If you aren't already familiar, please give us the chance to introduce Marilyn Terrell, Traveler Chief Researcher, whom we like to call our "human blog." Since it's almost physically impossible for us to get all of Marilyn's suggestions up online, we've asked her to pen a new column, highlighting some fun stuff found on the Web. Welcome to Marilyn's Miscellany.
- The Wall Street Journal had an article last week about the famous beer-brewing Trappist monks at Belgium's St. Sixtus monastery, and how their celestial beer and deliberately limited production provokes covetousness among beer fanciers, who rate their brew called "the 12" as the best in the world. Traveler scooped this story in our May/June 2006 issue, but this one's online.
- Among the 2007 Preserve America Presidential Award winners, I liked knowing about the Downtown St. Louis Revitalization project, where two private companies bought four historic buildings that were slated for demolition and restored them, creating new urban residential space and bringing economic vitality to a previously depressed downtown. And in Louisiana, Preserve America recognized the efforts of the Natchitoches-Cane River Region Heritage Tourism project, which has brought $47 million in private and $1 million in public investment for historic preservation and infrastructure improvements to the Natchitoches National Historic Landmark District, while preserving the history and living traditions of the French, Spanish, African American, American Indian, and Creole people who settled the area.
Natchitoches isn't pronounced the way you'd expect; it's NACK-uh-tish. The town is known for its Festival of Lights and for Natchitoches meat pies, which are traditionally served on Christmas Eve.
- Lastly, our friends down the hall at NG KIDS magazine are trying to set a Guinness Word Record for the world's longest chain of shoes. You can help them win (and clear your closets at the same time) by sending them your old athletic shoes, which will later be recycled by the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe program to make basketball and tennis courts and running tracks, which is better than ending up in a landfill. Postmark deadline January 22, 2008.
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This is a great idea! I love these short fascinating items. More like this please!
Marilyn is my favorite!
Posted by: Mort Todtman | December 07, 2007 at 04:53 PM