corrente

If the New Orleans Krewes who run Mardi Gras are anything like the Philadelphia Mummers, they were vulnerable to Katrina. There will be clubhouses in which the costumes are stored, for example. (A sociologist would bury the beauty of the costumes and the relationships of the people under a dead phrase like "social capital," so let's not go there.)

Next year's Mardi Gras will be as good an indication of the civic health of the New New Orleans—if it's not run by the existing Krewes, are definitely not rich, and not Republican, not corporatist, then... Well, the terrorists will have won.

Readers, what's happened to the Krewes?

NOTE I've been Googling on Krewes, Katrina, Rex without result. Although Whole Foods has partnered with the Gumbo Krewe to bring $1 million in relief.