Bonus post. - Troy's Letter

 Scroll down for the regular daily post - right after this one.

Here is a fun Bonus Post. Troy was running late on his January exchange envelopes so he included this explanation in his envelopes. I had put my friend Tom on the list for Jan - so Troy wanted to let me know what he had enclosed in the envelope because he assumed (correctly) that I would not open Tom's mail. He sent me an email with the letter attached.

The letter only implies that the partying in New Orleans is the reason his envelopes are late - I have a hard time picturing festivities running from Jan 6 until Feb 13.

At first I was just chuckling and by the end I had tears streaming down my face - probably because Troy has had a whole string of nicknames for me and other really fun ways to look at the whole mail art *thing* that so many of us have.

He makes a reference to the Palatino font - but, I do not have Palatino on the blog - so you will just have to imagine a sophisticated, serifed font.

Also - he had some footnotes that would not copy and paste - so I put them in - right after the places to which they refer. Copy and paste from a WordDoc doesn't always want to work on a Mac....but this is close enough. 

Troy gave me permission to post this to the blog.

February 6, 2024

Hello All -- 

As you may or may not know, my office is in the New Orleans Central Business District (CBD).  While Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is the day before Ash Wednesday, Carnival festivities begin on January 6 – the Epiphany or Twelfth Night. There is a group named the Twelfth Night Revelers that start things off.  It is a much smaller group than the big krewes that organize the parades.

This means, the party started about a month ago.  

I’ve been around New Orleans for years.  I went to school at LSU in Baton Rouge. I have several friends from school and life in New Orleans.  When living in Texas, it was a convenient stop because of the connections I had here on the way to and from my native Florida Panhandle. I lived in the French Quarter for a year.  So, I’m not a novice to this.

This year, working in an office in the CBD has sort of opened my eyes to something like an under culture that runs throughout the city.  It’s too incorporeal to be included in a tourist guide or identified as something to experience – but it exists.  I’m watching this with an almost detached, anthropological approach.

**FOOTNOTE**

 Incorporeal, corporeal, movable, and immoveable are the four words used in Civil Law to describe property. For instance, real estate is a corporeal immoveable and stocks and bonds are incorporeal movables. So, all types of property can be described with a combination of two of those four words. Louisiana’s Civil Code is based heavily on the French Civil Code of 1800 (the Code Napoléon).  There’s your European Civil Law thought of the day.  PTEX: It’s not just a cult, it’s educational.

One of the things that I’ve been amazed with is the King Cake culture in offices.  This is something you can only really see if you’re working day-to-day in an office in New Orleans.  I’m not sure if other Louisiana cities have this same culture in offices.  The reason I use the word culture, is that it is defined. There are rules.  

1. If you cut a piece of King Cake at work, the knife stays in the box.  What, you may ask, if at the end of the day the knife is all gunky? If the King Cake is still around at the end of the day, it’s not worth eating.  Toss it out. If you were the one who brought that cake you should seriously take note of this and don’t go back to where you bought it.  If you forget, simply ask your co-workers. They will remember the place.
2. If the baby is in your piece of cake, you have the baby. This means you are responsible for bringing a cake the next day.  If you see the baby, you have the baby.  If you see a part of the baby, you have the baby. Don’t run from the baby.  People will know if you were the last to get a piece and the baby is just laying there.  Further, people will talk amongst themselves and remember.

***FOOTNOTE - This is Jean talking: The little number won't show up when I copy/paste - but it was right after "Don't run from the baby."

 Recently there have been some robberies in which up to 100 King Cakes have been stolen.  Can you imagine all those babies and the obligations they carry for the thief?  Yes, King Cake theft is a real thing around here.

3. DO NOT bring a grocery store King Cake.  It should come from a bakery. If you want to see your co-workers become homicidal towards you, then bring a cake from Walmart and just tell me where to send the flowers for your memorial.  I’m kidding, but they will remember and will discuss it amongst themselves.

4. If you bring the cake from your favorite bakery, be prepared to have it criticized.  Once someone takes a bite, they will comment that another place is better.  There are only a few bakeries that manage to escape the criticism. 

5. If you want to begin this King Cake chain, do so after Twelfth Night.  Doing so before can earn you harsh looks and head shaking. Of course, it goes without saying that no one under any circumstances should bring a King Cake after Mardi Gras.  Seriously, who does that? Yankees? I don’t know.

6. People are very observant of these rules and that’s what makes it so funny.  These same rules are in almost every office. They aren’t written anywhere.  They’re not in an employee handbook. Things are likely different from small offices.  However, if the office has more than approximately 10 people, they likely follow this process.

Another thing that is very intangible is the festive spirit. I’ve noticed that at times during the holiday season (Thanksgiving to NYE) people seem to be lighter and happier and giving.  I had one client who insisted we settle his case during this period because he thought people were nicer.  

I’ve noticed that people are that way during these weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday.  It’s interesting. One lady here who is not fond of me was nice to me twice in a row.  I found it unnerving.  I think the first time may have been an accident.

This year on the first day of a big parade, we were all planning on leaving about an hour early.  When it was announced the parade time had been moved up an hour, it was like pulling the fire alarm in my building. All 30 floors emptied in minutes.

If you don’t get out of the office, your route home may be blocked.  You’re then forced to figure out another way.  In doing so, you will be dodging all sorts of traffic and drunk pedestrians.

While things may begin on the Twelfth Night, they go right up to the last minute of Fat Tuesday and the first minute of Ash Wednesday – midnight.  At midnight everything comes to a screeching stop – at least officially.  The mayor will lead a ceremonial sweeping walk down Bourbon Street as the ritual clean up from weeks of decadence begins.

For the most part on Wednesday morning, it’s difficult to imagine the massive party that took place only hours before. You can walk around the French Quarter or CBD and everything is moving at a dramatically slower pace.  

And then there’s Festival Season……..

Note:  This is written in Palatino Linotype in honor of Hermann Zapf.  He was an awesome calligrapher and type designer. No, he has nothing to do with Mardi Gras. 

Note:  Yes, I’m using Holiday stamps on this even thought it is well past NYE.  These were the only stamps I had that were color coordinated to Mardi Gras colors.  I had some Purple Heart stamps, but that seemed a bit wrong.

In short, I suffer from FOJ (Fear of Jean).  According to the Maven of Mail, it is more important that the colors of the stamps are coordinated with the envelopes as opposed to maintaining a theme.  It would be good if you could do both.  If you do both, this is known as a perfecta.

There is no cure for FOJ.  Experts have advised that the only way to successfully address the symptoms is to have a handy supply of stamps in a variety of colors. Vintage is preferred to current, but that is not an absolute.