We at Provocate are sometimes asked about the cool flamingos in our logo. Why such a funny looking totem for a group that promotes serious events about heavy topics like the theology of al Qaeda, a group that launches initiatives to fight malaria and to rebuild Haiti?

We could offer different symbolic interpretations of flamingos. Flamingos are mysterious: humans have been observing flamingos for as long as there have been humans, and we still don’t know why they sleep perched on one leg. Flamingos are gregarious, intensely social birds. They hang out in large groups where they spend their time chattering with one another—just like people often linger to chat at Provocate’s events.

We could even provide scientific metaphors explaining the affinity between Provocate and long-necked pink waterfowl. Flamingos demonstrate that we are what we eat: They aren’t born pink, but become colored because of the carotenoid proteins in the animals and plankton they eat. Similarly, Provocate believes that our opinions and ideas are colored by the sorts of intellectual and cultural “food” we ingest—which is why we recommend the most nutritious diet of events and civic conversations for your brain.

Flamingos feed by holding their heads upside down under the water, using their uniquely shaped beaks to filter mud and silt from the tasty algae and shrimp they eat. We might say that Provocate encourages you to seek new perspectives by turning your worldview upside down and to also be careful to filter out all the noisy and contentious arguments from the creative, constructive ideas you encounter.

The reality, however, is that Provocate just likes flamingos. They are graceful and goofy and remind us that our serious work should also be fun. Besides, Lauren, our coordinator of visual design, happens to be very good at drawing cool flamingos.