Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Orphaned Anything's Memoir of a Lesser Known by Stephen Christian 10 Things You May Not Know About . 1. He was the first president born west of the Mississippi River. Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874, in a two-room, whitewashed cottage built by his father in West Branch, , a small prairie town of just 265 people. The future president did not cross east of the Mississippi River until he was 22 years old. 2. Hoover became an orphan at age 9. When Hoover was 6 years old, his father died of a heart attack while suffering a bout of pneumonia. A little more than three years later, Hoover’s mother, Hulda, died from pneumonia and typhoid fever, which left young “Bertie” and his older brother and younger sister parentless. The three children were separated to live with Hulda’s various relatives. When Hoover was 11, he was put on a westbound Union Pacific train to live with Hulda’s brother John Minthorn in Newburg, Oregon. 3. He was a member of Stanford University’s inaugural class. In 1891, Hoover enrolled in the new West Coast university founded by industrialist Leland Stanford. While the future president failed Stanford’s entrance examination, the professor who administered the test admired his “remarkable keenness” and admitted him conditionally. Hoover had so little money that at times he lived in the barracks housing construction workers building the university. Hoover served as financial manager for Stanford’s football and baseball teams, won election as treasurer, and met his future wife, Lou Henry, in geology class. 4. He was a self-made multi-millionaire. “If a man has not made a million dollars by the time he is forty, he is not worth much,” said Hoover, who rose from his humble origins to become a millionaire several times over. After graduating from Stanford in 1895 with a geology degree, Hoover took an engineering job with the British mining firm of Bewick, Moreing and Company. He traveled the world locating lucrative mineral deposits, and by the age of 27, he had become one of the firm’s four partners. He left the company in 1908 and soon had profitable business interests on every continent except for Antarctica. The wealthy Hoover donated his presidential salary to charity. 5. Hoover helped save millions from starvation after two world wars. Although accused by some of reacting callously to the millions of Americans forced onto bread lines during the Great Depression, Hoover was recognized around the world as such a great humanitarian that he was nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize. After Hoover spearheaded a private effort to ensure the safe return of 120,000 American tourists stranded in Europe at the outbreak of World War I, the United States government recruited him to deliver food to neutral Belgium, where 7 million people faced starvation. Later Hoover headed the American Relief Administration, which delivered food to tens of millions of people in more than 20 war- torn countries. Between 1921 and 1923, the aid he directed to the famine-stricken Soviet Union fed more than 15 million people daily. “Whatever their politics, they shall be fed!” he declared to opponents who accused him of aiding communism. After World War II, Democratic President Harry Truman asked the Republican Hoover to circle the globe to coordinate efforts to avert a global famine. “He fed more people and saved more lives than any other man in history,” said Hoover associate Neil MacNeil. 6. Franklin D. Roosevelt once wished Hoover would become president. Public opinion of Hoover was so high following his humanitarian work during World War I that both Republicans and Democrats courted him as a presidential candidate in 1920. “He is certainly a wonder, and I wish we could make him President of the United States,” wrote Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the Navy at the time. “There could not be a better one.” Twelve years later, the two men became bitter foes for the presidency as Roosevelt defeated Hoover in a landslide. 7. Before Hoover became president, he starred in the first television broadcast in American history. While serving as secretary of commerce under President , Hoover’s voice and image were transmitted live over telephone wires in the first American demonstration of television on April 7, 1927. “Today we have, in a sense, the transmission of sight for the first time in the world’s history,” Hoover told a gathering of newspaper reporters and dignitaries in New York City from 200 miles away in Washington, D.C. “Human genius has now destroyed the impediment of distance.” 8. He won the presidency in his first-ever election campaign. Hoover never held elective office until he won the 1928 presidential campaign. Before becoming the 31st president, Hoover had been appointed to his previous government positions. 9. There is a sport that bears Hoover’s name. To keep Hoover physically fit, White House physician Admiral Joel T. Boone developed a game played by the president and his staff each morning on the south lawn of the White House in which teams of two to four players threw a 6-pound medicine ball over an 8-foot-high net. Dubbed “Hooverball” by a New York Times reporter in 1931, the sport was played on a court similar to tennis and scored the same with the exception being that the ball was thrown instead of hit with a racket. “It required less skill than tennis, was faster and more vigorous, and therefore gave more exercise in a short time,” Hoover wrote in his memoirs. A national Hooverball championship is held in Hoover’s birthplace of West Branch, Iowa, each year. 10. He was not invited to the dedication of . The massive dam on the Colorado River that now bears Hoover’s name was approved when he was secretary of commerce and was under construction while he was president. While the engineering marvel was originally proposed to be called Hoover Dam, Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes claimed “Hoover had very little to do with the dam” and changed its official name to Boulder Dam. When Roosevelt dedicated the dam on September 30, 1935, the administration did not invite Hoover to the ceremony and the president did not even mention his predecessor in his speech. In 1947, President Harry Truman signed a law that restored the original name—Hoover Dam. Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault. Start your free trial today. What is good? An “I'm up, what more do you want from me?” sticker hideously controls the back of Ayden Kosacov’s bedroom door. In his mind what started as a joke is slowly becoming his "glorious and underrated mantra". Ayden Kosacov is alive, and that is about all you can say. In the throws of a mundane and jejune life Ayden is slowly coming to the realization that if all his world is a stage than he wouldn’t care if he did or did not miss the final scenes. Through an almost "accidental" suicide attempt and the recovery that soon follows, Ayden learns that there is more to living than just being alive. Finding his way through diverse experiences and people he comes to terms with God, his family, and finally himself. The synopsis for Stephen Christian's 2008 memoir. It is the story of a 'lesser known' and his journey to finding that there is more to living than being alive. It is written in an odd, un-punctuated way. which I, personally found difficult to get my head around. The read leaves you thinking. 50 Books Challenge. 50 books. 365 days. A chronic bibliophile's running list and commentary of every book read in 2009. 1.03.2009. The Book List: 2009. #1 : David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day Begin: Some time in December * End: January 5. #2 : Ariel Gore - How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead Begin: January 1 * End: January 6. #3 : Stephen Christian - The Orphaned Anythings: Memoir of a Lesser Known Begin: January 7 * End: January 14. #4 : Renee Yohe - Purpose for the Pain Begin: January 16 #5 : Margot Livesey - Eva Moves the Furniture Begin: January 31 * End: February. #6 : Stephanie Meyer - Twilight Begin: February 17 * End: About 3 days later because I was sick and had nothing else to do. :) #7 : Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms Begin: March 5. #8 : Kevin Roose - The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University Begin: March 17 * End: March 27. #9 : Lauren F. Winner - Girl Meets God Begin: March 28 * May 2. #10 : Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower Begin: April 11 * April 17. #11 : Wendell Berry - Jayber Crow Begin: May 2 * End: June 12. #12 : Stephanie Meyer - New Moon Begin: June 13. #13 : Alan Moore & David Lloyd - V for Vendetta (yes, it's a graphic novel, but it has a lot of words. so there. :P) Begin: June 21. #14 : Nick Hornby - High Fidelity Begin: June 29 * End: July 4 #15 : Susan Isaacs - Angry Conversations with God Begin: July 5 * End: August 1 #16 : Anne Lamott - Traveling Mercies Begin: August 2. #17 : Andrew Peterson - North! Or be Eaten Begin: August 31. #18 : Neil Gaiman - Stardust Begin: September 5 * End: September 7 #19 : Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years Begin: October 8 #20 : Emily Wing Smith - The Way He Lived Begin: November 7 * End: November ? #21 : Anne Patchett - Bel Canto. #22 : John Green - Paper Towns Begin: December 26 * End: December 27. 2008 (Abandoned and Incomplete *sad*) 2007 (The list that started it all!) 1.16.2008. The Book List: 2008. #1 : David Clement-Davies - The Sight Begin: January 13 * End: February 7. #2 : Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice Begin: February 8 *End: can't remember. :P. #3 : Matthew Paul Turner - Hokey Pokey: Curious People Finding What Life's All About Begin: February 16. #4 : Anne Lamott - Traveling Mercies. #5 : Frank Beddor - The Looking Glass Wars. 1.01.2008. Happy 2008! Well, it's over. And for the Final Count. 50 books. 3 unfinished, but I should be able to wrap up #50 tomorrow. Okay, in the end I fudged a bit and included Japan Ai , because even though it is kind of in the form of a sketch travel journal (read: full of pictures), I figure it has enough words to qualify. I might have made the goal if I'd let graphic novels count, but hey. :P. I can't believe I did it. It's an awesome feeling, actually looking back on a new year goal and knowing you didn't fail in the first two weeks. And I've read so many wonderful books this year. the entire Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia . some classics in Christian literature like Augustine and Chesterton. some I've never touched. others I love to read over and over. So, what now? Start all over, or course! :) I don't feel as pressured to hit the 50 mark, but I discovered that keeping track of what you read is a fun and enlightening habit, so I plan to continue in 2008. Start up a new list. Maybe revisit some of the stuff I read in college, and hunt down some classics I've never touched. Oh, and finish those two pesky books that I didn't survive this year. I will find out how Eldest ends, dangit! :P. Here's to a new year! Looking forward to even more good reads in the year to come. 12.30.2007. The End. Well, hello. Haven't really posted anything here in a while. We'll say I'm too busy reading. :) Yep. If you forget the two I didn't finish. 3 books. 23 and a half hours. Can I do it? Heh, talk about marathon reading. The countdown begins! 9.29.2007. "Then she would run until morning to ease the ache. " "The unicorn was weary of human beings. Watching her companions as they slept, seeing the shadows of their dreams scurry over their faces, she would feel herself bending under the heaviness of knowing their names. Then she would run until morning to ease the ache; swifter than rain, swift as loss, racing to catch up with the time when she had known nothing at all but the sweetness of being herself. " I have decided that The Last Unicorn is one of my favorite books in the world, right up there with A Wrinkle in Time and The Chronicles of Narnia . "That's different. Haggard and Lir and Drinn and you and I -- we are in a fairy tale, and must go where it goes. But she is real. She is real." 9.11.2007. "It'll all end in tears. " I had an epiphany today. I have 4 months left to read approximately 20 books. :P. Small assignments. hit 30 first. Then 35. That's how it's done; a bit at a time. Wuthering Heights was a glad I read it/most likely never will again sort of book. Just. weird. (Okay, maybe I will read it again, and enjoy it more, but not for a while.) Now on to The Princess Bride . I was literally thinking that I should buy it soon, when I was going through things and discovered I did indeed have a copy. Sweet! It's fun. every bit as fun as the movie. And thank God for William Goldman's "good parts" version. 56 pages of people packing and unpacking is just a little bit overkill, I'd say. The little asides from Goldman make me glad I'm not reading the original. :) 8.25.2007. Where I've been. where I'm going. Well, I guess I'm way overdue for an update, right? At least a couple of halfway reviews and thoughts on the progress would suffice. so. Harry Potter and Life After Hogwarts. Yep, the great saga has come to an end. A couple weeks ago, I took a week off from work, and joked as I did that I was taking time off to read my new Potter book. It was only a half-joke, because that's exactly what I did. :) In a week's time, I finished up the second half of the second run of Half-Blood Prince and then immediately launched into Deathly Hallows . After quite a few bouts of marathon reading, I had completed the story and was now free to roam the Internet without fear of spoilage. I've often heard people talk about feeling a bit sad after finishing a book. like they were leaving friends behind. Though I can't say that's happened to me often, nutty as it seems, I found myself feeling this way after finishing this book. Maybe it's because I had read the whole series again in fast succession over a period of a few months. Who knows? Of course, it's not a perfect conclusion by any means. Some parts seemed to drag a bit; others seemed a bit hurried. But overall, I was very pleased with the outcome of the series. I'll try not to do any spoiling here, just in case by some chance you are intending to read it (and will hate me forever if I ruin it for you ;)), but I will say there are plenty of plot twists as usual, and as far as I can tell, no loose ends left to hang. I still wouldn't mind some sort of sequel to the series (as long as it's not overkill *coughleftbehindcough*), but at least the ending holds up well enough on it's own that it wouldn't be necessary. From Reader to Writer and Back Again After finishing up Deathly Hallows , I decided I should probably get back to finishing Bird by Bird before moving forward. I think I mentioned in the other blog that I had a renewed interest and desire to write. just didn't know what to do with it. And I don't exaggerate when I say that this book really did give me not only a revived excitement about writing, but also practical advice to make it happen, as well as a sense that I do indeed have stories to tell and something worth saying -- everyone does. In true Anne Lamott fashion, this book can thoroughly offend you one moment, then have you laughing the next, before blindsiding you with a shimmering gem of wisdom or an anecdote that can bring you to tears. Oh yeah, and there's writing advice too. She explains the value of short assignments, index cards, and how to cleverly disguise your detestable characters so the real-life people you based them on can't come along and sue you for libel (not that you or I would do such a thing, right? :)). But most of all, this book reminds you of why we write in the first place. why some people just have this need to follow this craft. It isn't all about getting published, and she reminds her readers and students of this too. It's a glimpse into what it really means to be a writer. And I am all the more grateful for it when I find myself itching to pick up the pen. Well, as I plow ahead with my 50 books goal, I realize I need to step it up and read a bunch of small stuff really fast. ^^; But that's okay! I really feel amazed and glad I've passed the halfway point.. quite a goal! I decided I should probably start tackling some of those classics I never bothered to read in high school and never got assigned in college. Starting with Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I've always liked the Victorian English style, and I enjoyed Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre when I read it last year, so this seemed like a place to start. (that, and I still had the book I bought for a lit class I ended up dropping last year. figured I'd keep it, since I wanted to read it anyway) So far. well, I'm halfway through, it's starting to make sense, but up until now I had no idea what the heck was going on. The style can be very hard to follow; it's written in first-person, but the narrator switches a lot from Mr. Lockwood to Nelly and back so much you have to pay attention to who is telling the story at the moment. (It doesn't help that one chapter totally turned into a very detailed letter from yet another character. ) But except for that quibble, I'm enjoying it. It's fun to take on something 19th century, literary, and British now and then. If I had to sum up the cast of Wuthering Heights so far in three words: English. Rich. Dysfunctional. Always gotta be rich and dysfunctional. Soul Shaker. It was quite a year for Stephen Christian: After writing a fictional novella, he zipped off to Hollywood to record his fourth album as lead singer of Anberlin. In July, the shaggy-haired vocalist shared the stage with All American Rejects, Pennywise and Reel Big Fish at the Vans Warped Tour, and later he trekked to Guatemala to work alongside fair trade coffee farmers. By year’s end he will also travel to India to help stop human trafficking. Quite a dizzying whirlwind, he admits, but Stephen is “absolutely content.” To him, “the bigger the stage, the larger the platform is to share your heart, successes, failures, beliefs and causes you fight for with people from all over the world.” While swiftly adjusting to fast fortune and acclaim, he planned on neither. His psychology degree, he thought, would spark a career with UNICEF, as it taught him to empathize with people of all backgrounds. Little did he know that the garage-band anthems pumping out of his Oviedo home post graduation would lead to chart-topping stardom. His philanthropic heart is on overload, too. With Faceless International — a new outreach program he co-launched in 2006 — he’s snagged the best of both worlds as part beneficent, part punk-rocker. Stephen’s altruistic efforts paired with endless tours (alongside Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Story of the Year) lead to some unusual companions like Brian Baumgartner, who plays Kevin on the hit NBC show The Office, and Reno 911’s Jonesy, with whom he recently sang karaoke. Even during this interview, as Stephen sat at a Sunset Strip Starbucks, Pauly Shore plopped down at the adjacent table.