Today marks the first day of national Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month (sometimes Gay Pride Month, or even just Pride, for short), an annual thirty-day celebration of the LGBT community. Every year, millions of people across the world look back on the progress forged by their ancestors—from the Stonewall Riots, which sparked the modern LGBT civil rights movement in 1969, to the same-sex marriages of today—and look forward to the many more milestones that are yet to come. Of course the most visible part of the festivities is the Pride Parade, which takes place in cities the world over and always features loud music, spectacular costumes, and millions of happy LGBT people and allies. All in all, it’s an occasion that’s steeped not only in history, but in good times and—you guessed it—pride.

Just in time for LGBT Pride Month, we’re pleased to present The Real-World Guide to Coming Out—a short e-book by Steven Petrow that details the ins and (ha) outs of coming out of the proverbial closet. Whether you’re unsure of whom to tell first or can hardly wait to declare yourself in a Facebook post, this guide excerpted from Steven Petrow’s Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners (in stores today!) has got it covered. Check it out below or download the e-book for free for a limited time!

Happy Pride!

Ah, summer!

We celebrate its arrival this Memorial Day weekend, when the grills of America are lit with unbridled glee. From sea to shining sea, grillmasters and barbecue aficionados will offer up the standard fare: hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, maybe Texas-style brisket if they’re feeling adventurous.

But for the maestro who wants to knock the socks off of family and friends, there’s a mind-boggling dessert that will confound, amaze, and impress them—and make their taste buds sing. It’s as American as apple pie—and often served with it, as a matter of fact. But here it gets the live-fire treatment. I’m talking about grilled ice cream.

Yes, ice cream. But isn’t that an inherent contradiction? you ask. Isn’t putting a frozen dessert over hot coals a bit like mixing oil and water? Perhaps, but in the ambitious, able hands of America’s master griller, Steven Raichlen, grilled ice cream becomes not only doable, but delectable, too! Read on for the how-to.

Grilled Ice Cream
from Planet Barbecue! by Steven Raichlen

The Scoop

Where: Azerbaijan (the easternmost of the Caucasus Mountain republics, bordered by Armenia, Russia, Iran, and the Caspian Sea)

What: Coconut-crusted ice cream balls grilled shish kebab-style over blistering hot charcoal

How: Direct grilling on a grateless grill

Just the facts: Because of the delicate nature of the ice cream and coconut coating, you’ll need to grill these kebabs on a grateless grill; suspend the skewer between two bricks positioned at opposite sides of the grill. You can use any flavor of ice cream for this recipe—Chef Mehman favors vanilla. Stateside, I’m partial to Häagen-Dazs’ crème brûlée; its burnt-sugar flavor reinforces the taste of the flame-charred coconut.

The Method

The strangest thing I’ve ever grilled? It’s a question I’m asked often. So is Azerbaijan’s most famous grill master and TV chef, Mehman Huseynov, and the hyperkinetic chef has a ready answer: ice cream. Yes, ice cream. Skewered on a slender ribbon of steel, crusted with beaten egg and shredded coconut, and seared over the fire. The secret to grilling ice cream is to dip the frozen balls in egg and coconut several times before grilling. The hot fire cooks these ingredients into a hermetic crust, which seals in the melting ice cream. It’s essential to work quickly and over a very hot fire to sear the exterior before the ice cream has a chance to melt.

Makes 8 to 12 balls; serves 4

1½ pints of your favorite ice cream

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups grated or shredded dried coconut in a shallow bowl

You’ll also need
Flat metal skewers, at least 12 inches long

Advance preparation
4 to 6 hours for refreezing the ice cream

1. Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop the ice cream into 2-inch balls. Place them in a baking dish and return them to the freezer to freeze the balls solid, 1 to 2 hours.

2. Place the eggs and vanilla in a shallow bowl and beat with a fork. Dip each ice cream ball in beaten egg, turning it with forks to coat it all over, then in the coconut, turning it with forks to coat it on all sides. Return each ball to the egg to coat it again, then coat it in the coconut again. Return the balls to the baking dish and freeze them again until solid.

3. When the coconut-covered ice cream balls are frozen solid, skewer them on flat metal skewers and freeze them again.

4. Set up the grill for grateless grilling, following the instructions below and preheat the grill to as hot as it will go. Arrange 2 bricks on the grate at opposite sides of the grill.

5. Place the kebabs on the grill, resting the ends of the skewers on the bricks. Grill the ice cream balls until the coconut is browned on all sides, 1 to 2 minutes per side, 4 minutes in all. Work quickly; the idea is to sear the coconut without melting the ice cream. Slide the ice cream balls off the skewers into bowls or onto plates and serve at once.

Note: Grateless grilling

In many parts of the world, from Turkey to Japan to India, grills do not have grates and the food is cooked suspended directly over the fire. The method is particularly good for grilling skewered ground meat kebabs, tofu, and glazed foods that would otherwise stick to the grate. The easiest way to do grateless grilling on an American-style grill, either charcoal or gas, is to place two flat bricks, paving stones, or pieces of metal pipe on the grate, one at the front and one at the back. Position them just far enough apart so that the ends of the skewers will rest comfortably on them as supports. The food will be suspended over the grate and will be fully exposed to the heat.

For more sizzling recipes, check out Planet Barbecue!

I am lucky enough to still have four living grandparents. This is something I’ve never taken for granted, because not only were they great for playing board games and serving me second helpings of dessert when I was a kid, but they always were and continue to be excellent storytellers. Not only that, but their own personal histories are so varied and interesting.

Unsurprisingly, given their generation, my grandparents’ early lives were touched by war in ways larger than I can imagine. My paternal grandmother, for example, lost her first husband in World War II. While she was home raising their two children by herself, her future second husband—my dad’s dad—was training Navy pilots for combat overseas. Ten years later, when the war was over and Europe was struggling to rebuild, my maternal grandfather was stationed in France, where he claims to have done little more than play baseball with his fellow recruits (though I have a feeling this may be an embellishment for the sake of the story).

Whether you have an uncle who fought overseas or a grandmother who grew a victory garden at home, chances are you know someone whose life has been directly impacted by war. This Memorial Day, take the time to honor those who gave their lives for our country by listening to the stories of those who are around to tell them. Below are some questions to help get your conversation started. If you want you can even break out a notepad, tape recorder, or video camera and preserve the stories for future generations.

• If you joined the military by choice, why? What did you hope to achieve by enlisting, and how did your family respond? If you were drafted, how did you feel about having to go into the service?
• When you left home, what were your good-byes like?
• Where did you go for basic training? What was the hardest part? What friendships do you remember from that time?
• What were some of the greatest challenges you encountered overall?
• What was your experience of combat? What helped you get through it? What have been the effects on you and on your family?
• What changes did you feel in yourself as you went through these experiences?
• What was military food like? Describe a typical meal. Is there anything you won’t eat now because of your years in the service?
• Who were your friends? What did you do together when you weren’t on the front lines? Have you stayed friends?
• What were the hardest physical challenges? How did you cope?
• Were you ever wounded? How did your injury happen, and how and where were you cared for afterward?
• Were any of your friends wounded or killed in combat? How did those losses affect you in the field? How do they affect you now?
• Who inspired you during your service? How?
• How has your military experience shaped the person you are today?

For more about interviewing friends and loved ones, pick up a copy of The Oral History Workshop by Cynthia Hart with Lisa Samson.

Spring is in the air, and with it come some of the best celebrations of the year: Weddings! Graduations! Sweet sixteens/other coming-of-age ceremonies! (I guess those last two could happen at any time of year, but don’t you feel like they’re always in the spring? No? Just me?)

But nothing taints a great memory like a bad party video. We’ve all seen it: The wedding footage that barely features the bride, and then only from the opposite end of the church. The graduation video with such poor audio that the commencement address sounds like a lecture by Charlie Brown’s teacher. The bat mitzvah video that showcases a few too many rambling uncles and a few too few boogying tweens.

How to prevent such unfortunate home video gaffes? Enter Steve Stockman, film guru and non-sucky-video-maker extraordinaire. Use the below excerpt from his new book How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck—which, by the way, promises to teach you just that—as a reference and you’re guaranteed to create a great memento of that special day. Then be sure to check out Steve’s website for lots more video tips, including his guide to shooting graduations in particular.

In honor of Superman’s birthday, we asked Randall Lotowycz, author of The DC Comics Super Heroes and Villains Fandex, to weigh in on this significant anniversary.

Action Comics #1, by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

On May 3^rd, 1938, a strange visitor from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men first arrived on newsstands across the country in Action Comics #1 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. I’m talking about Superman, of course, the lone survivor from the planet Krypton who, as an adult, decided to “turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind, and so was created ‘Superman’, champion of the oppressed…” The initial printing of the comic was 200,000 copies, but the series went on to sell in the millions.

These days, the relevancy of this iconic character is often called into question. He’s seen as old-fashioned, or even cheesy, compared to hipper, darker characters like Batman. His clean-cut image often does not jive with modern sensibilities. But still his appeal endures, and people still seem to care about him, and not just loyal comic book readers.  Last week, in the milestone 900^th issue of Action Comics, Superman decided to renounce his American citizenship in order to best service the interests of the entire world, not just the USA. And news of this comic book story—an imaginary tale—spread like wildfire, with articles in Time, The Huffington Post, The New York Post, and Fox News, to name a few.  Everyone seemed to have something to say about it, either supporting his decision or finding it alarming.

This isn’t the first time Superman’s exploits crossed over from the comics to the real world. When Superman died (it’s comics, they do that sometimes) in 1992, the world took notice. People who weren’t reading comic books went out and bought the issue. Why is that?

The milestone issue, Action Comics #900

I believe it’s because we all have deeply rooted connection to Superman.  For some people, it was watching George Reeves wink at the camera in the 50s television show. For others, it was Christopher Reeve showing us a man could fly, in the 70s film. Others turned to the cartoons, and some have just been loyal comic book readers over the years. I never picked up a comic book before he died in 1992. The ten-year-old me actually had little interest in comics, but something as momentous as Superman dying had to be seen, and read, and discussed. It made me into a lifelong comic book fan. And regardless of how people are introduced to Superman, they all can connect to him. He’s the archetype of modern American mythology, a Paul Bunyan or Johnny Appleseed for a new era. And the fact that he’s renouncing his citizenship in the comics now doesn’t change that. He’s doing what he’s always been doing, serving as a beacon of hope to the world. I’d like to think most people strive, or at least secretly wish, to be the best person they can be. And I believe a large part of that is realizing what makes you who you are and how you can use your unique abilities to make the world a better place. We don’t have to have superpowers or be from another planet. Superman shows us to take what we have and use it.

To quote Superman’s father Jor-El in Superman: The Movie:  We (not just Americans, but all mankind) “can be a great people . . . if they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you, my only son.” Messianic allusions aside, the message is strong and clear. It appeals to all of us, and will always be relevant and never cheesy. After 73 years, Superman is still around to bring out the best in us. Here’s to another 73 years!

—Randall Lotowycz is the author of The DC Comics Super Heroes and Villains Fandex.

Oh happiest of days! Sound the trumpets, dance a jig, put on your best hat! It’s finally happened!!

Don’t pretend you don’t know what we’re talking about—or worse, that you don’t care. It’s the Royal Wedding, of course! The festivities began at 11 am GMT (6 am EST—were you up?), and by now Prince William of Wales and the lovely Kate Middleton have been wed in front of several million of their closest friends. The dress, the ceremony, the crowds: It’s all so romantic and sweet and royal that we can hardly stand it!!!

But, truth be told, it’s not all sunshine and flowers and happily chiming bells—at least not around here. Of course we’re happy for the newlyweds, and we hope they enjoy the gift we sent them (Royal wedding tea cozies. They like tea there, right?). But when you get right down to it, the marriage of Wills and Kate means one thing above all else: one less eligible bachelor.

Ugh. That’s unfortunate, to say the least. But hey! Don’t despair: There are plenty of princes in the sea (let’s not forget about Harry!), and we can help you net one, with tips from Nicholas Boothman’s How to Make Someone Fall in Love with You in 90 Minutes or Less. Below, an introduction to introductions—in other words, the key to speaking those crucial first words to the cutie across the room (or the pond…). After all, even Kate and Wills had to start somewhere, and we’re pretty sure it was with a smoother line than “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

Engineering Introductions
If a stranger across a crowded room catches your fancy, ask your host or a mutual friend or acquaintance to introduce you. But don’t leave things to chance. Instead, prepare your own ten-second commercial ahead of time by telling your introducer what to say—your name, perhaps where you’re from, and what you do for a living, or something else memorable about you, all put in an interesting way. It’ll come off a lot better than “Heather, this is Jim. He got soaked coming here, didn’t you, Jim?”

It’s also important to follow that old rule: Two’s company, three’s a crowd. Politely ask your host to introduce you, say one or two interesting things about you, and then leave. “Heather, this is Jim. He lives in Seattle and makes films.” You want the third party out of the way so the conversation doesn’t become two people talking and one listening—a bad dynamic for making a connection, no matter who ends up doing the talking.

If you really want to impress, ask your host to tell you two or three interesting things about the person you want to meet before he introduces you. Then, when you do connect, you can say, “Bob told me that you spent last month in a Buddhist retreat. What was it like? What inspired you to go?” This strategy puts you on a more personal footing faster.

—Avery, whose wedding will surely be as large and extravagant as today’s main event. (Not.)

It’s almost April Fool’s Day (do you know how you’re celebrating?), so let this serve as a friendly reminder that tomorrow you should take everything you hear, read, and even see with a grain of salt. Plenty of people take advantage of this so-called “holiday” as an excuse to propagate lies and play seemingly harmless “jokes” on their friends. So be cautious, and don’t believe everything you’re told, and you should make it through the day unscathed.

But just because everyone else out there is trying to dupe you doesn’t mean we are! No, today we’re all about facts, about integrity, about undeniable truthiness. Today we bring you a bizarre entry from the files of Damn Interesting—a story that’s just too weird not to be true.

In 1962, in the small village of Kashasha, Tanganyika (modern Tanzania), a group of students at a boarding school began to snicker following some remark or event that is now lost to history. For reasons unknown, the laughter was abnormally infectious, and soon the greater part of the student body was incapacitated with the contagious convulsions. In an effort to quell the inexplicable outbreak, administrators closed the school and sent the giggling students home, but this allowed the epidemic to spread. Parents, siblings, and neighbors were reduced to wriggling, vocalizing masses, and the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic rapidly propagated to thousands of people, including other schools, workplaces, and a neighboring village. Over time the sporadic, recurring lapses into laughter began to cause abdominal pain, fainting, respiratory problems, rashes, and uncontrollable weeping in some individuals. Reports vary regarding the duration of the epidemic—spanning anywhere from 6 to 18 months—but over time it naturally faded. Most historians and scientists attribute the bizarre incident to mass hysteria. The nation had won its independence from Britain only months prior, and the transition may have produced unusually high levels of stress among the citizenry.

We implore you, dear readers, to take this message to heart, and try not to pull any pranks this April Fool’s Day that result in months of uncontrollable laughter for thousands of people. It may be funny to you, but it’s not funny to…okay, yeah, it’s funny.

To learn more about the curious phenomenon of laughter, check out the article Humoring the Gelotologists on DamnInteresting.com. And for more strange-but-true stories, pick up a copy of Alien Hand Syndrome by Alan Bellows.

—Avery, who—hey, look! “Gullible” is written on the ceiling!

Do you have the luck of the Irish? Or are you as ill-fated as someone who broke a mirror while walking under a ladder as black cat crossed his path?

Whatever your fortune, everyone could use a little more luck. The idea of superstitions and lucky charms has been around for ages. In fact, the concept of wearing jewelry has its origins in good-luck charms! You probably know that it’s good luck to find a penny (heads-side up, of course, and extra points if it’s from the year you were born) and bad luck to step on a crack in the sidewalk (please, spare your mother’s back!). But did you know that pulling your pocket inside out will reverse bad luck? And that lighting a pink candle will make you lucky in love?

Check out these lesser-known luck-related tidbits from The Good Luck Book, and who knows—you might get lucky!

• Seeing three butterflies fluttering together is a good omen.
• If your shoes squeak, that’s good luck. If you kick off your shoes and they land on their soles, that’s also good luck.
• If you get up on the left (wrong) side of the bed, put your right sock and shoe on first to ward off bad luck.
• According to old English tradition, it’s good luck to find a peapod with only one pea inside.
• The Pennsylvania Dutch say it’s good luck to kiss in the middle of a covered bridge, and also to burn your baby’s first diaper. (No word on whether one leads to the other.)
• You’ll be lucky if you put on an article of clothing wrong-side out. But you have to do this accidentally, and once you have, you must wear it that way all day.

And perhaps most important of all:

“When you have good luck in anything, you ought to be glad. Indeed, if you are not glad, you are not really lucky.”
—Henry Van Dyke, Fisherman’s Luck

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—Avery, who in sixth grade worshiped at the altar of a lucky plastic pig. She can’t explain it.

You’ve heard of limericks: five-line rhyming poems that originated in the Irish city of (you guessed it) Limerick. And you’ve surely had your mouth mixed up by a tongue-twister or two. But have you ever heard of a Twimerick?!

A Twimerick is the best of both worlds: the goofy nonsense rhymes of a limerick, plus the funny frustration of the trickiest tongue-twisters. So in celebration of both St. Patrick’s Day (next week) and National Poetry Month (right now!), give your tongue a test with some of the toughest Twimericks from the book Twimericks: The Book of Tongue-Twisting Limericks, by Lou Brooks.

And if your tongue gets totally tied up in knots, take a break from the verbal gymnastics and help Felix Fields, the baker from Bakersfield, untangle his tongue in this Amazing Maze from Twimericks.com.

Warning: The Surgeon General has determined that rapid reading of these twimericks out loud to others may lead to your tongue being twisted into a perfect Over-and-Underhand Bavarian Pretzel Knot—probably forever.

Which Witch Was Which?
Two witchy witches in a Wichita ditch:
One witch with a twitch caused the witches to switch.
The spell they were under
Caused people to wonder,
Which Wichita witch switched was witch?

Lou Brooks, the World's Oldest Kid! (c) Lou Brooks

Bud, the Bedbug
A bedbug named Bud in a bed
Begged a bedbug named Buzz to be fed.
Bud bugged Buzz for a bite,
But Buzz bid Bud good night,
So Bud bit Buzz’s blanket and spread.

Rufus the Goofus
A reckless rough roofer, Ralph Rufus,
Was a ruthless fool wreck of a doofus.
When Rufus roofed on a roof,
No roof was Ralph-proof.
Roofing roofers felt Rufus a goofus.

March is National Craft Month, and to celebrate, we here at Workman are featuring DIY projects from some of our many fun crafting books. First up is Banned for Life, a cute headband—made from T-shirts, naturally—from Generation T by Megan Nicolay.

Banned for Life

Says Megan, “You can cut the neckpiece out of a T-shirt and slip it over your head as an instant headband, or you can take a few more steps for a more glamorous payoff.” This project involves some simple sewing (so simple that I can do it) and looks great when finished.

Refashioning T-shirts is pretty thrifty!

You’ll need:

• 2 T-shirts (in different colors)
• ruler
• scissors
• straight pins
• needle
• thread

xxx

1. Cut the bottom 2″ to 3″ off the bottom of two T-shirts in different colors. (I’ve chosen red and gray.) Lay the two “tubes” flat next to each other and snip through the sides of each tube to make approximately 48″-long strips.

2. Lay the strips on top of each other, right sides together, and pin them along both edges. Trim at one end so they’re the same length.

3. Using a whipstitch, sew the two strips together along the pinned edges (leaving the ends open). Remove the pins and turn the band right side out.

4. Press the band flat so that the seam is in the center, splitting the two colors like a black-and-white cookie.

5. Wrap the band around your head so that the ends are at the top of your forehead. Tie them in a single knot.

6. Twist the two ends together to form a single rope, and spiral the rope around the knot so that it fits tightly against your head. It’ll look a bit like a flower.

T-shirt fashion! Long hair not required.

7. Secure the end by tucking it in between wraps in the spiral. Adjust the band so that the “flower” rests slightly to one side. (Note: This wrap is temporary. If you want the spiral to last, slip the band gently off your head and stitch the knot in place.) Et voila!

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Check back later in the month for other fun crafting how-tos. Plus check out Megan’s site, Generation-T.com, for more great ways to upcycle your T-shirts into something new!