{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"In On the Joke","description":"In a few coastal cities in the deep south, in the weeks before Lent begins, a strange behavior begins to appear. Honorable and respectable people step into a different personalities for a short time. They do it together, and it's a heck of a good time.  ----- Grown people acting like fools for a few days might very well be good for the soul. I\u2019m not sure how large groups, primarily of men, agreeing to behave silly is therapeutic, but it is. I\u2019ll leave it to some psychologist try to explain it. As a participant, though, I assure you, it\u2019s good stuff. Over the top costumes, over the top floats, parading, parties, dancing. It\u2019s not behavior most participate in unless it\u2019s limited to a certain calendar window and amongst friends and neighbors. My wife\u2019s cousin visited over the holidays. She toured one of Mobile\u2019s museums and saw the extraordinary displays of costumes and the photos of floats and our city\u2019s royalty and their flamboyant, extravagant attire. It was all over the top, as it is intended to be. I told her that some people simply don\u2019t get it and she summed it up perfectly \u2013 to enjoy it, you have to be in on the joke. And that\u2019s it. I\u2019ve not heard it said better. You\u2019ve seen skits on TV or pranks where one person is playing the fool but won\u2019t let on that he\u2019s doing it? His face and behavior are serious and intentional, but all the while, but his behavior is, well, foolish. The people around him play along and everyone enjoys the spoof. Well, what if a group of people are in on the joke, behaving ridiculously for a narrow window of time but not letting anyone know that they know it\u2019s a spoof. In Mobile, Alabama, these groups are largely called Societies or Orders. In New Orleans they\u2019re called Krewes. They\u2019re all in on the joke. And what is the joke? The joke is that this doesn\u2019t matter but we act like it does. That our supposed kings and queens are kings and queens of nothing. Kings and queens of a type of Kabuki theater played out in front of the masses in elaborate, flamboyant costumes for their own entertainment and the enjoyment of their Societies, Orders, Krewes, their invited guests, their mothers and fathers, and, perhaps, their whole cities. There is no reason to do this. There are stories that tie these celebrations to preparations for lent, to Easter, even explaining the behavior away to the days before food could be refrigerated. But, underneath it all, there is no good reason to do this. And that\u2019s why we do it. That\u2019s part of the fun. We agree that for a while we look at each other out the side of our eye and for a few days and we\u2019ll not hold each other accountable for the silly things we say, or do, or wear. All is understood, Ok\u2019d and soon forgotten. I have a ridiculous top hat that I\u2019ll wear in the coming days with my Mardi Gras costume. People will tell me I look like a fool. They\u2019re not in on the joke. They don\u2019t get it. Of course I do. And my reply to them will be this \u2013 and it\u2019s something they won\u2019t understand. I\u2019ll simply say, \u201cHappy Mardi Gras.\u201d I\u2019m Cam Marston and I\u2019m just trying to Keep it Real. ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"