Chris Rose: "We're having Mardi Gras and that's final!"

I love Chris Rose, the Times-Picayune columnist. I always thought he was funny, and now he's my hero.

He has done so many great post-Katrina columns; he has even shared his personal depression concerning the storm. In a December 13th column, he forcefully argues for this year's Mardi Gras, and I wish everyone would read what he writes:

And here's a simple, not-so-eloquent reason why: If we don't have Mardi Gras, then the terrorists win. The last thing we need right now is to divide ourselves over our most cherished event.

The terrorists win! You have to admit that's funny... And he knows the truth-- Mardi Gras is more than the rest of the country might think it is.

If the national news wants to show people puking on Bourbon Street as a metaphor for some sort of displaced priorities in this town, so be it. The only puking I've seen at Mardi Gras in the past 10 years is little babies throwing up on their mothers' shoulders after a bottle.

To encapsulate the notion of Mardi Gras as nothing more than a big drunk is to take the simple and stupid way out, and I, for one, am getting tired of staying stuck on simple and stupid.

Mardi Gras is not a parade. Mardi Gras is not girls flashing on French Quarter balconies. Mardi Gras is not an alcoholic binge.

Well, what is it then, Chris?

Mardi Gras is the love of life. It is the harmonic convergence of our food, our music, our creativity, our eccentricity, our neighborhoods and our joy of living. All at once.

And it doesn't really matter if there are superparades or even any parades at all this year. Because some group of horn players will grab their instruments and they will march Down the Avenue because that's what they do, and I, for one, will follow.

If there are no parades, I'm hitching a boombox to a wagon, putting James Booker on the CD player and pulling my kids Down the Avenue and you're welcome to come along with me and where more than two tribes gather, there is a parade.

No Grinch can steal Mardi Gras!

We are the parade. We are Mardi Gras. We're Whoville, man -- you can take away the beads and the floats and all that crazy stuff, but we're still coming out into the street. Cops or no cops. Post-parade garbage pick-up or no garbage pick-up -- like anyone could tell the friggin' difference!

Let the whole damn country hear Al Johnson yelling "It's Carnival Time" and let them know we're not dead and if we are dying, we're going to pretend like we're not.

Fly the flag. Be in that number. This is our battle to win or lose. Hopefully, of one mind and one message. That we are still here. And that we are still New Orleans.

Amen.

Hey, I'm Costa Rica! Well, not really, I'm Madagascar...

Ok, so it's a quiz to see what country you are.

The first time, I answered honestly. Turns out I'm Madagascar. Yeah, I'm strange.
The second time, I decided I wanted to be Costa Rica-- and I did it! That's right, I successfully faked being a nation!

Baby, you should be very, very proud of me.
(hrm... I wonder if you could do it one the first time...
BET YOU CAN'T!)

That's right folks, I'm Costa Rica...

You're Costa Rica!

You're about as peaceful as anyone on the planet, a real dyed-in-the-wool
pacifist. And why not? No one really poses much of a threat to you and
everything seems to work out, no matter how much violence and insanity rages all around you. So you relax and appreciate nature and culture while the rest of the world carries on their petty disagreements.

If only everyone could follow your example...


Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

Best Levees In The World

Donald Powell, White House reconstruction man, said that the President is committed to building the "best levees known in the world" in New Orleans.

Let's hold him to his word.

New Orleans - Diversity = Orlando

No offense to Mickey Mouse and his crew, but Slyvana Joseph is right in her editorial today.

New Orleans needs all kinds of people to be New Orleans. It's not a party without everybody. In case you're too lazy to click on the link, here's an excerpt from the T-P today:

We don't always get along, but we always get together. We are not separate and equal, we are intertwined and insane. We don't like anyone else's food, drink or music. We let you take your wine to go but make you sit to eat a doughnut. We are more than black and white, Hispanic and Asian, we are more than rich and poor, we are amazingly more than American.

We are New Orleanians.

1°F! :O

OH MY GOODNESS!!!


Right Now for
Rindge, NH (03461)

Partly Cloudy 1°F
Feels Like
1°F

1°F

1°F!!!!! WHAT!!!

Updated Dec 14 07:45 p.m. ET

(thank you weather.com)
!!!

I *might* like classical music... ; )

You're a Non-box.


What box do you get put in?
brought to you by Quizilla

The best article I've read about New Orleans

This is how it is.

criminals

Do you know what this is? Of course you do:

We the people
in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice,
ensure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare
and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity,
do ordain and establish this constitution,
for the United States of America.

Beautiful words, they get me everytime.
-------------------------------------------------------

just a little angry at the federal government right now
you know who you are.

Why do we even have a government if not to protect us, to provide service in time of need?
Man, New Orleans, you got a really bad deal here.
This was not just an "act of God."
We got a really bad deal.

I wish I could make the rest of the country feel, just for a moment, the way I feel right now.
Imagine it was their town, dying in Intensive Care and on the Senate floor.
The way I feel for my poor city, and its poor people.
Abandoned.
Betrayed.

The situation in the Gulf Coast should go down in history as an enormous stain on our nation's reputation. Other nations should embarass the hell out of us for it-- it's so shameful.
What does it mean to be the "leader of the free world" if you can't take care of your own people?
(What does that mean anyways!?!?!)

I know I'm a little pissy and irrational right now.

Cut me some slack:
It's 16 degrees outside, but the news says it feels like 4.

Seriously though, I've grown up loving American idealism, but now I've really really realized:
This nation is not about responsibility, intelligence, freedom, hard work...

If the U.S. were about responsibility,
our coorporations wouldn't be ravaging the environment all over the globe.

If it were about intelligence,
we would care enough about education and the arts so that our public school systems wouldn't flounder.

If it were about freedom,
businesses wouldn't facilitate-- and government wouldn't turn a blind eye to-- that modern form of slavery which is illegal immigration.

If it were about hard work,
-- well maybe it is about hard work, but selfish work for your own interests, and not for something more noble--
we would be rebuilding a dying American city.

No, this country is just about money. That's why we kill the trees, ignore the schools, exploit the immigrants.

Do you think I'm wrong? Sit in my chair.
Better yet, in the waterlogged chair of someone
who lived a block from the 17th street canal,
which was only being checked once a year,
(with hundreds of miles of levees,
inspection done in time for lunch)
was structurally unsound,
(LSU professor said he
would have expected his
first year students
to see the problems)
was NOT overtopped,
but BROKE.

What would "American" ideals now mean to you, from that chair?

Hundreds of thousands of New Orleanians have homes of sludge and mold. There was a "natural disaster," but it didn't have to be nearly this bad-- ask Holland!
And it's unequivocally the government's fault.
And almost nothing is being done.

If you think I'm wrong, then prove me wrong.
I want to be wrong.

-------------------
I don't think it's ok to just say:

"Look at the rest of the world. Look what's wrong with them! We are the best!"

This is not about comparisons.

This is about us being honest with the fact that we are not living up to our so-called ideals.

I want to be convinced that being a U.S. citizen means more than being that ignorant playground bully who thinks he's the best because he's the chunkiest.

--------------------


Oh yeah, and I love
Happy Chrismahannakwanzakuh.

That's what stores should say, instead of Happy Holidays. It sounds more meaningful.