Humanitarian of the Week: April Winchell

April Winchell

My goal with Stalking the Belle Époque, as my regular readers know, was to create an online community wherein we remember that there’s still beauty in this ugly world. We do so by looking back to the wonderful things and works of art created by humanity both past and present. This has given us an opportunity to look at the best results of the creative spirit as evidenced through magnificent paintings, sculpture, jewels, objects, photography, films, furnishings and architecture. Throughout, we have learned a lot about our world history and our world culture.

April Winchell also studies the end result of the creative process. Like me, she does this daily. However, Miss Winchell is not afforded the luxury of finding the beauty of the world. She is faced with the task of finding the opposite. Through Miss Winchell’s Web site, Regretsy (a spoof of the crafting site, Etsy.com), she shows us the unfortunate, often hideous, often offensive and always amusing fruit of the creative spirit by hand-selecting the most bizarre handicrafts and artwork that she can find.

At first glance, Regretsy might seem to be nothing more than a found-content blog that serves only to poke fun at bad crafting. But, it’s much more than that. With her biting, usually salty and always irreverent commentary, Miss Winchell first entertains us and then challenges us to think about just why the image we’re looking at is wrong and what that says about the state of our world’s art and culture.

Essentially we’re doing the same thing. I’m showing you the good stuff and asking you to put it in context, and she’s showing you the bad. Though Regretsy is certainly more R-rated than Stalking the Belle Époque (and, here, I caution my regular readers that they will encounter a lot more four-letter words and titillating imagery there than they’re used to seeing here), the concept is largely the same. Along the way, I think, April has ruffled quite a few feathers of those who don’t quite grasp what she’s trying to do—this is more than evidenced through the many “flounces” from disgruntled readers that she has posted on her site. And, while her presentation may be extreme at times, I applaud her for it. Not being a very extreme person myself, I can appreciate and admire those who face ugliness with equal power.

I count myself as one of the many, many thousands of daily readers of Miss Winchell’s work and I can always count on getting a laugh from her site. But, even more so than laughter, I can honestly say that each day, she has given me a chance to think. She’s illustrating the very cultural stagnation that I’m trying to combat.

But, there’s more to April Winchell than just sarcastic commentary and ironic pictures. The daughter of the late genius Paul Winchell, April is a talented and celebrated actress, voice talent, writer and radio host whose ingenious musings have added depth to a variety of publications and media.

Even more so impressive, however, are Miss Winchell’s humanitarian efforts. These she performs quietly and humbly—in stark contrast to the “Helen Killer” persona she utilizes on her Web site. Among her many charitable works (which include working with Project Angel Food, among others), Miss Winchell spearheads, “April’s Army.” Miss Winchell puts it best on her own Web site”

April's Army is one of the largest teams on Etsy, and is comprised entirely of Regretsy members.


During the last week of each month, participating sellers set aside at least one handmade item to benefit Regretsy’s charity fund. The proceeds go directly to a needy Etsy seller or someone in the community facing difficult obstacles. Information about the current month’s recipient will be posted in the shop’s profile.

That’s pretty outstanding. And, once again, we are challenged to look deeper than the surface. Hers is not a Web site dedicated to the negative. It is, in fact, a positive place which seeks to make a difference—even if in small doses. So, for her charitable efforts, her wit and her particular brand of genius, April Winchell is our “Humanitarian of the Week.”