Mardi Gras

I didn't get to go this year, but my parents went and are mailing me twenty pounds or so of beads and other goodies. I love those people.

Most of the media coverage was about how great it was that people were having fun again and that it was important as a step towards moving forward with their lives. Other people, including people who had to evacuate and are stranded in other cities now, questioned whether the city should be throwing a celebration when so many people were still without homes. This is a legitimate argument. BUT.

I would give it more weight if someone could explain to me how not having Mardi Gras would bring those people back any quicker. Or how it would rebuild houses. Or repair levees. Or give us better leadership. Name one positive that would come from canceling what's in the city's soul. And before anyone mentions the money that the city is spending that could have been used elsewhere, let me point out one teensy-weensy item: the city doesn't spend a dime on parades or floats or parties or balls or anything like that. It's all privately funded by the krewes themselves. The city pays for the police and not much else. And this year, I think they got help with that, too. The money the city takes in from taxes due to Mardi Gras dollars far exceeds anything they'll spend. And they need all they can get. I'm thrilled they had Mardi Gras this year, even if it was smaller and shorter than usual.

One reason I've always liked it is that it felt like it was our day. Louisiana's day. N.O.'s day. The whole country turns their attention to New Orleans. They think New Orleans, they don't think "Aquarium of the Americas" or "Audubon Zoo". They think of Mardi Gras. Tomorrow will be Ash Wednesday and the Church will start in on Lent. But that's tomorrow (actually, at the time I'm writing this, it's today, but you get the point), and tomorrow can wait.