Singing Out Loud: A Memoir of an Ex-Mardi Gras Queen - Paperback

by Marilee Eaves (Author)

Born during World War II, Marilee Eaves has long struggled to fit into the New Orleans elite--secret Mardi Gras societies that ruled the city--into which she was born. Then, as a student at Wellesley, she's hospitalized at McLean psychiatric hospital, where she begins to realize how much of herself she's sacrificed to blend into and be fully accepted by the exclusive and exclusionary white Uptown New Orleans culture to which she supposedly belongs.

In Singing Out Loud, Eaves tells of her journey to stand on her own two feet--to find a way to be grounded and evolved in the midst of that culture. Along the way, she wrestles with bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and the effects of her bad (heartbreaking, and sometimes hilarious) choices. Raw and funny, this book offers hope and encouragement to those willing to be vulnerable, address their issues, and laugh at themself in order to embrace who they truly are.

Author Biography

Marilee Eaves grew up in the elite world of Uptown New Orleans, a world of Mardi Gras parades and exclusive balls. She spent nearly five decades of her life struggling to be herself in the midst of the elitist Mardi Gras societies that ruled her home city. Finally, in her fifties and sixties, she expanded her perspective, started questioning assumptions about the way she'd grown up, and carved her own path. Eaves has published articles in New Orleans Museum of Art's Arts Quarterly, Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana's Churchwork, Madrona News, Touch Magazine, and The Awakenings Review.