My friend Kiersta Kurtz-Burke is a New Orleans physician. She's a bad-ass. She worked in Charity Hospital during the whole Katrina nightmare. She also writes emails so eloquent and witty that I wonder where I get off calling myself a writer. She saves people's lives and she's funny. Anyway, she just sent me an update on Mardi Gras this year.
So since I can't throw you any cheap beads while I am clad in a scandalous costume, I'll throw you Kiersta's update. Enjoy.
Yes, Virgina, There Is A Mardi Gras
By Kiersta Kurtz-Burke
It started in earnest a week ago, the parades not very crowded at first, but has steamrolled into a much
smaller, but rowdy version of our beloved carnival. The sights, the smells, all bring us back to life "pre-K".....brass bands march in the streets, co-eds vomit on the curb, and beads, beads, beads. Justin is a bead competitor to watch---he nearly pushed a four-year old under a float in an attempt to get the precious plastic...although he maintains: "That kid was kind of falling anyway...."
Never has a Mardi Gras been so hotly contested---the very existence of it, that is. What does it mean, in the midst of a city still full of sorrow and debris? Is is an important catharsis? Or frivolous and decadent? The way to preserve tradition? Or a affront to the memory of those who died? I only know this: I've seen groups of people laughing and dancing for the first ! time in six months, met families still living in trailers in Houston who came back so their kids could go to the parades, and got a glimmer of why we should re-build this broken, ridiculous city under the sea anyway. And "The Thing" is never far from our minds...costumes and floats mock the "leaders" who failed us, our blue tarps, our FEMA checks, our obstinancy, and even our tendency to joke about tragic events and drink our cares away. The last float of the night rolls by, no riders, just a sign that says "We celebrate life. We Mourn the Past. We will Never Forget." Amen, babies. And have a happy, happy Mardi Gras. We've never needed it more.
Love, Kiersta
Also, Kiersta's husband, Justin Lundgren, has a website. He's a bad ass as well. He saves lives and takes amazing photographs like the one above. You really need to see his site.
www.greetingsfromneworleans.typepad.com
