New Statesman - 'Mardi Gras Among the Ruins'

Invitation to the Mistick Krewe of Comus' Ball, 1925

My article on this year's Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans has been published in the New Statesman. Here's the first paragraph:

'Mardi Gras Among the Ruins'

'Not for the first time in its history, New Orleans is being held together by glitter and glue. Much of the city is still in ruins, and rebuilding plans are being vehemently debated, but Mardi Gras festivities are proceeding as normally as they can - normally, that is, for New Orleans...'

New Statesman - 'Gulf Coast Blues'

A link to my article on the historic parallels for Hurricane Katrina in the New Statesman (12 September, 2005):

'Gulf Coast Blues'

'During the summer months, churches along America's Gulf Coast join together in a prayer that humbly acknowledges their precarious position in the world. It is "A Prayer for Hurricane Season": "We live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control: the Gulf, like a provoked and angry giant, can awake from its seeming lethargy, overstep its conventional boundaries, invade our land and spread chaos." The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina may be shocking in its magnitude, but for those who lived in its path, it should be no surprise. The Deep South has long been subject to disasters of biblical proportions. New Orleans alone can list flood, fire, plague and famine in its 300-year history. Parallels for modern horrors are all too easy to find, and natural catastrophes have proved essential for the political, social and cultural development of this unique region of the United States...'