Because Of Mardi Gras “Na let me tell you this story…” said Amaya “I went to a Zulu parade and everything just went crazy/wild! The float drivers started running into everything. Then I finally saw as they were bumping into things they were letting in portals from the underworld...not like demons stuff…like monsters. Some were nice, and others were mean. For example, some of the monsters were fluffy and pink, but once you got to them, you don’t even wanna know. Since our planet was messed, we all had to leave Earth and go to a place called Mars, but the only thing was whenever we jumped up to catch beads, we floated in the sky. We had to use weights or reversed jetpacks to bring us back down to the ground on Earth, no wait, I mean Mars, which you can get customized. Even though I miss spending Zulu on Earth, I still get to be here 24/7.”   By Amaya Smith

Open Studio is an after school program offered by Big Class and powered by dedicated volunteers. It is free of charge and open to young people school- and city- wide. In the spring of 2016 students were asked to describe "Mardi Gras after the Apocalypse." The stories by Keith Love, Kentrell Love, Eron Morgan, Charlecean Johnson, Alaila Young, and Amaya Smith are shared here. All grammatical, stylistic, and formatting decisions are those of Open Studio/Big Class.