It’s finally Mardi Gras.As someone who calls New Orleans home, it’s often difficult to transcribe the immense joy that fills me when royally clad marching bands and bead carrying floats amble down St. Charles Avenue.It can be hard to describe what it is that makes us from New Orleans learn parade routes months early and study the schedule, which by this point we’ve easily memorized.Times-Picayune columnist Chris Rose has already done a more than an admirable job of documenting every aspect of our Christmas, from child-bearing ladders on small tires to our penchant to do everything just a little bit bigger and louder than our neighbors in, well, the world.But the unbridled, unadulterated joy that exists in “Iko, Iko” seems almost unmatched in anything else. It brings with it the ideals of family, of friends, of fun.Facebook statuses, which have begun to usher in all seasons, are ripe with Mardi Gras references and pleas to return to the most wonderful city on earth, one shared by Fats Domino and Lil’ Wayne alike.In some ways, many of us are part of the generation that saved Mardi Gras. After Hurricane Katrina did its best to gut the city, we returned with beaming smiles and ice-chests of crawfish and cheap beers, ready to take back Fat Tuesday.Three years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Arthur Hardy, the quintessential Mardi Gras expert who writes the annual Mardi Gras Guide. It was the first Mardi Gras following the hurricane, and we discussed the wisdom in holding a celebration while the city was attempting to heal.He told me, “‘I do [think holding Mardi Gras is a good idea] because I think it says we’re down but we’re not out. To not do it would be to say New Orleans is done for.”At the time, it felt like the city was done for. Like with my flubbering Saints, I had faith but wasn’t actually sure what to expect.Three years later, I realize how much wisdom was contained in those words.Mardi Gras is like Christmas to New Orleans residents — we measure our years by it. I have more memories from Mardi Gras than I have from any other holiday. It is always a rite of passage for the year, a time to reflect and evaluate everything that has happened since the one before.New Orleans wasn’t down and out. It never will be. They’ve thrown a fire our way. Then they threw water our way. We’re still standing.As much as this doesn’t need to be written, it needs to be stated. It’s our responsibility to keep it standing. Through anything and everything.Frankly, this ain’t that bad of a responsibility.Just remember what Fats Domino said: “New Orleans is my home / that’s the reason that I’m going / Yes, I’m walking to New Orleans.” Because if you are part of the LSU community, then you are part of the New Orleans community.So after you’ve filled your rolling ice chests with food and beer and you’ve readied your old Schwegmann’s bags to carry your bounty of green-and-purple beads and plastic cups that you’ll be using around the house for the next year, then come on down for a few days of pure, untainted joy.The city will be waiting for you.——Contact Travis Andrews at [email protected]