonight. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at 930.com. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

The D.C. Ice Breakers will be having its monthly skate and social tonight. The group will be skating at Kettler Capitals Iceplex (627 N. Glebe Rd.) in Arlington from 8:15 to 9:15 p.m. then they’ll hit a local bar for a social hour. Skating is $8 and skate rentals are $3.

Thursday, Nov. 17

Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Melissa Manchester will be performing at Wolf Trap (1645 Trap Rd.) in Vienna tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased online atwolftrap.org.

Busboys & Poets presents “Smokin’ Words!” a night of spoken word, poetry and other performances about the LGBT community and its struggles with smoking, tonight at its 14th and V streets location (2021 14th St., N.W.), featuring Regie Cabico, Liz Prescott and more. This is a free event and for more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Books

New book reveals what we can learn from animal sex

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

Published

18 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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