Mardi Gras is 47 days before Easter, since Easter can be from March 22nd to April 25th , Mardi Grad can be from February 3rd to March 9th. 
Mardi Gras is February 25th in the year 2020. I ask you to make a journal of your day in New Orleans during mardi using photos from wherever you like to paruse  
Story 1 :  https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-eostre-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=885  
Story 2 : https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-eostre-art-or-text-craft-parade-good-news-blog/?do=findComment&comment=886  
 
STORY 1
 
ba-bedee-debede-doo Bonjou Nouveau Orleans, I have returned. The morning is bright or magical, as I step from the shore into the city. The sound of horns audible even from this distance. I wonder if anyone will remember when I was here last. If anyone will remember what I did. Well, I have to step forward to find out. Just follow the sounds, as they get deeper. ba-bedee-debede-doo-boo-badoboop-ba Some people are celebrating, and I see a krewe coming like a grass from a storm. Suddenly a woman pops out.
She is on a mobile float like a little island, floating between the streets. A lovely glaze from her skin is given no interference from the sunlight, the latter choosing to shine away rather than muddy her complexion with its cloudy difference. I am in new orleans. I wonder if I can get to the old bar, I wonder if it will be there. I awe at the spirit bird going away on her magical island, like all the other men, and as the island turns, I turn back onto the road north, to the Treme, to the storyville, to my old grounds.  
I wonder about the families of my friends and I, what happened from then to now. Could our stories have ended? I see, a family dressed up.  
I Want to ask them their names, one looks familiar, but I see no men. It is ungentlemanly to speak to women unaccompanied. They may take great offense. so, I decide to keep it moving, let’s not get startled.
In my pocket is an old daguerreotype. I take it out and shed a tear.  
Suddenly the beautiful collage of horns is no longer interesting. All I can recall are the chants of yore, when instruments were too expensive, when the priestesses still roamed the noir streets of the city. Gens de magique femme . I am amazed it survived the passage through time but I hope it will not be a memory discontinued.  
It takes hours to get back to my home, ici le tempeste, no longer here, nowhere, I remember when a storm passed through the city. Everyone’s shanty was destroyed but mine, mine remained, mine survived the storm. But that is cause it was a storm itself, shaking uncontrollably absent proper supports, leaking wildly absent a proper roof, a collisions of sounds, made it an orchestra for any who lived in it for any time. It taught me more than any human ever could about sound. I see this small storefront where its porch stood and go to it. The cover over the window has a small gap and i see a woman dancing inside.
An angel, like the one on the floating island before, but this one is in a room of cotton, gently cushioning her every move. Her face… her face look like my fofo,  I love her most of all. I wish the ancestors allowed me to take her too. I need to speak to this woman. I go inside, the woman pays me no mind, entranced in her own routine. I ask her, can she tell me where to find the descendants of Madame Fofo, my fofo. She does a pirouette and stops facing me. She seems startled by my old-style clothes, the first in these future times, but tells me to go to a party at the beach, where her cousin is. She is the best historian she knows.
So, I travel back out and go back from whence I came, back to the waters about my city, back to the waters that can take you anywhere. And, a party existed where I stepped out of. People drinking, partying, listening to music. I recall the description of the cotton angel and look about, even get a free sausage from finely ground meat that is put in between a fluffy bread shaped similar. I imagine to myself, i may never find the historian but then I notice a woman from afar who may be her. I keep walking toward and I am certain she fit the description. I face the potential historian standing next to her friend I assume. The friend, like an Incan princess, notice me first and realize my stare. I approach and the historian turns to me.
I ask the historian her name and it matches what the cotton angel told me. I explain to her I am looking for Madame Fofo, my fofo. The historian looks to me in disbelief, and pulls a letter out of her pocket, telling me she found it in the archives and keep it for inspiration. She tells me, to read it.  
I read the letter and it says: Mon amour, mon corniste, mon Tontton, j'ai fait ce dont tu avais besoin. J'espère que vous trouverez notre avenir sûr. Je veux vous demander, vous dire, beaucoup de choses. Mais, je ne peux même pas savoir si vous lirez ceci. En l'état, je dirai ce que vous devez entendre. Où est ta corne? C'est là que nous nous sommes embrassés pour la première fois. la touche tape sur la perle blanche. La mélodie que nous avons faite ensemble.
I comprehend instantly, hand the letter back to the young lady and go to Bienville street, and to where we kissed for the first time. The lamp is still there and I see at the base the bumpy surface and a white bump exists. Then I tap on the it with my shoe. ba-bedee-debede-doo-boo-badoboop-ba-ba-badoboop-badoboop-bedee-debede-bedee-debede and a latch open. My horn! I play our melody on our horn and I can see it is all worth it, as the world reverse before my eyes, like an old movie, Bienville street is going to the way it was in the past.
Past I do not know, but past looking closer to my own. Now I know it is worth it, now I know I was right to risk this. The priestess said the Cardinal’s spell on our child needed someone to risk their life, where only love can succeed. I trusted in my Fofo and she trusted in me, and I am coming back. Better keep playing my horn. ba-bedee-debede-doo-boo-badoboop-ba-ba-badoboop-badoboop-bedee-debede-bedee-debede and on and on and on, I see her. STOP! It is the evening, and My Fofo run to me, and embrace me. But she isn’t alone, someone is in a carriage next to her. Someone who look a little like us both.  Ancestres!  
“Mon amour, voici notre fils. L'annee est” I kiss my wife. I do not need to know that. We have all the time in the world.
 
STORY 2
 
I am walking alone, far from bourbon street. Far from the sound of beads hitting bare breast, drunken stammers acapella through the krewes horns, just a man alone with the moonlight looking down upon me. I see a small shop, too small to have a sign, only the merchandise in the window provide any clue to the innards. Nothing particular I notice: masks/cloaks/old horns with stories to tell. But wait, a small figurine catch my eye. A simple figurine ready for Mardi Gras in an appropriate outfit.
I hear a sound in my ear as I look upon the figurine. But I cannot decipher it. "venez ici": I hear clear while subtely. I shake my head wondering why I am hearing french. "come here": I comprehend but I do not know from who. Again, the voice repeat and I notice my attention to the figurine. She is not moving, she does not seem mechanical, and yet I seem to know the voice is from here. I enter the shop. "Bonjour": is the shopkeeper courtesy. I am surprised he think I know a lick of french. I ask about the figurine in the window. He say, she is very old, made for a gens de colour libre woman. I ask him the price, a gentle fifteen dollars. I accept, and he gathers the figurine and place her in a box with bubble pop for cushion. I leave thinking, I have no wife or daughter and I am getting a cute figurine. Well, at least I can tell people she is old. "trouver ma peinture": I sense from the figurine but I keep on walking. "find my painting!": and I face the unchanged figurine, holding it high above my head, and ask a silly question: "where is your painting?" I wait but no reply. I continue to walk finally satisfied this nocturnal magic is finished with me. "North roman entre Beinville et Iberville" I recall the two streets, I think I know where she mean. I take out my map and recall I passed that location and I begin to walk there. My companion stay muted even as I approach the methodist church at the locale. I look down to the figurine and wonder if this is alright. A light is on, inside. I walk to the door and knock. A cleaning man open the door. "Why aren": he stop speaking and seem in a daze. I wave my hand in his face. No change. I decide to go inside foolishly, not knowing if the magic I did not use will come again if more strangers find a stranger in their church. But I look about the nave or the walls and see no painting. I look behind a column and see her.
Somehow I know the figurine is happy. But then a question occur to me. This painting is you. I thought you were given to a gens de colour libre girl, not that you are a gens de colour libre woman. The painting then wink at me. I look up and she speak. "Bon soir anglo, I... need your help": she speak simply. I ask her, what can I do to help you. "You need to face the woman who did this to me and then face me to her, i can do the rest": she speak surely. I have many doubts. "Whomever did this to you is way beyond me, I am no sorcerer": I say escapingly. "Y do not need to know how to wield the magic, just know I need your actions to aidez moi... and the woman in question is located in La Fourche, you will find here where three tree intertwine": and then the painting became still. I look at the figurine and nothing. I go to the door of the church and the cleaning man is still quiet, so I slip past him and close the door behind me. It can be unwise walking around new orleans or around cajun country at night, even during mardi gras but I figure the figurine will help. I buy a sandwich from a local deli and a pack of cigarettes. I eat while I walk, figurine safely in her box, and I keep walking. By the time I get to La fourche I am smoking cigarettes. A car with a confederate sign, fill to the rim with white men who are looking at me, drive but do not stop. I know I need to make this quick. I go by homes, some literally at the river edge, and look for the three entwined tree. I hear a scream. I see a man violently moving and decide to hide behind a bush. I creep near the window and see a dangerous sight.
I look down at the figurine and wonder if this little magic will not get me killed. "Sud, sud!": I hear in my head. Clearly my wavering got the attention to my master. I leave the scene, and hope I can find this tree before I end up in a horror movie. I walk south and finally I see the tree. But no one else is there. "Speak these words anglo...Je te donne mon cœur, tu me donnes un objectif, personne ne doit le savoir": the figurine speak hurriedly in my soul. I am hesitant but finally I decide, all well what the hell. And, after speaking the words, nothing. "PUT ME AWAY QUICK": the figurine speak, I can hear her ceramic heart beating, the black priestess soul underneath determined. Suddenly, a half of a mask appear on one side of the three twined tree. The eye behind one half of the mask seem to be a fluid blue. I hear a loud sniff. and, a woman appear from behind the tree. A forked tongue hiss whisper from the mask: "You are pretty fonce to be down here, anglo...now what is your goal, if your coeur is not heavy enough, I get the rest of the deal". I reply firmly: "alright ma'am, though I already gave my heart to another, though I cannot comprehend exactly why": and I pull out the figurine quickly, facing the masked woman straight away. A hiss is heard from all angles and I hear the figurine in my head:"Vous devez m'avoir oublié, imbécile. Joséphine vous l'a toujours dit, pour faire attention aux vieux sorts que vous lancez." The masked woman, writhing, spit out in french:"Anacaona, mais je connais le sang de ta famille, tu n'avais pas de descendants, pas de clan pour t'entendre." The figurine spoke again:"Imbecillia, vous avez oublié que le membre du clan peut avoir n'importe quelle distance, et l'esclavage de votre côté de notre famille a profité d'éclats faits dans mon clan il y a longtemps." And, a flash. Something knocked me down but someone not present helped me up. "LEve! anglo, leve!": said a woman, a black woman in the gown from the tree woman. Her hair pure white. She kneeled down and looked at a figurine on the ground.  Suddenly, I realized where is my fifteen-dollar figurine. I hear a giggle from the stranger masked woman:"it is me, the figurine" I am amazed. And then I realize the figurine on the ground is the woman formerly behind the mask. My figurine, pick up her nemesis, and say:"retourne, go back to new orleans, and thank you". My honesty perk up. I did not do anything. She smile and say:"This magic was not really of spells but circumstance, will a descendent of mine find me, me living in a porcelain figurine in a small shop in new orleans, but you found me, pure chance and that was the magic that tipped the scales, no spells, no incantations". I stand up and offer a hand, and I notice her hand has age. "aucun problem anglo, I have been dormir a while": she lift up and give me a hug and continue:" I will be alright, I think I know where I can help myself around here, and I thank you for that". Before I can speak, a sole horn player, standing aside a wall is playing, while the rest of bourbon is empty. It is very late. I think to go back to the three entwined tree, but I am tired, and I need to get rest. For some reason, I need to get rest, and I do. ... Back in New York City, I wonder if I had a dream induced by someone planting something in a drink or spraying me with something. I think on that for weeks. And then I get a postcard.
I turn to the back and I see Anacaona Liber's name attached to that old churches address. Her message is:" Figure I needed a new painting with a new style, I will wait for you to decide about listening to your heart"
I realize, what may have happened but hesitate to confirm and when I turn the postcard back around, the image wink at me.   ART https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/655-black-history-month-mardi-gras-2026/   CELEBRATIONS   Salvador, Bahia, Carnival 2026 https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12468-salvadaor-bahia-carnival-2026/

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A poet ,she made a literary nonsense poem,rare to see today
 
Title: Eletelephony
By Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
 
Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant—
No! No! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone—
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)
Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee—
(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)

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KWL Live Q&A: Music, Love and Storytelling with Xio Axelrod
description
The Kobo Writing Life team invites you to join us on February 27th from 12:00 PM-1:00 PM EST for a new Live Q&A.  KWL director Tara and KWL author engagement manager Laura will chat to bestselling author Xio Axelrod.
uniform resource locator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziAHLKI6wzU
video


Xio Axelrod
https://xioaxelrod.com/
MY TRANSCRIPT
00:02:00 Tara: how did music industry help you in the publishing? Xio: Her dad is a successful songwriter. She loves rock, her father is in rhythm and blues. Brought guerilla marketing tactics from indie music publishing into literary publishing industry. 00:04:00 Tara: What specifically did you bring from the music industry? Xio: She felt literary publishing was ahead of music space. In the music industry indie artist didn't have as much success at the time.  She feels things like Boom going into indie writers backlist, and feels that may occur in the music industry. Both have many similarities. 00:06:00  Laura: What has been different in the industries? Xio: In music industry , not alot of peer support. You usually don't see musicians saying i like that album too but you see it in literature 00:07:00  Tara: what was challenges when you started? Xio: A huge learning curve to getting book out there. I needed cover art. She did her own covers/editing, what you tell new authors not to do. She was building her website and merch. Hardest part was reaching out to other people. She spent about a year, she thought it would be a side gig, watching other indie authors do what they did, cross promotion marketing. 00:09:00  Tara: What did you think of with pen names and website Xio: She had her pen name and website before she started. She interviewed authors on her blog and promoting her work. And she had authors saying you shouldn't do that.  00:10:00  Tara from Mauritzio Do you have any advice for an author who has published his first book, especially for promotion? Xio: Promoting others will get you known, and then when it is your turn , they will help.  She told another author Bluesky is where it is at. Cross promotion matters. Good luck out there. Laura: I think cross promotion with authors who do the same genre as you  00:12:00 Laura: can you explain what a hybrid author is? Xio: She made eight books as an author before she signed a contract. she wanted to expand out, she spent her money on events, not advertisements. Source books approached her. She knew when you signed a traditional contract you have to give up some things. She thinks she is just finding it now. From the pandemic doing event after event, it is busier with success while still writing. She hasn't released a full indie in a few years. For her it is taking the time to write the book. 00:15:00 Tara: Did she think she will have influence once signed? Xio: Growing up, she knew, that  a record label deal was not wise, from various people in the industry. But when she hit the wall, you can't get into bookshelves, or this or that store, you need to sign a contract. IF she can get someone where she can do what she wants while also signed . She is fortunate. 00:17:00  Tara: Readers don't follow the books Xio: She tells readers the more recent books are not her first. She has to get some old books back to print.  00:18:00  Tara: Can you walk us through your writing process?  Xio: She does a lot of daydreaming. Xiovision. All of her characters live with her all the time. The scene will play over and over in her head and then she will write. She knows authors who get up is four in the morning and then they write to six. She does it day to day. Some days marketing, other days writing. She always consumes content. If she is on deadline, she turns off the phone on certain days. Surrounds herself with the art that helps her. Everyone has their own process. Her's is haphazard, no day is like the day before. 00:20:00 Tara: YOu do alot of events, do you write on the road? Xio: No , at an event she goes to an event mode. She thinks how many stickers she has for the table. Until the pandemic, she didn't know what process she needs. Her husband took over her office. The girl with stars in her eyes, was the hardest book. She knows now, if she wants to write, no package, no deliveries, so she can sink into her story. 00:22:00  Laura: What is your favorite film score to write to? Xio: JAne Eyre. She likes the soundtrack from the Piano. Any music with lyrics she can't use. But if love scene or fighting scene, she has five hundred sounds on her playlist. She writes playlist for every book she writes.  00:24:00 Laura: What are your thoughts to audiobooks, does she have any? Xio: She does. 2015 she thinks she should do this audio thing. She looked at catalog but not alot of romance. And she put up the money and it earned out. She encourages people to do audio, if you can get someone else to pay for it better, but she listens to audio exclusively now.  Laura: her standards in audio are higher for background in music? Xio: She finds authors through the narrators. She asked who can she afford, in the beginning. And then she started writing characters for various voices.  Girls with Bad Reputations, the characters were written with those voice authors in mind. A bad audio performance can ruin a book for her.  00:27:00  Laura: how do you approach genre blending? Xio: Write the book you want to read? She was reading anne rice, she didn't read romance into she actually wrote one. In "girl's with bad reputations" she wrote a scene that was a little wild, the editor questioned, but she said, it is alright. But throwing all the tropes and things she love in the blender, she can do it. it took nine months and two hundred chapters on my blog and it happened 00:29:00 LAura: what are your favorite tropes? Xio: Rivals to lovers. She doesn't approach books with tropes in mind? She had a book with many . Microtropes is having a big moment. Microtropes is the lifesblood of fan fiction 00:30:00 Tara: Your favorite microtrope? Xio: hue falls, she was a fanfic panel. Someone on the panel said she knows Xio writes fanfiction cause she manages the buffy fanfic lbrary. 00:32:00 Tara: Did you build this with your publisher? Xio: Initially the Lilly was one book in her head. When they approached about writing a series she can write a book for each girl. She was into this show called SKAN. It was very addictive, they had clips , like messages between characters. I can't do that with a book, but she can make similar. They have their own websites, book, esocial sites, the Lilyverse.  00:34:00 Tara: Do you write the esocial of the various characters? Xio: Yes, she does, she doesn't sleep. If she let someone else control, they would have more content. But it helps to write them to get inside their head. 00:35:00  Tara: would you let others try to work in the universe? Xio: We will see what source says. It has huge potential but we will see, and she owns her earlier work that someone did something from. We will see.  00:36:00 Tara: Would you need to compile a Lillyverse wiki Xio: She was thinking about having a series bible. A series bible will help but she will need to sit down. 00:37:00 Tara: Do you worry about easter eggs with having the various characters social? Xio: I don't think she has posted anything that isn't outside the story.  00:38:00 Tara: Any merchandise you have or most memorable? Xio: For the lilly series I have stickers. But she knew she would have alot of merch for the lilies with shirts for the concerts, album covers. She will sell shirts at Philadlephia convention. She gets giddy when fans love the lilies. She gets bracelets with the characters names and she gets magnets. She tells authors to find another point of contact with readers. Find a way to connect to another level 00:40:00 Tara: Do you take advice from readers on how to write? Xio: No, she likes feedback from the fanfic times but don't like all the people telling you what to do. Fans killed her passion for a story with their demands or desires on where it should go. She wants the lilies to be from where she wants. The training ground of fanfiction teaches you to stray away from fans desires to the future.  00:42:00 Laura: Any advice to indies for marketing their books Xio: She knows many indie authors do good work with advertisements but she likes events especially reader events. Everything is so tied to social media, and you never know what channel will work best. Figure out what is going on behind the scene and in romance authors are not averse to share information. She belongs to the authors guild as well. Marketing is tough, algorithm suppress what isn't paid for.  00:44:00 Tara: Do you focus on newsletters Xio: It is a chore for her to do a newsletter. Whenever she sits down to do a newsletter it sounds like corporate speak. She turned the newsletter over to her publishers. Get started early with newsletter. She tries to make the Lillies to independent. They have their own page on facebook. A fan said they would go to a place, that wasn't real. The temptation is to make it real. Sheet music exists on the back of the books. She can't wait to see people make covers, of the lilies work.  00:47:00 Tara: you mentioned the tenth anniversary of her book the callum Xio: She has always struggled with imposter syndrome. You can feel a failure when others are celebrating huge deals. She wished she learned early on to celebrate the wins of publishing a book and having others read her work. Work with your emotions and then get back to work. Be healthy emotionally. She wished she had learned early. It is great to have authors around you, have author friends. They will celebrate you and if they don't they are not your friends. People had said you did this or that and she had forgotten. And she remembered for her tenth anniversary 00:51:00 Tara: What was fans reaction to the series? Xio: Fans were happy. Her neighbor was one of her first readers. She got all teary with new stuff. She hopes fans of the lilly series, and she hopes they entertain her revisited book. 00:52:00  Laura: any upcoming projects Xio: Double deadline , writing tiff's story, the base player. Follow up to love on the Byeline, comes out later this year. It isn't quite as heavy. It will be interesting to continue this story of two friends.  00:53:00 Tara: any events in the future Xio: A polycon in April, doing romancecon this year, She will be quite a few places. She will be traveling not as much as last year. She is doing London and Vancouver. In book three the Lillies will be doing their first world tour so she will do research.
 
 
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS FROM ME
SI she pusblished internationally, has any of her books been translated ?
Have you considered a character dying in the books and how would you handle their esocial?
Xio Axelrod website [ https://xioaxelrod.com/ ]
Xio Axelrod on Kobo [ https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/search?query=xio+axelrod&fclanguages=en ]
Xio Axelrod merch [ https://xioverse-merch.creator-spring.com/ ] 
Xio Axelrod book [ https://xioaxelrod.com/books ] 
Xio Axelrod appearances [ https://xioaxelrod.com/appearances ] 
 
03012026
Citation
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12559-is-music-fading-as-a-storytelling-avenue-among-black-people/#findComment-80484
osted just now
Thank you all:) 
@ProfD @aka Contrarian @Pioneer1 
your all correct that the commercial aspect of the music industry has pushed music to be leisurely heard or commonly known that fits the high frequency rate of modern communication plus the boring , as in grinded in not dull, nature of modern communication
While @Delano you are also correct and they concur that while one may have to be more an aficianado or put more work into the quality in which they listen, storytelling will never be completely dead in music and modern artists are still making storytelling songs with the same intention of those musicians in the past who told stories that opened imaginations with a tempo. 

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