People all have something to say. Some express their passion (强烈的感情) through clothe, art, or community involvement. Others express themselves with poetry, which has diverse poetic forms to express unique thoughts, experiences, and imagination at the fourth annual People’ s Poetry Festival held Feb. 28 through March 2.

“The People’s Poetry Festival keeps getting bigger and bigger—it’s an event we’re really proud of,” said Dr Mark Hartlaub, College of Liberal Arts Dean at Texas. The festival covered a wide variety of topics including nature, humor, women and history. From the panels to the open microphone night, the islander’s community, along with 43 published poets from around the country, local high school students, and the general public came together to share their love of poetry.

The panels were full of passionate readings and lively discussion. For the first time ever, musical poetry was performed at the event. The “Homebrewed” panel was made up of all local poets. The “From Page to the Stage” panel focused on slam (抨击) poetry, and the “Humor” panel greeted levels of laughter from the crowd. All the panels were live streamed on the People’s Poetry Facebook page. “The poetry and poets were all my students wanted to talk about in class this week,” said Dr. Chuck Etheridge, professor of English who attended many of the panel readings.

Celebrating exceptional writers is another part of People’s Poetry Festival. On opening night, the People’s Poetry Festival committee named Madeline Ricondo of Tuloso-Midway as the winner of the Robb Jackson Writing Award for high school students. This award honors the late Dr. Robb Jackson, Texas A&M University System Regents Professor and professor of English at A&M-Corpus Christi, whose poetry shared his life experiences and observation of Corpus Christi. Ricondo received a $100 gift card, plus, three poetry books with local ties including a copy of Jackson’s “Open Heart”. The people’s Poetry Festival committee also recognized Juan Manuel Perez, award-winning poet and local history teacher, as the 2019—2021 Poet Laureate (桂冠诗人) of Corpus Christi.

The Mysteries of The Maya

Extending south from parts known as Mexico into Central America, 【小题1】.The Maya built impressive palaces and temples and step pyramids. How were they built without the use of wheels, metal tools or even animal power? 【小题2】 They applied this understanding to the Maya calendar, which was accurate to within 30 seconds per year.

The fact that Maya society was technologically primitive makes its achievements all the more incredible and mysterious. 【小题3】 By 700 AD, Maya civilization was at its peak. Yet, within just a couple of generations, it began to mysteriously decline. The cities were left to be taken back by the jungle.

Why Maya civilization collapsed remains a mystery. A deadly disease? Conflicts between cities? 【小题4】 They had turned wetlands into fields for growing grains, and had dug huge canal systems. As their population expanded, yet more land was needed for agriculture and more trees for construction. By changing the landscape in this way, the Maya people unknowingly reduced their ability to deal with natural disasters.

【小题5】 Some recent studies have found that there were far fewer tropical cyclones (热带气旋) than usual between 700 AD and 1000 AD, which is likely to have led to a series of droughts. These droughts would have led to food shortages, conflicts and ultimately, the downfall of the cities.

Whatever the reasons, Maya civilization largely disappeared within the deep jungle. Its once-great cities fell into ruin, leaving various mysteries for later people to solve.

Harvest Festival is a celebration of the food grown on the land.In England，we have given thanks for successful harvests since pagan times(异教徒时代)．We celebrate this day by singing，praying and decorating our churches with baskets of fruit and food in a festival known as “Harvest Festival”，usually during the month of September.

Harvest Festival reminds Christians(基督教徒) of all the good things God gives them.This makes them want to share with others who are not so fortunate.In schools and in churches，people bring food from home to a Harvest Festival Service.After the service，the food that has been put on display is usually made into parcels and given to people in need.

Harvest festivals are traditionally held on or near the Sunday of the Harvest Moon.This is the full moon which falls in September，about Sept.23.Unlike the USA and Canada，the UK does not have a national holiday for Harvest Festival.

Harvest Festival used to be celebrated at the beginning of the harvest season on 1 August and was called Lammas，meaning “loaf Mass”．Farmers made loaves of bread from the new wheat crop and gave them to their local churches.They were then used as the communion bread during a special mass thanking God for the harvest.The custom ended when Henry Ⅷ broke away from the Catholic Church，and nowadays we have harvest festivals at the end of the season.

Farmers celebrated the end of the harvest with a big meal called a harvest supper.This was rather like a Christmas dinner，but as turkeys were unknown at that time，a goose stuffed(填充) with apples was eaten.Goose Fairs are still held in some English towns，but geese are no longer sold.

The tradition of celebrating Harvest Festival in churches as we know it today began in 1843.