It's always funny to see what interests Americans. And in the American Mustache Institute's first blog entry, as the executive director I’d like to tell you about who we are and how we formed.

In the summer of 2006, a few mustache loving men mused about the sad state of a great institution, the American mustache. Some of us had been growing mustaches since age nine, but had felt the need to hide in the shadows of society and popular culture.

And more broadly in American culture, after years of being found only on law enforcement, motocross riders, and the Village People - I'd suggest the mustache reached its low point when its only national media presence was in the milk mustache campaign. This, to us, indicated a serious problem in modern American culture.

We believed the time had come for the "lip sweater" (or in Latin the Labia Sebucula) to return to its rightful place on the faces of men across America. Our group founded of the American Mustache Institute (AMI), took matters onto our own lips, and thus far, it’s been quite a ride.

The Institute is the only national advocacy group for the mustached American and serves as a beacon of freedom and clearinghouse for mustaches across the U.S. We consider ourselves the ACLU of mustaches – fighting cold upper lips and battling discrimination which plagues our brethren.

People have certainly taken notice. Our web site received nearly three quarters of one million visits in just our first three weeks of existence. Thousands of votes poured in for the Best Sports Mustache of All Time contest – won by Keith Hernandez – which as a certified mustacheologist I personally found disturbing. But it was also gratifying when one New York Daily news scribe wrote, "The American Mustache Institute, truly one of the most august bodies in the United States today…" This told us, "hey, we're doing something meaningful."

Possibly of greatest importance is that our emergence is helping us raise funds for Challenger Baseball (www.challengerbaseball.org) – a baseball league for disabled children.

So thank you all for your support as we move forward. We look forward to hearing from, and interacting with you as we grow this movement and our lip fur to greater heights.

In closing, let me leave you with 10 ways you, as an American, can support the mustached American:

1. If able, grow and wear a mustache as often as possible.
2. If you have to send one of those silly e-mail smiles, never forget to include a mustache :-{)
3. When discussing great actors, always include Billy Dee Williams.
4. Pray twice daily facing the world's largest mustache - the St. Louis Arch.
5. Send e-mails to NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams (brian.williams@nbc.com) encouraging him to wear a mustache. Remind him Walter Cronkite had a mustache, so he should grow one too.
6. Stand at attention whenever YMCA is played.
7. Start a petition making Burt Reynolds' birthday a federal holiday.
8. In full view of a mustached American, confront a clean shaven man and ask him why he's afraid to grow a mustache.
9. Clap whenever Gene Shallot appears on television.
10. Girls, just remember that before you knock your man's mustache, think about how Tom Selleck's sex appeal was drastically reduced after he shaved his mustache for Three Men & A Baby.

Thank you, and never forget, a mustache is a terrible thing to waste.

Aaron Perlut
Executive Director, AMI