AP photo

A big decision in writing a newspaper story is what to "lead" with. The lead is the first sentence and it's supposed to draw readers in. There are a lot of possibilities with this one: a wire story about an aging penguin, missing its feathers, kept by the California Academy of Sciences at an aquarium in San Francisco. The 25-year-old was given a wet suit so it will go into the water.

The word-play possibilities here are enormous, right?  Not only is the penguin an aging alpha male, it's a species known as a Jackass Penguin, a moniker earned  because of the braying sounds they make.

Here are some other quirky things: the suit fastens with Velcro and a major concern was whether his peers would accept the new look. (They did). Since being fitted about six weeks ago, he's apparently gained weight, grown back some feathers and is as fiesty as ever. I'm open to suggestions for a lead here.

 For inspiration you may want to look here.