The historical origins of Mardi Gras are much debated, but many of its traditions seem to have their roots in early Celtic Christian rituals in ancient Gaul, Ireland, and Scotland—which, in turn, seem to have even earlier Greek and Egyptian antecedents.Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is a celebration of life’s excesses before the austere self-sacrifices of the Christian season of …
New Urbanism at Its Best
First, there was the remarkable High Line project in New York City, transforming an abandoned overhead rail line into an elevated park. Now, plans are underway to bring the same kind of transformation to New Orleans with the very ambitious Lafitte Corridor. These projects represent New Urbanism at its best.
The Louisiana Treaty
The United States Senate ratified the Louisiana PurchaseTreaty by a vote of 24-7 on this day in 1803. The vastregion encompassed more than 800,000 square miles of territory and comprisedpresent-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota west of the …