Hi Friends,
Happy April!
It’s officially the week of April fools, though I noticed that this year there was much less foolish action in the interwebs than in previous years. What happened to all the jokes, japes and hijinks? Has April Fools gone the way of the Dodo?
I know, I know, it’s a controversial topic. Many people hate April Fools Day, when poorly planned pranks can either go in the direction of mean-spiritedness or be eye rollingly dopey. Nobody wants to take a big glug of salted coffee, and I’m sorry but googley eyes on a milk carton do not a prank make (cute, though).
Good natured pranks can even lead to bad outcomes when the prankee doesn’t get the joke. Becky Tuch of Lit Mag News reported on twitter yesterday that her newsletter lost 30 subscribers after she joked about transforming the focus of her site from lit mags to fitness! As if! Come on, now.
What if jokes are nature’s way of telling us everything’s going to be okay?
Yet, at their best, pranks call attention to the precarity of luck’s force in our lives. The best pranks make you think for a moment that something unpleasant has happened, until APRIL FOOLS! returns you to your own lucky reality in which your child has not signed you up to sky dive clutching your oxygen tank, your mother has not tattooed a pizza slice on her rear, and your favorite literary resource will not be turning its focus to the merits of Huel and HIIT. (I do kind of want Becky’s take on Andrew Huberman, though).
And I can’t help thinking there’s an essential rightness to pranks in April, when each day you’re as likely to get snow as 70’s & sunny. How can we go about our business every day jokeless when nature is constantly poking its boney little finger into our sides? This year even the sun and moon will be playing a little prank on us by turning day to night for much of the country.
So if you’re an April Fools Scrooge, I ask you to reconsider. It’s one of the few holidays we have that doesn’t require decorating weeks in advance, or purchasing gifts or mailing cards. And it can be equally enjoyed by kindergartners and 100 year olds.
Can you truly say your life isn’t a little bit enriched by this classic video of the spaghetti harvest?
Also, I can’t go on this long about pranks without plugging Zoe Tokushige’s excellent middle grade series, “Airi Sano: Prankmaster General” I’ve been assured by a geniune elementary school prankster that these books are loaded with quality pranks. Book 3 is available for preorder now. (
This Week I’m:
Watching: Shogun. (and I am not ready to talk about the events of this week’s episode…)
Listening to: Cowboy Carter.
Take a Class with Me:
Registration is open now for my Jumpstart Your Writing Class centered on published writing guides. Every week in addition to writing prompts and in-class writing time, we’ll discuss the merits of a classic (or new classic) writing guide. Class meets live on zoom Thursday nights. Sign up at: https://grubstreet.org/workshop/jumpstart-your-writing-writing-guide-study-hall-undefined
Thanks for reading!
Kayleigh
Kayleigh- Googley eyes always make me smile. Thanks for sharing it. And for sharing it "in the fridge"! YES! :)