LINES OF THE DAY

". . . But the past does not exist independently from the present. Indeed, the past is only past because there is a present, just as I can point to something over there only because I am here. But nothing is inherently over there or here. In that sense, the past has no content. The past -- or more accurately, pastness -- is a position. Thus, in no way can we identify the past as past." p. 15

". . . But we may want to keep in mind that deeds and words are not as distinguishable as often we presume. History does not belong only to its narrators, professional or amateur. While some of us debate what history is or was, others take it into their own hands." p. 153

Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995) by Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Antoinette K-Doe. Yes, Still, More, Mardi Gras

Antoinette rebirthed the Mardi Gras Indians ladies auxillary of the Baby Dolls. She did this in 2004, the last year before the Katrina Failure of the Levees. If she hadn't done that, and with her sense of inclusiveness and love, that's another unique New Orleans tradition that would have been lost forever. But the Baby Dolls live. Even I could have been a Baby Doll, and probably would have been, but was still not feeling myself entitled -- because I still didn't know enough, I hadn't even experienced a Mardi Gras season, I hadn't lived the round of time that is New Orleans, when I was invited.

Antoinette was an Indian in the way that only a great Mardi Gras Indian Lady can be, one who lived her whole life in the heart and soul of the Marti Gras Indians. So many of the white women too, who are my friends in New Orleans, were Baby Dolls. Because of Antoinette. She was an encyclopedia of the Indians, and of New Orleans.She was out there, Thursday night, parading with the Krewe of Muses, I believe.

No comments: