William Topaz McGonagall was an Irish weaver and actor who lived in Scotland. He won notoriety as an bad poet who exhibited no recognition of, or concern for, his peers' opinions of his work, he wrote about 200 poems, including "The Tay Bridge Disaster" and "The Famous Tay Whale", which are regarded as some of the worst in English literature. Groups throughout Scotland engaged him to make recitations from his work, contemporary descriptions of these performances indicate that many listeners were appreciating McGonagall's skill as a comic music hall character. Collections of his verse remain popular, with several volumes available today. McGonagall has been lampooned as the worst poet in British history; the chief criticisms are that he was unable to scan correctly. His only apparent understanding of poetry was his belief. McGonagall's fame stems from the humorous effects these shortcomings are considered to generate in his work. Scholars argue that his inappropriate rhythms, weak vocabulary, ill-advised imagery combine to make his work amongst the most unintentionally amusing dramatic poetry in the English language.

His work is in a long tradition of narrative ballads and verse written and published about great events and tragedies, circulated among the local population as handbills. In an age before radio and television, their voice was one way of communicating important news to an avid public. William McGonagall's parents and Margaret, were Irish, his Irish surname is a variation on a popular name in County Donegal. Throughout his adult life he claimed to have been born in Edinburgh, giving his year of birth variously as 1825 or 1830, but his entry in the 1841 Census gives his place of birth, like his parents', as "Ireland". Biographer Norman Watson suggests that McGonagall may have falsified his place of birth, as a native-born Scotsman would be better treated under the Poor Law of 1845 than one born in Ireland. By looking at census and death records, David Phillips identifies 1825 as the more birth date; the McGonagall family moved several times in search of work spending time in Glasgow and on South Ronaldsay before settling in Dundee around 1840.

Here, William was apprenticed to follow his father's trade as a handloom weaver, putting an end to whatever formal education he may have had. Having learned his trade, McGonagall proceeded to educate himself, taking "great delight in reading books," cheap editions of Shakespeare's plays. On 11 July 1846, he married a fellow mill worker from Stirling. Together they would have two daughters. Despite the industrial revolution making weavers obsolete, McGonagall appeared to prosper, as there was still need for skilled workers to perform tasks of great complexity. Whilst working at the loom, McGonagall would entertain his shopmates with recitations from Shakespeare. On one occasion they paid a local theatre owner to allow him to appear in the title role in a production of Macbeth. Convinced that the actor playing Macduff was jealous of him, McGonagall refused to die in the final act. For this performance, the Book of Heroic Failures awards him the title of the "worst Macbeth" as well as "worst British poet."

The turning point in McGonagall's life came in June 1877. Work as a weaver was more difficult to find, his oldest daughter had shamed the family by giving birth to an illegitimate child,:vi, when he was seized with a new inspiration: I seemed to feel as it were a strange kind of feeling stealing over me, remained so for about five minutes. A flame, as Lord Byron has said, seemed to kindle up my entire frame, along with a strong desire to write poetry, it was so strong, I imagined that a pen was in my right hand, a voice crying, "Write! Write!" He wrote his first poem, "An Address to the Rev. George Gilfillan", displaying the hallmarks that would characterise his work. Gilfillan, himself an untrained and poorly reviewed polemic Christian preacher who dabbled in poetry, commented admiringly "Shakespeare never wrote anything like this." McGonagall realised if he were to succeed as a poet, he required a patron and wrote to Queen Victoria. He received a letter of rejection, written by a royal functionary, thanking him for his interest.:vii McGonagall took this as praise for his work.

During a trip to Dunfermline in 1879, he was mocked by the Chief Templar at the International Organisation of Good Templars, of which McGonagall was a member, who told him his poetry was bad. McGonagall told the man that "it was so bad that Her Majesty had thanked McGonagall for what the Chief Templar had condemned.":viiiThe letter gave McGonagall confidence in his "poetic abilities", he felt his reputation could be enhanced further if he were to give a live performance before the Queen. In July 1878, he walked from Dundee to Balmoral, a distance of about 60 miles over mountainous terrain and through a violent thunderstorm to perform for Queen Victoria; when he arrived, he announced himself as "The Queen's Poet". The guards informed him "You're not the Queen's poet! Tennyson is the Queen's poet!". McGonagall presented the letter but had to return home. Undeterred, his poetry writing continued, he reported events to the newspapers, earning some minor recognition.:viiThroughout his life McGonagall campaigned against excessive drinking, appearing in pubs and bars to give edifying poems and speeches, which proved popula

Neeses is a town in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 374 at the 2010 census. Neeses is located at 33°32′7″N 81°7′31″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.7 square miles, all land. As of the census of 2000, there were 413 people, 175 households, 110 families residing in the town; the population density was 245.9 people per square mile. There were 204 housing units at an average density of 121.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 74.33% White, 20.82% African American, 2.18% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.24% from other races, 2.18% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.69% of the population. There were 175 households out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.7% were married couples living together, 16.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.6% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.4% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older.

The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.99. In the town, the population was spread out with 26.6% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 81.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.3 males. The median income for a household in the town was $20,521, the median income for a family was $24,125. Males had a median income of $23,500 versus $15,972 for females; the per capita income for the town was $11,377. About 28.5% of families and 29.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 36.3% of those under age 18 and 24.4% of those age 65 or over. Information about Neeses from Orangeburg County

Charles Ora Card was the founder of Cardston, the first Mormon settlement in Canada. He has been referred to as "Canada's Brigham Young". Card was born in New York to Cyrus Williams Card and Sarah Ann Tuttle. In 1846, the family moved to St. Joseph County and returned to New York. Card and his parents joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1856, that same year the Card family set out to join the body of Latter-day Saints in Utah Territory. Together they crossed the plains in one of the Mormon pioneer handcart companies. Sixteen-year-old Card assisted by standing guard, hunting buffalo, carrying women and children across rivers. Once they arrived, the Card family settled first in Farmington and moved to Logan in 1860. There, Card built a log cabin for his family, he joined the local group of minute men and fought in disputes with Native Americans in 1852 and 1860. He attended school in Ogden, he worked at his father's sawmill and small farm. He owned both, he worked as a teacher at the Sabbath Schools in Cache Valley, became the superintendent over schools in Logan.

Card became the superintendent of construction on the Logan Tabernacle and the Logan Temple. In this capacity, he supervised the work and encouraged the men to spend their free time studying scriptures. Card was a coroner, road commissioner, justice of the peace in Cache Valley, he served as a city councilman for sixteen years, beginning in 1866. Such infrastructure included irrigation for multiple Utah towns, on which he worked for fifteen years as "irrigation canal company director." He was in charge of five mills during the same time period. His involvement in education continued as a member of the first board of trustees of Brigham Young College. Card was called to the 56th quorum of Seventy shortly after arriving in Utah, he served an LDS mission in Michigan, Iowa, New York, Massachusetts in 1871. He was the Cache Valley Stake President from 1884 to 1890; as stake president, he oversaw meetings for 30 Church units 4 times a year. During this time, the LDS Church was experiencing strained relations with the federal United States government over the church practice of plural marriage.

Card was instead assigned to setlle in Canada. Church president John Taylor instructed him to find "justice" in the north. Card took his wife, Zina Williams Card, left for Canada in 1886 escaping arrest. Travelling with twelve other families from Cache Valley, he founded Cardston, Canada on June 3, 1887 at what was called Lee's Creek encampment. Once the Alberta Stake was established, he became its first president, he thus served as a Stake President for a total of more than 20 years. The settlers began irrigation projects. Mormon immigrants were praised by a Canadian government inspector for their irrigation efforts, but polygamy was outlawed in Canada soon after the settlement was created. In 1888, a request from John Taylor, Francis Lyman, Charles Card to practice polygamy was denied by Canadian Prime Minister John MacDonald. Regardless, the population of Mormon immigrants in Cardston and its surrounding areas continued to flourish. In 1889 Card returned to Utah to give an account of Cardston's progress to church leaders.

President Wilford Woodruff instructed him to return to Canada and expand the settlement, with a goal to make Cardston "permanent and self-sustaining." He subsequently purchased the surrounding areas and established settlements at Mountain View, Kimball and Leavitt in Alberta. A railroad connected the colonies to the outside world, encouraged more immigration. Upon its creation in 1895, Card became the first president of the Alberta Stake of the LDS Church, it was the first established outside of the United States. Irrigation projects were successful, businesses and thousands of LDS settlers came to Cardston. Card continued to travel between Alberta and Salt Lake City to give reports and receive direction from church leaders; the church directly participated in the Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company's efforts to irrigate the region. This "first large-scale corporate irrigation project" benefited from the involvement of the Mormon settlers under Card's direction. Card selected two sites for new settlements along the irrigation system: Stirling.

In 1902, he declared the Canadian colonies self-sufficient. Card's first wife was Sarah Jane "Sallie" Birdneau, whom he married on October 4, 1867 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Card's memoirs reveal that theirs was a "strained relationship." Birdneau divorced him by March 24, 1884, testifying against Card "on charges of unlawful cohabitation" in court. Card had married a second wife, Sarah Jane Painter, on October 17, 1876. While visiting his children who were attending Brigham Young Academy, he met the school's matron, Brigham Young's widowed daughter Zina Presendia Williams; the two were married on June 1884 in Logan, Utah. Card married Lavinia Clark Rigby on December 2, 1885; because of his polygamy, the U. S. government sought to arrest him. He wrote letters to his wives using false names, he changed locations every few days, visiting Sarah and Zina in Utah and Lavinia in Idaho as much as he could. On July 26, 1886, the federal marshals found and arrested him, but he fled by jumping from the train

City Neighbors High School is a public charter high school located in the Glenham-Benhar neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Opened in 2010, City Neighbors High was the third school launched by the larger City Neighbors Foundation program, a Baltimore-based charter organization; the school operates as a non-profit 501 corporation under the name "City Neighbors High School Inc."Identifying as a progressive model school, City Neighbors High incorporates arts integration, project-based learning and the Reggio Emilia approach in a small school context. The school located at corner of Bayonne and Sefton Avenues was Public School No. 41 - Hamilton Junior High School. Built in 1931, Hamilton Junior High opened for students in the spring of 1932. By 2007, plans were proposed to close the aging school building in the face of declining enrollment and the potential to save City Schools $6 million in maintenance and capital expenses; the school was among five Baltimore schools that were identified as "persistently dangerous" under standards set by the No Child Left Behind Act.

The school board approved a plan to close Hamilton Junior High in the summer of 2009 by a phase out plan where it would not admit new 6th graders. City Neighbors first opened an elementary/middle school in the former Hamilton Junior High building under the name City Neighbors Hamilton in 2009, plans were made to add a high school in another part of the building the following year; the high school's initial Freshmen class of 90 students entered in 2010. At the same time, City Neighbors Hamilton & High schools undertook a 6-year $8.9 million renovation of the school buildings. The project was financed by a bond issue by the Maryland Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority, who in turn loaned the funds to the two school corporations; the school's first class of 86 students graduated in 2014 with a 95% graduation rate. In 2018, City Neighbors High received a 3 out of 5 star rating by the Maryland State Department of Education. School Website City Neighbors High School at Baltimore City Public Schools

Ventana Cave is an archaeological site in southern Arizona. It is located on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation; the cave was excavated under the direction of Emil Haury by teams led by Julian Hayden in 1942, in 1941 by a team led by Wilfrid C Bailey, one of Emil Haury's graduate students. The deepest artifacts from Ventana Cave were recovered from a layer of volcanic debris that contained Pleistocene horse, Burden's pronghorn, tapir and other extinct and modern species. A projectile point from the volcanic debris layer was compared to the Folsom Tradition and to the Clovis culture, but the assemblage was peculiar enough to warrant a separate name – the Ventana Complex. Radiocarbon dates from the volcanic debris layer indicated an age of about 11,300 BP. Bruce Huckell and C. Vance Haynes restudied the Ventana Cave stratigraphy and artifact assemblage in 1992-1994. New radiocarbon dates and reanalysis of the artifacts indicates that the volcanic debris layer was laid down between 10,500-8,800 BP.

Huckel and Haynes hypothesized that vertical turbation is responsible for Haury's original interpretation that these extinct fauna were killed with stone tools. "This turbation may have led to the incorporation of bones of extinct fauna from an underlying conglomerate deposit rich in horse remains, creating the impression of their association with artifacts". Huckel and Haynes believe the Ventana Complex is post-Clovis, not related. Ventana Cave was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964. E. W. Haury, 1950, The stratigraphy and archaeology of Ventana Cave. Tucson: University of Arizona Press Guy E. Gibbon, Kenneth M. Ames, 1998, Archaeology of prehistoric native America: an encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis, 1998. ISBN 0-8153-0725-X

Conoclinium coelestinum, the blue mistflower, is a North American species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the sunflower family. It was classified in the genus Eupatorium, but phylogenetic analyses in the late 20th century research indicated that that genus should be split, the species was reclassified in Conoclinium. Conoclinium coelestinum can reach a height of about 3 feet, it has opposite leaves triangular-shaped. On the top this, the plant forms clusters of bright blue, violet or white flower heads, about 1/4 inch long, it flowers from July to November. Blue mistflower is grown as a garden plant, although it does have a tendency to spread and take over a garden, it is recommended for habitat restoration within its native range in wet soils. This species is native to eastern and central North America, from Ontario south as far as Florida and Texas; this species prefers sandy woodlands and clearings, wet meadows and stream banks. Native Plant Database profile, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas at Austin PlantFiles: Hardy Ageratum, Blue Mistflower Conoclinium coelestinum.

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