Mardi Gras Float 2005

MoDUSS, our “Mobile Donut Unit and Sound Station”, was our Bay of Pigs. It just about killed us. Conceived and lovingly crafted in a series of balmy globally-warmed January evenings, it was unveiled to a smattering of polite applause on Fat Tuesday eve in the midst of a full blown bus-skidding Thundersnow. Our mission was to distribute Donuts and “bring on the happy.” That we did, sort of, but at a price. It was a hard sell from the start. The crowd, uncomfortable perhaps in the arctic conditions, required exhaustive prodding into the acceptance of our joyfully proffered CPT’s (Circular Pastry Treats). Our generator spewed hot Carbon Monoxide into crowds of red-eyed children, and sounded like a seaplane taking off. It. Brady wore a clear plastic mask that filled everyone who gazed upon him / it with bottomless, soul-crushing dread. Our playful broadcast of the Sharapova / Williams Australian Open final sounded perhaps too much like someone being attacked. And one of our wheels fell off during our dramatic push forward. Other things happened. Things involving frozen donuts and steaming gloves. Things involving people we didn’t know very well. It was a long night. We gave a hundred people the flu, probably, and feel bad about that.