April Announcements

Ahhh...April is here. This is the time Spring weather begins and one needs to start planting in the garden. One thing the Germans traditionally do on the first day of April is mix in a teaspoon of sauerkraut in their compost pile. Supposedly it helps the fruit and vegetable scraps, leaves, and grass trimmings to decompose more quickly, and it brings good luck for the coming year's crop.

Another thing they do on this day is play Scherze. A good example of a Scherz is when someone tells you that the German's put sauerkraut in their compost pile :-)  Yes, just like in the U.S., Germans play jokes on people, but instead of saying "April Fool" they yell "April! April!"

Yesterday, while discussing various language topics with my friend Daniela, she was surprised when I told her that in the States April 1 also signifiies the start of National Poetry Month. “Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events.”
- Poets.org


Several online poetry sites post a poem each day. One site you might visit is the Boston Review (http://www.bostonreview.net/NPM/). Another is Poets.org. For information on how to register to receive your daily poem by email, RSS, or iPhone each day, click on the link in the above quote.

Others take it one step further and participate in NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writers Month) and write a poem every day in April. Some sites give a prompt each day; others allow you the freedom to write on any topic you wish each day. Interested? Then check out the following sites.

http://www.napowrimo.net/2011/04/napowrimo-day-1/

http://thinairchallenge.blogspot.com/

http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/2011/03/01/2011AprilPADPoemADayChallengeGuidelines.aspx

http://bigtentpoetry.org/2011/03/that-poem-a-day-business-is-such-a-circus/

http://notwithoutpoetry.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/prompt-1-no-narrative/


If poetry isn't your style but you have a blog, why not consider taking part in the A to Z Blogging Challenge. This challenge started last year and had nearly one hundred participants. As of this morning, there were already 1,000 people signed up to take part.   All you need to do is post something on your blog every day except Sundays. This will add up to 26 blog post--one for each letter of the alphabet. You can write about anything you want but the topic for day one must relate to A, the second day B, etc.  I am taking part; that's why my post is titled April Announcements. Since I am participating with this blog and not my personal blog (which might have been easier...hmmm), all my posts will somehow be related to words, language, writing, word play, literature, communications...well, you get the point.  I am not sure if I can complete the challenge, because I just started blogging in December and am very lazy when it comes to blog posts. Then again, that's what makes it a challenge.

A note to my Facebook friends: My blog is listed on Networked Blogs and automatically posts to my FB wall. Sorry if this clutters your News Feed. I promise, in May I will go back to my normal 1 to 4 posts per month.

Now I think I'll go think about what topic to use for B.
Until tomorrow...