When I was lecturing in New Orleans, I happened to have time on my last day to take in a parody of the famous local Mardi Gras parades (called “krewes”): a micro-parade (or micro-krewe).
The parade was scheduled during the day, so families could attend, and featured miniature floats in place of the usual huge ones.
The crowd was mixed, but tended, as nearly as I could tell, toward affluent: the kind of people who could devote an afternoon to relaxation and frivolity.
I noticed this fact as we were all waiting for the parade to start, our glances fixed upstream toward the soon-to-arrive attractions.
I also noticed, behind the attendees, three local children. They lived on the street where the parade was set to begin. But they were neither part of the parade nor attending the parade. They were simply there, sharing the space but not the event.
Here’s a photo of them, after I bought some beads from the boy:
And here are some shots of the micro-krewe:
I wonder: Did these kids feel left out? Or maybe we were their parade?
