For generations Mardi Gras balls have been a pivotal part of New Orleans social life, and for as many years the krewes which put on the parties have been strictly divided along racial lines. This video by Rebecca Snedeker, a New Orleans native who declin ed to follow in her family tradition, profiles another young woman, Emily la Cour Guiza, as she becomes a Mardi Gras queen in 2005 - months before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. The historic importance of white krewes in New Orleans society is ex plained. Palmetto Pictures.