1.
Topeka, Kansas
–
Topeka is the capital city of the U. S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 127,473, the Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Shawnee, Jackson, Jefferson, Osage, and Wabaunsee counties, had a population of 233,870 in the 2010 census. The name Topeka is a Kansa-Osage sentence that means place where we dug potatoes, as a placename, Topeka was first recorded in 1826 as the Kansa name for what is now called the Kansas River. Topekas founders chose the name in 1855 because it was novel, of Indian origin, the mixed-blood Kansa Native American, Joseph James, called Jojim, is credited with suggesting the name of Topeka. The city, laid out in 1854, was one of the Free-State towns founded by Eastern antislavery men immediately after the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Bill, in 1857, Topeka was chartered as a city. Three ships of the U. S. Navy have been named USS Topeka after the city, for many millennia, the Great Plains of North America were inhabited by Native Americans. From the 16th century to 18th century, the Kingdom of France claimed ownership of parts of North America. In 1762, after the French and Indian War, France secretly ceded New France to Spain, in 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France, but keeping title to about 7,500 square miles. In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Purchase for 2.83 cents per acre. In the 1840s, wagon trains made their way west from Independence, Missouri, on a journey of 2,000 miles, during the 1840s and into the 1850s, travelers could reliably find a way across the river, but little else was in the area. In the early 1850s, traffic along the Oregon Trail was supplemented by trade on a new military road stretching from Fort Leavenworth through Topeka to the newly established Fort Riley, in 1854, after completion of the first cabin, nine men established the Topeka Town Association. Included among them was Cyrus K. Holliday, an man who would become mayor of Topeka and founder of the Atchison. Soon, steamboats were regularly docking at the Topeka landing, depositing meat, lumber, and flour and returning eastward with potatoes, corn, by the late 1860s, Topeka had become a commercial hub providing many Victorian era comforts. Topeka was a free-state center during the problems in Kansas Territory between free-staters and southerners, who for a period controlled the legal government of Kansas. After southern forces barricaded Topeka in 1856, Topeka’s leaders took actions to defend the town from invasion. A militia was organized and fortifications were built on Quincy Street, the fortifications seemed to consist of low-lying earthwork levies strengthened by the presence of at least one cannon. There was stone in the fortifications, the militia manned the fortifications until at least September 1856, when the siege around the town was lifted
2.
San Francisco State University
–
1899 – Founded as San Francisco State Normal School. 1901 – First graduating class 1906 – The 1906 earthquake and fire forces the school to relocate from Nob Hill to a new campus at Buchanan and Haight Streets. 1966 – Beginning of the era of protests led by student organizations including the Black Students Union, Third World Liberation Front. The protests against college policies and off-campus issues such as the Vietnam War included sit-ins, rallies, marches, teach-ins, the protests were marked by counter-protests and widespread charges of corruption and election fraud in the student newspaper. 1968 – A lengthy student strike erupted that developed into an important event in the history of the U. S. in the late 1960s. The strike was led by the Black Student Union and the Third World Liberation Front and this became a major news event for weeks in the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. At one point, University president S. I. Hayakawa famously pulled the out of the speakers on top of a van at a student rally. During the course of the strike, large numbers of police drawn from many jurisdictions occupied the campus, SF State is on the semester system. The university awards degrees in 115 areas of specialization, masters degrees in 97. SFSU ranks 18th among the top 20 undergraduate schools whose alumni go on to be admitted to the State Bar, the Cinema department, in the College of Liberal & Creative Arts, was named one of the nations top film schools by Entertainment Weekly in 2000. The university is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities, the College of Business is accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The college of engineering is accredited by the ABET except the computer engineering program, San Francisco State was ranked the 24th top college in the United States by Payscale and CollegeNets Social Mobility Index college rankings. Among Western Universities, of which there are 112, San Francisco State was ranked 10th in terms of diversity by USNWR. Furthermore, U. S. News & World Report ranks San Francisco State as 8th nationally in the number of transfer students, San Francisco State Universitys joint physical therapy masters program with UCSF is consistently ranked among the top 20 in the country. The Philosophical Gourmet Report lists San Francisco State University as one of the top eight universities to earn a terminal MA in philosophy, SFSU is listed as having one of the nations top film schools by Entertainment Weekly having produced countless leading filmmakers. The Universitys College of Extended Learning offers the only American Bar Association-approved paralegal studies program in San Francisco, SFSU was one of the first California State University campuses to offer a doctorate of education. It was also instrumental in the establishment of the International University Of Kyrgyzstan, the University is the only one in California to offer a bachelors degree in technical and professional writing. In 1968, what was then the longest student strike in the nations history resulted in establishment of a College of Ethnic Studies and increased recruiting, in 2002 there was much tension between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students
3.
Warren Beatty
–
Henry Warren Beatty, better known as Warren Beatty, is an American actor and filmmaker. In 1999, he was awarded the Academys highest honor, the Irving G. Thalberg Award, Beatty has been nominated for eighteen Golden Globe Awards, winning six, including the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, which he was honored with in 2007, among his Golden Globe-nominated films are Splendor in the Grass, his screen debut, and Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo, Dick Tracy, Bugsy, Bulworth and Rules Dont Apply, all of which he also produced. Arthur Penn, who directed Bonnie and Clyde, described Beatty as the producer, adding. Warren stays with a picture editing, mixing and scoring. He plain works harder than anyone else I have ever seen, Henry Warren Beaty was born in Richmond, Virginia. His mother, Kathlyn Corinne, was Canadian and a teacher from Nova Scotia and his father, Ira Owens Beaty, had a PhD in educational psychology and worked as a public school administrator, in addition to dealing in real estate. In 1945, the family moved from Richmond to Arlington, Virginia, during the 1950s, the family resided in the Dominion Hills section of Arlington. Beattys elder sister is the actress, dancer and writer Shirley MacLaine and his uncle, by marriage, was Canadian politician A. A. MacLeod. Beatty became interested in movies before his teens, when he accompanied his sister to theaters. One film that had an important early influence on him was The Philadelphia Story and he noticed a strong resemblance between its star, Katharine Hepburn, and his mother, in both appearance and personality, saying that they symbolized perpetual integrity. Another film that had an impact on him was Love Affair and he found it deeply moving, and recalls that This is a movie I always wanted to make. He did remake Love Affair in 1994, in which he starred alongside Annette Bening, among his favorite TV shows in the 1950s was the Texaco Star Theatre, and he began to mimic one if its regular host comedians, Milton Berle. Beatty learned to do an imitation of Berle and his routine, said a friend. His sister saw Beatty close off emotionally from his father, among her lasting memories of her brother during this period was seeing him withdrawn and spending time alone reading books by Eugene ONeill or singing along to Al Jolson records. In Rules Dont Apply, Beatty plays Howard Hughes, who is talking about. He has to have control over everything, and I used to say that I supposed I did. Beatty was a football player at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington
4.
Lady Macbeth
–
Lady Macbeth is a character in Shakespeares Macbeth. She is the wife of the plays antagonist, Macbeth, a Scottish nobleman, after goading him into committing regicide, she becomes Queen of Scotland, but later suffers pangs of guilt for her part in the crime. She dies off-stage in the last act, an apparent suicide, according to some genealogists, Lady Macbeth and King Duncans wife were siblings or cousins, where Duncans wife had a stronger claim to the throne than Lady Macbeth. It was this that incited her jealousy and hatred of Duncan, the characters origins lie of the accounts of Kings Duff and Duncan in Holinsheds Chronicles, a history of Britain familiar to Shakespeare. Lady Macbeth is a presence in the play, most notably in the first two acts. Following the murder of King Duncan, however, her role in the plot diminishes and she becomes an uninvolved spectator to Macbeths plotting, and a nervous hostess at a banquet dominated by her husbands hallucinations. Her fifth act sleepwalking scene is a point in the play. Has become a familiar to many speakers of the English language. The report of her late in the fifth act provides the inspiration for Macbeths Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow speech. Analysts see in the character of Lady Macbeth the conflict between femininity and masculinity, as they are impressed in cultural norms. Lady Macbeth suppresses her instincts toward compassion, motherhood, and fragility — associated with femininity — in favour of ambition, ruthlessness, and this conflict colours the entire drama, and sheds light on gender-based preconceptions from Shakespearean England to the present. In the account of King Duff, one of his captains, Donwald, Donwald then considers regicide at the setting on of his wife, who showed him the means whereby he might soonest accomplish it. Donwald abhors such an act, but perseveres at the nagging of his wife, after plying the Kings servants with food and drink and letting them fall asleep, the couple admit their confederates to the Kings room, where they then commit the regicide. The murder of Duff has its motivation in revenge, rather than ambition, not found in Holinshed are the invocation to the spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, the sleepwalking scene, and various details found in the drama concerning the death of Macbeth. Although Macbeths wife can be traced to a counterpart, Queen Gruoch of Scotland. Lady Macbeth makes her first appearance late in scene five of the first act, when King Duncan becomes her overnight guest, Lady Macbeth seizes the opportunity to effect his murder. The King retires after a night of feasting, Lady Macbeth drugs his attendants and lays daggers ready for the commission of the crime. Macbeth kills the sleeping King while Lady Macbeth waits nearby, when he brings the daggers from the Kings room, his Lady orders him to return them to the scene of the crime
5.
Broadway theatre
–
Along with Londons West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, the great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggars Opera, in 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice, the company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, by the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblos Garden opened, the 3, 000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmos Opera House opened and presented opera for four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burtons Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847, booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865, and would later revive the role at his own Booths Theatre. Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompsons troupe called the British Blondes, was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season, the six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, in 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Broadways first long-run musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857, New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keenes musical burletta The Seven Sisters shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keenes troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, the production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a musical comedy, Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. They starred high quality singers, instead of the women of repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits, as in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women
6.
Academy Awards
–
The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
7.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
–
The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust. It is a popular tourist destination, with a reported 10 million visitors in 2003, as of 2017, the Walk of Fame comprises over 2,600 stars, spaced at 6-foot intervals. The monuments are coral-pink terrazzo five-point stars rimmed with brass inlaid into a charcoal-colored terrazzo background, in the upper portion of each star field the name of the honoree is inlaid in brass block letters. Below the inscription, in the half of the star field. Approximately 20 new stars are added to the Walk each year, special category stars recognize various contributions by corporate entities, service organizations, and special honorees, and display emblems unique to those honorees. The moons are silver and grey terrazzo circles rimmed in brass on a square pink terrazzo background, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce credits E. M. Stuart, its volunteer president in 1953, with the original idea for creating a Walk of Fame. Stuart reportedly proposed the Walk as a means to maintain the glory of a community whose name means glamor, Harry Sugarman, another Chamber member and president of the Hollywood Improvement Association, receives credit in an independent account. A committee was formed to flesh out the idea, and a firm was retained to develop specific proposals. By 1955 the basic concept and general design had been agreed upon, multiple accounts exist for the origin of the star concept. By another account, the stars were inspired, by Sugarmans drinks menu, which featured celebrity photos framed in gold stars. In February 1956 a prototype was unveiled featuring a caricature of an example honoree inside a star on a brown background. The committees met at the Brown Derby restaurant, and included such prominent names as Cecil B, deMille, Samuel Goldwyn, Jesse L. Lasky, Walt Disney, Hal Roach, Mack Sennett, and Walter Lantz. A requirement stipulated by the audio recording committee specified minimum sales of one million records or 250,000 albums for all music category nominees. The committee soon realized that many important recording artists would be excluded from the Walk by that requirement, as a result, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was formed for the purpose of creating a separate award system for the music business. The first Grammy Awards were presented in Beverly Hills in 1959, construction of the Walk began in 1958 but two lawsuits delayed completion. The first was filed by local property owners challenging the legality of the $1.25 million tax assessment levied upon them to pay for the Walk, along with new street lighting, in October 1959 the assessment was ruled legal. The second lawsuit, filed by Charles Chaplin, Jr. sought damages for the exclusion of his father, chaplins suit was dismissed in 1960, paving the way for completion of the project. Woodwards name was one of eight drawn at random from the original 1,558, the other seven names were Olive Borden, Ronald Colman, Louise Fazenda, Preston Foster, Burt Lancaster, Edward Sedgwick, and Ernest Torrence
8.
Iowa
–
Iowa is a U. S. state in the Midwestern United States, bordered by the Mississippi River on the east and the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west. Surrounding states include Wisconsin and Illinois to the east, Missouri to the south, Nebraska and South Dakota to the west, in colonial times, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana, its state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, people laid the foundation for an economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. Iowa is the 26th most extensive in area and the 30th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city by population is Des Moines, Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states in which to live. Its nickname is the Hawkeye State, Iowa derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many Native American tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east, the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west, Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are formed entirely by rivers. Iowa has 99 counties, but 100 county seats because Lee County has two, the state capital, Des Moines, is in Polk County. Iowas bedrock geology generally increases in age from west to east, in northwest Iowa, Cretaceous bedrock can be 74 million years old, in eastern Iowa Cambrian bedrock dates to c.500 million years ago. Iowa is generally not flat, most of the consists of rolling hills. Iowa can be divided into eight landforms based on glaciation, soils, topography, Loess hills lie along the western border of the state, some of which are several hundred feet thick. Northeast Iowa along the Mississippi River is part of the Driftless Zone, consisting of steep hills, several natural lakes exist, most notably Spirit Lake, West Okoboji Lake, and East Okoboji Lake in northwest Iowa. To the east lies Clear Lake, man-made lakes include Lake Odessa, Saylorville Lake, Lake Red Rock, Coralville Lake, Lake MacBride, and Rathbun Lake. The states northwest area has remnants of the once common wetlands. Iowas natural vegetation is tallgrass prairie and savanna in areas, with dense forest and wetlands in flood plains and protected river valleys. Most of Iowa is used for agriculture, crops cover 60% of the state, grasslands cover 30%, as of 2005 Iowa ranked 49th of U. S. states in public land holdings. Endangered or threatened plants include western prairie fringed orchid, eastern prairie fringed orchid, Meads milkweed, prairie bush clover, the explosion in the number of high-density livestock facilities in Iowa has led to increased rural water contamination and a decline in air quality. Iowa has a continental climate throughout the state
9.
Episcopal Church (United States)
–
The Episcopal Church is the United States-based member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The current presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Michael Bruce Curry, in 2014, the Episcopal Church had 1,956,042 baptized members. In 2011, it was the nations 14th largest denomination, in 2015, Pew Research estimated that 1.2 percent of the adult population in the United States, or 3 million people, self-identify as mainline Episcopalians/Anglicans. The Episcopal Church describes itself as Protestant, yet Catholic, the Episcopal Church is an apostolic church, tracing its bishops back to the apostles via holy orders. The Book of Common Prayer, a collection of traditional rites, blessings, liturgies, the Episcopal Church was active in the Social Gospel movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since the 1960s and 1970s, the church has pursued a more liberal course. It has opposed the death penalty and supported the civil rights movement, some of its leaders and priests are known for marching with influential civil rights demonstrators such as Martin Luther King Jr. The Church calls for the legal equality of gay and lesbian people. Due to the process of editing or making additions to the Prayer Book, the BCP still describes marriage as being the union of a man. The Episcopal Church ordains women and LGBT people to the priesthood, the diaconate, in 2003, Gene Robinson was the first non-celibate openly gay person ordained as a bishop in documented Christian history. There are two names of the Episcopal Church specified in its constitution, The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The latter is the commonly used name. In other languages, an equivalent is used, until 1964, the only official name in use was The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. In the 19th century, High Church members advocated changing the name and they were opposed by the churchs evangelical wing, which felt that the Protestant Episcopal label accurately reflected the Reformed character of Anglicanism. After 1877, alternative names were proposed and rejected by the General Convention. A commonly proposed alternative was the American Catholic Church, by the 1960s, opposition to dropping the word Protestant had largely subsided. The 66th General Convention voted in 1979 to use the name The Episcopal Church in the Oath of Conformity of the Declaration for Ordination, the evolution of the name can be seen in the churchs Book of Common Prayer. The alternate name The Episcopal Church in the United States of America has never been a name of the church but is commonly seen in English
