Fat Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday. Mardi Gras. Though I'm from the South, I'll admit, I've never really known much about the celebration that so many people flock to New Orleans for every February. I didn't grow up celebrating with purple, green, and gold beads or baking king cakes, but today, when I opened my computer to do some writing business and saw the picture of 103-year-old Mary Nunez on the streets of NOLA celebrating at a Mardi Gras parade, it reaffirmed something that's been on my mind for some time. This would be a great setting for a book. Better yet, a series. No doubt, a slew of other writers—Anne Rice, Tennessee Williams, Ruta Sepetys, among them—chose this city as the setting of their stories because of the same rich heritage, traditions, and flavor Ms. Nunez talked about in her interview.
I was fortunate enough to visit New Orleans a couple of years ago. With my nieces, I made a weekend trip to run a half marathon in the French Quarter. We bought beignets and hot cocoa at Cafe DuMonde, listened to some soulful street jazz, and browsed the shops that are uniquely NOLA. It was fantastic!
On run day, I even picked up a few beads
likely fallen from the tree limbs above the streets after the rains the previous night. Strange as it was, I felt like for each strand of beads I picked up, I collected a bit of the atmosphere to take back home with me. I still have those beads, and every once in a while, I'll pull a tangled strand from my jewelry box and, for a minute, re-live running on the streets of New Orleans--those same streets that Ms. Mary Nunez graced today, as she celebrated Mardi Gras, centenarian style.
So maybe, sometime soon, I'll pull out my beads and think a little more about that series.
After all, purple, gold, and green would be some great colors to put on a book cover!
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