For as much as I love music, I have to say my favorite part of our music and Treme tour to start the day was all the stories about the Mardi Gras Indians.  I love the tradition, and that they actually act as tribes, representing their people, their neighborhoods, so far as to not recognize the authority of the city power structures.  It reminded me of the stories of the post-hip-hop New York scene, when gangs largely brokered peace, and conflict was settled often with dance battles.  Actually, I take that back.  My favorite part was Milton, our tour guide.  You can tell he really knows and cares about the things he's talking about, and he not only studies, but participates in it.  He's also incredibly warm and nice.

Our second tour guide of the day, this time at the pharmacy museum, was definitely different than Milton, but no less great.  He was very knowledgeable, fun, funny, and flamboyant.  He was undoubtedly my favorite aspect of the tour, but what he was talking about was incredibly interesting.  Maybe the most interesting thing he brought up was the social and cultural effect this early medicine had, in that women and men were treated differently, and this resulted in some of the patriarchal domination that was so prominent, and still survives today.  Though, the fact that sickness was fashionable may be tied for first.  It is distressing that that happened, but I gotta give the rich credit for making the best of the situation.  The bottles of old ingredients were often crazy and hilarious (we can laugh now), and this one in particular caught my eye, and I dared not ask what it was used for, though I'm guessing not birth control.