Michael T. Martin

You cannot police a bird…the streets belong to the people. Mardi Gras Indians; St. Joseph’s Night

Shrove Tuesday is a day to be remembered by strangers in New Orleans, for that is the day for fun, frolic, and comic masquerading. All of the mischief of the city is alive and wide awake in active operation. Men and boys, women and girls, bond and free, white and black, yellow and brown, exert themselves to invent and appear in grotesque, quizzical, diabolic, horrible, strange masks, and disguises. Human bodies are seen with heads of beasts and birds, beasts and birds with human heads; demi-beasts, demi-fishes, snakes’ heads and bodies with arms of apes; man-bats from the moon; mermaids; satyrs, beggars, monks, and robbers parade and march on foot, on horseback, in wagons, carts, coaches, cars, &c., in rich confusion, up and down the streets, wildly shouting, singing, laughing, drumming, fiddling, fifeing, and all throwing flour broadcast as they wend their reckless way. Scenes in the South, and Other Miscellaneous Pieces by James Creecy

This is theater,” he said, gesturing at Frenchmen Street. “New Orleans is living theater. Just around the corner, in the next 20 minutes, something that only happens in New Orleans – associated with food or music or dance or comedy — is going to happen. Clarke Peters talking about “Treme”

In the aftermath of the huge floods that would cause the main flow of the river to jump to the Atchafalaya River…there would be lingering issues that would change the way of life on the lower Mississippi. Instead of 70% flow down the lower Mississippi and 30% flow down the Atchafalaya, the percentages would probably reverse Best resource yet on Mississippi flood control and the effects of flooding, etc. Must read