Pattie has gained a following of nearly 300K people on Instagram by being a vocal environmental and LGBTQIA+ advocate and inspiring people to spend more time outdoors.

52 Hertz host Petrice Jones and Wyn discuss how Pattie defies heteronormative concepts of nature, who belongs outdoors, and if there’s such a thing as “sustainable drag.” We’ll also discuss what he’s learned from Pattie, the importance of intersectional environmentalism, and why “drag” is actually part of all of our lives.

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Only have a few minutes? Skim episode twelve’s transcript.

Join our mailing list for twice weekly episode premieres delivered straight to your inbox. We’ll share behind the scenes information, our favorite quotes, and more. But while you’re here, read this week’s excerpt from “Good News From Around the Reef.”

In episode one of 52 Hertz, we introduced 52 Blue, who is thought to be the loneliest of whales, calling out a frequency of 52 hertz, when other whales call out in a range between 10 and 39 hertz, which is why he never gets a reply. Despite our collective fascination, we still don't know very much about him, but here's what we do know, no one has ever seen 52 Blue, but Bill Watkins, a marine mammal researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, who sadly passed away in 2004, dedicated 12 years of his life to tracking and recording 52 Blue. According to declassified Navy hydrophone recordings, 52 Blue moves continuously through the deep waters of the Central and Eastern portion of the North Pacific basin. Every migration season, he made his way South from Alaska to Mexico, never seemingly crossing paths with any other whale. And at one point he disappeared for more than a month, eventually turning up farther out in the Pacific than ever before.

Some say 52 Blue might even be a hybrid, the product of a romantic trice between a fin whale and a blue whale. And if 52 is a hybrid, the differences in his body makeup could be the reason for his vocalization being so unusual. The story 52 Blue resonates with so many of us because it's kind of a lot like our own, at some point in our lives we felt lonely, misunderstood and isolated. Activism of any kind can feel like you're calling out and no one's there to hear you or understand you, and like you're the only one in the world who cares about what's happening to our planet and the people on it.

But there is something else about 52 Blue's story that you should know... In 2010, Dr. John Hildebrand identified recordings from sensors off the coast of California that follow patterns similar to 52 Blue's vocalizations. But the recordings were taken at the same time from two separate sensors spread far apart, which means the song had to come more than one source. More than one source means more than one whale, at least two, possibly whole pods of hybrid whales calling out at the same frequency. 52 Blue might not be alone after all.

We can't help, but see the similarities between the story of 52 Blue and the stories of our time. Right now, people all over the world who might have felt isolated, alone and unheard are coming together to create change. Look at the School Strike for Climate, Black Lives Matter, Zero Hour, march's for women's rights and the continued importance of the LGBTQ movement. If you've followed along with us since episode one, you've heard some of these voices and you know these people are out there asking the same questions that you are and we're working towards the same goals. This podcast was designed as a sort of response to 52 Blue, the whale and the legend, to help us find community in each other and to create change, not in spite of, but with our unique voices and remind us all that none of us are ever truly alone, not even 52 Blue, and that is some whaley good news.

FOLLOW WYN WILEY, aka PATTIE GONIA, ON INSTAGRAM