This is my second year living on St. Charles during Mardi Gras Season. I may have one more year of it before I either move to a different apartment or leave the city. Living on the uptown parade route during Mardi Gras season provides one with a good metaphor about how to approach life. There is nothing in the world I can do to stop these parades from rolling. This is an instance where it does not matter how rich, powerful, tough, or strong someone is. If they live on this street at this time of year, the parades are a thing that are going to happen and they are beyond your control. All you can do is decide how you are going to respond to that fact: how and to what degree you participate and your attitude about it on any given day. Will you joyously throw yourself into the parade. Will you quietly sit back and observe? Will you be cranky or just resigned to it? Will you try to join a Krewe and be a more direct actor it the chaos or make art about it? I’ve responded in different days and even to different parades within the same day. At the end of the day, that response is my choice.
Mardi Gras Life Lesson
