Earth Day is a part of Earth Week, which also includes Arbor Day. Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday of April and has as its aim the preservation of trees. This year Arbor Day falls on April 25.
President Donald Trump is the quintessential Ugly American. The term is defined by the Canadian Oxford Dictionary as "an American who behaves offensively abroad." And, it should be added, at home, too.
April is Jazz Appreciation Month. It was created at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in 2001. According to Wikipedia, the aim of the celebration was "to be an annual event that would pay tribute to jazz as both a living and as a historic music."
Among the many ways to appreciate this American-born music, you can attend a jazz performance, buy or listen to a jazz recording, buy a jazz-related poster, support a jazz radio station like WBGO in the New York metropolitan area, wear a jazz-related T-shirt, watch a jazz video online, buy a jazz-related postcard, read a biography of a jazz musician.
For gay travelers and language students I recommend The Gay Phrase Book by Barry McKay (Cassell, 1995). The front cover advises the reader to "Get Your Man in Six Different Languages." Those languages, each having its own section, are French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and Portuguese. Sprinkled throughout the book are beefcake photos.
