I’ve gotten a lot of feedback about My Corner Is Gone. It’s been overwhelmingly favorable but several people have asked me if now hate Carnival. In a word: No.
I do, however, hate Carnival 2026. It’s the Year of the Chad. All I can say is: Wait until next year.
I wanted to write one more Carnival diatribe before the season ends. One of the reasons I made New Orleans my home is the friendliness of its residents. Regardless of their walks of life, New Orleanians are usually courteous and enjoy talking to strangers. I fit right in: My parents always talked to strangers. My dad was fond of saying, “A stranger is a friend you haven’t met yet.”
This year’s Carnival has had a nasty undertone. I’ve observed and experienced more acts of rudeness and selfishness than usual. Most of the worst Chads come from other and politically redder parishes. It’s not quite the MAGA Mardi Gras but it verges on it.
Repeat after me: Not all Chads are Trump voters, but all Trump voters are Chads.
Rudeness and selfishness are baked into MAGA. There was an incident on Lundi Gras that I posted about on Bluesky:
Lasted 20 minutes on the route. The Chads have discovered Lundi Gras. My right foot was run over twice: first by a wagon then by a bike. The Chads were upset when I told them to be more careful. No damage but that was it for me.
That’s why I’m writing this on Mardi Gras morning instead of hitting the streets. I seem to be a Chad Magnet.
That was a minor incident. Something worse happened last Saturday morning. Dr. A is in a walking group that marches with the Krewe of Iris, which is the OG all female krewe. I decided to walk farther from home than usual to see her and other friends in the group. It’s normally a 20 minute walk. It took 45 minutes because of Chad refuse strewn across the sidewalks off the parade route. I wish I were making this up, but I am not.
As I strolled up Magazine Street, I came to the corner of Cadiz, pronounced K-Diz by old school locals. Like many streets in my neighborhood, it’s one way. I live on a one way street, so I take that seriously.
I was about to cross when a truck came barreling at me going the wrong way. They slammed on the brakes and I backed up so there was no collision. Instead, there was this conversation:
Me: “You’re going the wrong way on a one-way street. There are hundreds of pedestrians out. Be more careful.”
The driver was silent.
The passenger rolled down his window and said, “Man against truck. Man always loses.”
Me: “Have you always been an asshole or is this a recent development? Fuck off out of my neighborhood.”
I recognize an empty threat when I hear one; this Chad was in the wrong yet still issued a threat. That’s MAGA maggotry in a nutshell and that’s what we’re dealing with in 2026.
Wait until next year.
Let’s close on an upbeat note. The last word goes to the good old Grateful Dead:
I was not feeling it this year. Something was different. To quote ‘I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.’ Not very happy about it.
I’ll throw in a suggestion I realized last weekend as reason for the rise in Chad invasion: the decline of Jefferson Parish parades. It used to be that Metairie would have as many parades as New Orleans and on the same day. When I was a kid growing up out there, we hit those up because they were closer. They acted as a magnet, drawing thousands from JP and Northshore and other parts away. This year, only 3 Metairie parades rolled during the Uptown parade days and 1 in Kenner during Endymion. Now all those folks come into OP instead.