"The Two Faces of Carnival"

On the one hand, there's the steady drumbeat, in the local as well as national media, about the violent crime that, early this year, burst out of the "normal" realm of black-on-black killings. On the other, there was the scene Sunday afternoon in the French Quarter. I know, normally the words "French Quarter" conjure up scenes cobbled from "Girls Gone Wild" videos and Budweiser commercials. But here were families with children and dogs, or just with dogs, streaming through the narrow Quarter streets down to a quintessentially goofy New Orleans tradition--now in its 15th year--called the Barkus parade.

(Harry Shearer at HuffPo)