Poets and poetry fans gathered at the University of the Ozarks this semester to hear another round of competitive creations. After several rounds, audience members and judges crowned another Poet Laureate of the Spadra Valley; Catasia Ferguson. The Levee's Makayla Hollowell sat down with Ferguson, as well as finalists Matthew Dunsworth, KJ Lewis, Prudence Majoni, and Shemarie Munroe, to hear their poems and more about how they create their work.

This week, University of the Ozarks Theatre opens their production of "Elephant's Graveyard" by George Brant, a true story of the 1916 execution of a circus elephant in a Tennessee town. The show is a mix of fact and legend told by characters embodying people of the town who witnessed Mary the Elephant's death, a tale highlighting "the deep-seated American craving for spectacle, violence and revenge."

Brant's narrative draws a connection between the hanging of Mary and lynching in the Jim Crow South. The Levee host Estefania Bautista Lopez spoke with Walton Professor of Theatre Dr. Macy Jones and Philosophy of Religion Professor Dr. Dave Daily to discuss those connections as well as the necessity of examining the subject of lynching today.

Homecoming week is a chance for University of the Ozarks students and alumni to connect about their shared experiences. Many Eagles, though, might have very different ideas about what a traditional homecoming feels like - if they even had that tradition at all before arriving on campus.

University President Rich Dunsworth sits down with Levee hosts Hailey Ritter and Kjersta Lybbert to talk about his 13 years of homecomings at Ozarks, the value of connecting generations of Eagles, and some traditions from the past that might be better off left there. What even is a bed race, anyway?