So today is Mardi Gras and I say Happy Mardi Gras to those for which it may mean something. I was looking at ads for all the “mardi gras” parties here in town this week and I started thinking more about it. I can’t say I truly celebrate Mardi Gras because I don’t practice the religious aspects of it. In fact I’m a religious-less heathen so the holiday really should have no meaning to me. Of course for most of the country and the thousands of idiots who pile into New Orleans every year to see boobs and drink themselves half to death, they probably don’t know much about Mardi Gras or why they are celebrating it. I have a lot of friends from “down there” so I won’t bore them with an explanation of it. While Mardi Gras may involve partying your ass off that is not what it is.
I was just thinking about all the people that live in New Orleans and how for many of them, while they may celebrate the holiday, it is a time to barricade oneself in one’s house and wait for the flood of drunk obnoxious tourists to subside. It sucks for these people, now more than ever, that they must count on these people to bring money into their struggling city. Tourists see what happens on Bourbon street and come down while leaving common sense and their inhibitions back home. Many assume all New Orleanians act this way naturally. Their quite wrong. Most native New Orleanians won’t go to Bourbon street. Bourbon street during Mardi Gras is perhaps one of the worst, most disgusting places on the face of the earth. I can say ‘ve been there and don’t want to do it again. The real people of the area, and not just New Orleans but all over Louisiana and the surrounding states, know how to truly celebrate Mardi Gras. Even if it’s not the religion you’re there for or the endless hedonism Mardi Gras to many people is a celebration of their culture that just happens to be more honest and genuine than anywhere else I’ve been in this country.
While I’m not from there or can’t claim that culture as mine I can say I was fortunate enough to be let in for awhile and be a part of all that. I just hope Katrina doesn’t wash away all that culture and the people there and replace it all with strip malls and chain restaurants. Unfortunately ignorant tourists would love a New Orleans-themed-TGI-whatever as much as the real thing. Just like Mardi Gras and the rest of Louisiana they just don’t know any better.
Archive for February, 2007
