memevector: (Default)
memevector ([personal profile] memevector) wrote2002-07-05 11:10 pm

Mardi Gras

Planning to be at Mardi Gras in London tomorrow with the badges.

Kevin suggested it a while back and offered me one of the free stall-runners' tickets, but I wasn't enthusiastic. But having had such a good time at Leicester Pride prompted me to reconsider. I seem to really quite like sitting at a stall for an afternoon having conversations with people. And it was obvious at Leicester, as at Nottingham Pride a couple of years ago, that the badges & banner & bi-education packs contributed to the overall success of the stall, so I get to have a nice sense of "activism in action" as well as making a bob or two.

OK, Mardi Gras is a commercial thing and there are lots of reasons why I would probably rather have still had a free Pride. I did hum and ha a bit about doing anything that might be construed as supporting it. But then again there it is, and probably several thousand people will be coming past who might benefit (in direct and obscure ways) from a bi-activist presence. I just hope we're not so near a thumpy dance tent as to interfere with conversation.

I'm sort of not expecting that anyone who'd be reading this would be going, because I can't remember anyone here talking about Mardi Gras who wasn't slagging it off :-) But if by some chance you are, then come by and say hello :-)

mardi gras

[identity profile] roxy641.livejournal.com 2002-07-06 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
Hi,
I'm only going to Mardi Gras because I'm volunteering to help out Stonewall on their stall. After that I'll be watching Suede ;-)

Anyway, hope to buy some badges from you.

Have a great day.

Roxy641

[identity profile] 36.livejournal.com 2002-07-11 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
The mental block I seem to have with taking part in anything called Mardi Gras is that I could've sworn that 'Mardi Gras' was Shrove Tuesday, the start of Lent in the Christian calendar. Some cultures like to throw a big carnival, others cook pancakes and maybe let a few enthusiastic people do a cross between a pancake flipping competition and an egg and spoon race. Either way it's not all that much to do with queer pride.

If we're going to illogically rename Pride to 'mardi gras' it should at least be on a Tuesday. It all just seems like cultural appropriation without any understanding. A name that's not only meaningless (I suppose it suggests 'big celebrationary carnival') but in fact means something completely unrelated. 'Pride' was at least vaguely descriptive. (Actually this was probably just copying Syndney and nothing actually about if the name was appropriate).