The Shield gets a bead on a family-friendly parade to commemorate the last days before Lent in Lousiana
A man throws Mardi Gras beads high in the air into a group of many people who jumped and down excitedly to capture the man’s attention. As he threw the beads high in the sky, one person in the crowd said about Mardi Gras: “It is just a blast here today everyone comes here in town, and there is never a single sad face here. It is just amazing and get free stuff.” Many of the floats resembled party busses and were decorated in gold, purple and green, the Mardi Gras colors. Photo by Jack Hester.
Jack Hester, Mac Photojournalism
February 13, 2018
Photojournalism student Jack Hester attended a Mardi Gras parade in Lafayette Parish, La., on Saturday, Feb. 3. The small city of Carencro hosted the traditional Mardi Gras parade. Hundreds came to the parade to celebrate the holiday. People on floats tossed beads or another items, and people along the parade route tried to catch as many beads as they could. The intermittent rain did little to dampen the enthusiasm of those who attended.
In our latest #Tuesday Top 10, which coincides with Fat Tuesday celebrations all over Louisiana and the nation, Hester takes you on a virtual tour of the parade in Lafayette Parish.
Up for Grabs
A man throws Mardi Gras beads high in the air into a group of many people who jumped and down excitedly to capture the man's attention. As he threw the beads high in the sky, one person in the crowd said about Mardi Gras: "It is just a blast here today everyone comes here in town, and there is never a single sad face here. It is just amazing and get free stuff." Many of the floats resembled party buses and were decorated in gold, purple and green, the Mardi Gras colors. Photo by Jack Hester.
The Princess of the Parade
While this little girl said this year was her second year to attend the Mardi Gras parade in Lafayette, her dad said that they come here every year and that each year the parade just gets better and better. He also said that despite how fun the parade is, you should still be very careful you to look up all time because if you don't you will get hit pretty hard by beads thrown in your direction. Photo by Jack Hester.
You Can Dance if You Want To
A girl dances enthusiastically and waves while asking for some beads. The prolonged effort paid off in the end as she received the beats she coveted. People on the parade floats threw items other than beads as well: little plastic cups, stuffed animals and even Ramen noodles. "People are starting to get creative and throwing different kind of stuff," she said. She added the other items were cool but that she would prefer the regular beads. Photo by Jack Hester.
Don't Rain on Our Parade
Despite intermittent rain, the streets of downtown Lafayette were lined with people celebrating Mardis Gras. The rain did not affect dampen attendance or enthusiasm. Photo by Jack Hester.
The need for bead
The riders of a Mardis Gras float look for candidates who have earned their beads by capturing their attention. Photo by Jack Hester.
Eyes on the prizes
Austin resident Kate Hester is in the perfect position to catch beads tossed by the riders of a Mardis Gras float. Photo by Jack Hester.
A Basket Case
Some people came to the parade ready to claim a huge haul of beads. Some inverted umbrellas to collect beads; other brought laundry baskets for that purpose. Photo by Jack Hester.
You Can't Bead This
Riders on some floats tossed more than beads. The folks on this float tossed cups, stuffed animals and even Ramen noodles. The float had a deejay too. Photo by Jack Hester.
Hit the Target
An outstretched hand anticipates the potential arrival of much coveted Mardis Gras beads. Photo by Jack Hester.
Street Cred
A black pickup truck pulls a float down the street lined with observers trying to stay dry while simultaneously attracting the attention of bead-throwing parade riders. Photo by Jack Hester.
![A PRIDE-FUL WEEK OF CELEBRATION:
As part of AISDs week-long celebration of PRIDE, students of the McCallum Spectrum Club worked to create a week full of activities, prizes and helping hands to support the schools LGBTQ+ community. The club is widely available for anyone to join, and specializes in creating a safe space for students to share and give advice. While Pride month itself isn’t until June, AISD designates one week in March to celebrate and commemorate the importance of this part of the student body.
As part of the week of festivities, the club held a booth in the front hall handing out pride stickers, pins and merch to passers by. For junior Zane Joly, the booth idea was brought up as a way for students to engage with one another, and connect with the community.
“I call out to people in the halls, ‘hey, do you want stickers?’” Joly said. “We just give out free pride stickers and sometimes other free pride merch to the students of Macallum because everybody likes pride stickers.”
While the week itself is packed with a variety of different activities, the overall goal is to bring students closer together and create a safer environment for self expression at McCallum.
“The idea for the student panel largely came from the black [history] student panel that is done during Black History Month,” Joly said. “And the idea for giving out free stuff was developed at Spectrum last year.”
Joly is not only a member of the Spectrum club, but also holds a leadership position giving them a more hands-on role with the projects and Pride Week activities.
“McCallum has a very high queer population,” Joly said. “I think Its nice that we get a chance to celebrate Pride because Pride Month is during the summer, and I think its just a nice thing for the community and getting to just celebrate it.”
While the merch table at lunch was only a small part of the numerous parts of McCallum’s Pride week, for Joly this small impact made all the difference.
“The purpose of Pride is to make people not feel alone and to make them feel safe,” Joly said. “The goal is [to make people] happy about a part of themselves that theyre often conditioned to not feel good about.”
Caption by Chloe Lewcock. Photo by Shila Gill.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/53597258192_6e7168d8ae_o-1-600x338.jpg)
![BACKGROUND IN THE BUSINESS: Dressed by junior designer Kaitlyn Gerrie, senior Chamila Muñoz took to the “Dreamland” runway this past weekend. While it was her first time participating in the McCallum fashion show, Muñoz isn’t new to the modeling world.
I modeled here and there when I was a lot younger, maybe five or six [years old] for some jewelry brands and small businesses, but not much in recent years,” Muñoz said.
Muñoz had hoped to participate in last year’s show but couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts. For her senior year, though, she couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by.
“It’s [modeling] something I haven’t done in a while so I was excited to step out of my comfort zone in a way,” Muñoz said. “I always love trying new things and being able to show off designs of my schoolmates is such an honor.”
The preparation process for the show was hectic, leaving the final reveal of Gerrie’s design until days before the show, but the moment Muñoz tried on the outfit, all the stress for both designer and model melted away.
“I didn’t get to try on my outfit until the day before, but the look on Kaitlyn’s face when she saw what she had worked so hard to make actually on a model was just so special,” Muñoz said. “I know it meant so much to her. But then she handed me a blindfold and told me I’d be walking with it on, so that was pretty wild.”
Caption by Francie Wilhelm.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/53535098892_130167352f_o-600x400.jpg)
