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April Fool’s Day

Okay lemme get this straight – on the first day of April, we lie to people, and then when they get freaked out, we all laugh? This is some allstic nonsense. I’ve got too much on my plate to plan petty lies or an intricate con.

I’m busy and have plans on the first of April (naps & snacks) so we’re skipping April Fool’s. HOWEVER – during St. Paddy’s, we declare the day open-blarney season. For 24 hours, the Earthquakes are allowed to bend the truth, persuade through flattery, and tell ridiculous stories mixed with improbable truth to get what they wanted (Candy, it’s always candy. Unless it’s video games.)

Make them do the work of telling fantastical tales! As Irish Americans, we’re celebrating the traditions of our ancestors and the unique cultural mishmash that comes with our history. We celebrate a long family tradition of telling stories of whimsy, wit, and absolute bullshit.

If I could maintain the false image of ‘a good parent‘ I’d sell you some nonsense about open blarney-season cultivating imagination and creative thinking in our kids. Honestly though, sometimes I just want a  break from assessing every word out of someone’s mouth for truth and integrity, and I guess April Fool’s gives us the opportunity to just drop the calculus and assume everyone is lying to us all the time.

Blarney and improbably tales are also a nice way to memorialize my grandfather, Leprechaun King of Blarney & Off-Color Jokes, who passed away in 2020 just before St. Paddy’s as the world shut down for Covid. Erin Go Bullshit.

Read: Stories of pranksters, witty liars, and expert bullshitters

While many Coyote & Raven stories would fit within this realm of expert bullshittery, try to avoid the Trickster stories of folks Indigenous to Northern Turtle Island, as those should we reserved for the winter season out of respect.

• O’Sullivan Stew
• The Nian Monster
• Fin M’Coul

When is it?

• Annually on the first of April on the Gregorian calendar

Parenting is Praxis

1. Give your kids 24 hour free-reign to just lie their asses off, on the contingency that it has to be charming.
2. Get it out of their system and go back to harping about truth and integrity for the other 364 days of the year.

Take Action: Our Environment is NOT the place to play pranks!

Tell the EPA: Plastic is not a Biofuel

Via Moms Clean Air Force from our Quick-Action Coordinator, Shannon Brescher Shea

The EPA has quietly inserted waste plastic into its renewable fuel standard program, which was designed to fast-track the production of renewable fuels from plants, algae, and other biological sources.

We need to urge EPA to stop including waste plastic as a fuel source in this biofuels program.