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New York flips as penguins come out in Centra...
February 27, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
New York flips as penguins come out in Central Park
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday February 8, 2004
The Observer
As gays go, Roy and Silo are not unusual. They cohabit, are affectionate in public and have been inseparable for years. Only their species marks them out. The New York pair are chinstrap penguins.
Every day at Manhattan's Central Park Zoo the two males entwine necks, vocalise to each other and have, er, sex. When offered female companionship, they decline.
Roy and Silo have even displayed urges to procreate, and once tried to hatch a rock. Finally their keeper, Rob Gramzay, gave them a fertile egg from another brood. Tango, their chick, was born later. The pair raised it lovingly. 'They did a great job,' admits Gramzay.
According to a study of the penguins released this weekend in the New York Times, Milou and Squawk - another pair of Central Park's male chinstraps - have started hanging out together, billing and bowing. At the New York Aquarium on Coney Island, Wendell and Cass - male blackfoot penguins - are a devoted couple.
But being gay is not just a New York penguin thing. In fact, scientists are discovering homosexuality everywhere they look. The lessons for humans are profound, say scientists.
Bruce Bagemihl, author of Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity, says homosexual behaviour has been noted in more than 450 species and more often in wild animals than captive ones. The question is: why? Some researchers say it helps a species' survival. By not producing offspring, homosexuals can help to support relatives' young. 'That's a contribution to the gene pool,' says Professor Marlene Zuk of University of California, Riverside.
Sexuality means more than just procreation, says Zuk. 'In animals like the bonobo, you see expressions of sex outside the period when females are fertile. It means more than making babies.
'And why should we be surprised? People are animals.'
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I saw Dennis Kucinich tonight in a packed aud...
February 25, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
I saw Dennis Kucinich tonight in a packed auditorium at Smith, and have found myself a political leader who speaks truth to power and counters it with retoric of peace and democracy. Not only is he an internationalist who would sign the Kyoto Climate Treaty, the Small Arms Treaty, join the International Criminal Court and reinstate the Anti-Ballistic Missle Treaty, he would withdraw from the WTO and NAFTA! social justice issues of affirmative action, civil rights, and reproductive rights are central in his agenda, as are the economic justice issues of education, full social security benefits and universal health care. He stands alone among all the Democratic candidates as a proponant of gay marriage. Now can any of you, knowing that I ache to grow old with one person and share my life with them, no matter their gender, say to me that you approve of institutionalized bigotry and homophobia? Can you vote for a candidate who can offer a group of citizens seperate and unequal benefits under the law? I thought not. So do it now, in the primaries, for the good of your soul.
The moments that got me were when, quite naturally, as he spoke of fighting the mass fear that fuels war, he said, "since reality is socially constructed and culturally affirmed..." Wow. What a guy. Secondly, when a woman asked him about gay marriage, which he didn't speak of in his speach, he stepped down from stage and embraced her, sending the crowd to tears. He returned to stage, stood in silence, and then spoke of moments in time when democracy has the chance to expand for all of us, and this moment, when all people will have the right to marry under the law, as one of those moments. I quivered at the thought that a candidate actually beleives that I should have equal rights under the law as my straight bother and sisters. He also built the crowd, slowly, intentionally, using poetry and Jung, into a fervor about peace. Peace! International cooperation! Love! I was reminded of the Emmy Lou Harris Song "Jerusalem Tomarrow" about a con-artist who gets overshadowed when Jesus comes to town. He says "Instead of calling out for fire from above, he just gets real quiet and talks about love/ and I'll tell you something funny, he didn't want nobody's money/ now I'm not exactly sure what this all means/ but it's the damndest thing I swear I've ever seen." I feel honored to have the opportunity to vote for someone that represents me, but also represents 'we', and a vision beyond unilateralism and 'us' vs. 'them.'
But that's all I have to say about that. and that he's a vegan. And that's it.
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So professor Donna Riley and I wrote a paper ...
February 19, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
So professor Donna Riley and I wrote a paper together a few months ago, except I didn't actually write it, but that is neither here nor there, as the Journal of Engineering Education accepted it and it's going to be published. So that's a little exciting.
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I'm coming home March 23rd-31st! Yeeeaaahhhh!...
February 16, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
 I'm coming home March 23rd-31st! Yeeeaaahhhh!
This is a picture of the first gay couple to be married in San Fransico. Double yeah!
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This is my cry for help
February 13, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
This is my cry for help. I have a friend who is seriously considering voting for Bush, and I need a set of really good reasons for her not to. Send 'em along.
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i dig it, ma
February 12, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
i dig it, ma. i'm doing my best to walk, talk, and do the things that would make Dick proud- just being alive and passionate about, as Cornelius Eady would say, my small graffiti dance.
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