Mardi Gras soul, in action, turns girl's parade nightmare into a dream come true
Mardi Gras soul, in action, turns girl's parade nightmare into a dream come true
Emily Mueller, an 11-year-old north shore girl with autism, was the object of one drunken young man’s abuse during the Krewe of Muses parade on Feb. 16. She was reduced to tears before she could see any of her favorite parade.
Her mother, Amy Mueller, wrote about the experience online on Thursday, detailing the man’s cruel words and thoughtless actions. She wrote that the man came close to setting Emily’s hair on fire with a cigarette and spilling beer on her before calling her a “retard” to his friends and, later, to her face. Emily asked her mother to take her home, saying she never wanted to participate in Mardi Gras again.
On Friday morning, Amy said, she awoke to learn that she and her daughter had become the objects of an online love fest.
Her post on NOLAFemmes.com generated 30,000 page views and about 600 responses, and sympathetic comments flooded Twitter and Facebook. In no time at all, #EmilyGras became a popular Twitter hashtag. Some residents relayed prayers and warm wishes, while others volunteered to send Muses memorabilia they caught at the parade, and a Tulane University group announced it will hold an awareness day on March 7 to educate people about autism and the destructive power of the epithet “retard.”
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In addition to Muses, costumed members of the 610 Stompers, the Rolling Elvi and the Pussyfooters gathered at the den to strut, dance and bestow glittery shoes, leis, beads and stuffed animals upon Emily, who pronounced the experience “overwhelming.”
“We’re an all-women marching group. We support women — the mom and the little girl,” said Anne Titelbaum, a Pussyfooter marcher for six years. “We were all little girls at one time, and no one is perfect.”
http://www.nola.com/mardigras/index.ssf/2012/02/fans_try_to_turn_girls_carniva.html
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Big kudos to Muses and all the other organizations who responded to this. I am proud to have been one of the earliest members of this organization.
Good lookin out!
