Salon.com > John Swenson http://www.salon.com Wed, 30 May 2012 10:39:24 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 A ghostly Mardi Gras http://www.salon.com/2006/02/25/mardigras_2/ http://www.salon.com/2006/02/25/mardigras_2/#comments Sat, 25 Feb 2006 12:08:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/02/25/mardigras Last week, network newscasts showed scenes of revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans as proof that the city had returned to its peculiar version of normality. But even though the record number of journalists on hand (more than 800 media organizations applied for credentials to cover this year's Carnival) are heartened by the city's resumption of its role as an adult theme park for licentious tourists, Mardi Gras 2006, which continues through the weekend, has a sad and bittersweet underside to all the frivolity for locals.

There's a palpable air of desperation in this year's 150th anniversary of Carnival in New Orleans. The weeks of celebrations, parties and street parades leading up to Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, end the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the Christian fasting season of Lent. This has always been the time of year when New Orleans earned its nickname of the Big Easy, but nothing has been easy for this city's beleaguered residents since Aug. 29.

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