Dimensions: 4.5 x 3.5 inches, Circa 1982. We lived 2 blocks from a main road which was part of the Mardi Gras route. We would go and collect the beads, because we wanted to mix in the new culture. The Mardi Gras has become an important sense of our identity: the Louisiana way of life, the food, the southern hospitality has stuck with us. The darker history still resonates there but we hope we take the positive parts, we embrace the ‘big easy’. I feel very lucky we went to the south first, from the slow but dangerous Khmer Rouge, we were easily transitioned into the hot slow southern way of life but without the danger. We would have struggled in the fast-paced big city life of LA or another city. Our lives could have turned out differently.