I saw the woman on the left for the first time last Thursday when I went to retrieve my Mardi Gras costume from Josette's, the greatest costume shop I've ever been in. I was immediately fascinated by her hair, dress, makeup...everything. She reminds me of Pauley Perrette's character Abby Sciuto on my favorite show, NCIS.

Although I didn't speak to her then, Amanda and I ran into her at the Les Badineurs ball last night. She not only dresses cool but she is cool and mysterious in a way I will never be.

She embodies, in my opinion, a very distinct subculture that is deeply rooted along the Gulf Coast, especially in New Orleans. A subculture who borrows from the history of its people. A people who've inhabited this area for centuries but whose genesis began in Spain, France, Germany, the Caribbean and the West Indies. A history that involves pirates and voodoo. Its evident in the skull and cross bones, the feathers, beads and fleur-de-lis that accent their clothes and embellish their bodies. Although hints of this subculture can be found all over the world, from now on, whenever I see it, I will think of the Gulf Coast and its people.