A Cry for Help

No, not because the temperatures have been single digits here while I'm used to wearing shorts this time of year. I'm missing New Orleans today because of stuff like this:

To the tunes of old church spirituals, a jazz funeral rolled through the streets of the French Quarter on Thursday with hundreds of protesters mourning what they call the passing of democracy: a second term for President Bush.

The protest was timed to kick off as Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist administered the oath of office to Bush in Washington. The New Orleans event had the appearance of a lugubrious Mardi Gras ball, a raucous street protest, Halloween freak show and traditional New Orleans jazz funeral rolled into one.

It's difficult to explain the exact cultural mix that makes the Big Easy so weird and awesome at the same time (it helps to think of it as a Latin American city in the US). A Jazz funeral, tradition in New Orleans, is both somber and celebratory; mourning for the lost and remembering what makes life worth living. It's an apt activity for a progressive protest. And I'm sorry I couldn't have been there today.

(I'm sure Ultra Laser would have gone if he hadn't been banished to Alabama for work…)

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