T.S. Eliot famously called April the cruelest month, but that hasn’t stopped advocates for a wide array of causes, hobbies, foods, products and activities to claim it for their own. Consider this list of such designations bestowed on April. In a way, they provide a strangely compelling snapshot of the U.S.A. in 2007:
* Alcohol Awareness Month
* Cancer Control Month
* Child Abuse Prevention Month
* Holy Humor Month
* International Guitar Month
* Keep American Beautiful Month
* Mathematics Awareness Month
* National Anxiety Month
* National Autism Awareness Month
* National Garden Month
* National Home Improvement Month
* National Humor Month
* National Occupational Therapy Month
* National Pecan Month
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* National Poetry Month
* National Sexually Transmitted Diseases Education and Awareness Month
* National Smile Month
* National Welding Month
* National Woodworking Month
* Pets Are Wonderful Month
* Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month
* Sexual Assault Awareness Month
* Straw Hat Month
* Stress Awareness Month
By the way, many lists on the Internet include “Months” that no longer exist or never did. For example, the European-American Heritage and History Month. In 2001, Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore issued a proclamation giving that designation to April within his state but quickly rescinded it after learning it had been sought by a group headed by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.