Growing up, I loved listening to the radio. With today’s technology, radio now almost sounds like stone-age know-how, but the AM and FM sound waves opened up new worlds to me as a young listener in Virginia. During many summers I sat by the road with my little red wagon and sold fresh vegetables from my parents’ garden. I would sit in my folding chair, waiting for customers to stop, while I listened to my battery-operated radio.
One particularly fond memory from those years was a remarkable radio personality, Paul Harvey. His scratchy voice was immediately recognizable to his listeners–and they stretched from coast to coast–by the millions. Harvey had wonderful taglines. Before his daily news and opinion summary, he would light-hardheartedly squawk, “This is Paul Harvey…stand by for news!” He had MASTERFUL pauses and timing! Another popular show he produced was called “The Rest of the Story.” Here, he would begin by telling a story about someone named “Billy” or “Betty.” He would set the scene, hike the drama. throw in lots of twists and turns, and end by telling you what famous person or event he had been talking about. And he always wrapped up the same way: “And now you know…the REST of the story.” You could almost hear the smile in his voice as he spun his stories, knowing millions of listeners were hanging on his every word.
Paul Harvey died in 2009 at age 90. You can hear his magnificent voice in this moving tribute by Charles Osgood.
Here is such a “Rest of the Story” about a boy named Walter: (link)
Here is another, about “Dr. Pemberton’s Pick-me-up” (link)
Challenge: YOU write a “Rest of the Story” story. Pick a famous person or event, start at the beginning, build suspense, but don’t tell us who or what it is about until the last line. Give it a try!
This story tells more about Harvey as a talk radio pioneer (link). Scroll down for the 1965 “From Freedom to Chains” piece. Here are some key words that might be new to some listeners:
zenith (n.)– highest point; summit
ass/jackass (n.)–donkey
monarchy (n.)–rule by a king or queen (“mono” means 1 and “archy” means “to rule”)
creed (n.)–a system or statement of belief or faith
trite (adj.) — boring due to overuse
pioneer (n.)– one who is first at doing something; a pathfinder
“we’ve got it made” — we are successful, we are in great shape
keep on keeping on– Keep on making progress and moving forward; do not stop
ignominious (adj.)– marked by shame and infamous defeat
oblivion (n.) — a state of being totally lost or destroyed; a total failure
Questions:
1. At 11:50 what prediction does Harvey make? Did that prediction come true?
2. According to Harvey, what does history promise for certain?
One of our Advanced Writing classes studied Paul Harvey and his “Rest of the Story” format. As enrichment, I assigned them to pick someone and write about his or her life, using this same style. Here are some of their examples, all written by 10th graders in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Take a look!
*****
You know what the news is. In a minute, you’re going to hear The Rest of the Story.
His name was Steve, the son of Swiss, German, and Arabian descent.
Steve had a rough childhood. Due to the financial instability of his biological mother and father, Steve was adopted by Paul and Clara, whom Steve regarded as his parents of 1000%. At school, he had trouble making friends with children his own age and was considered a loner. Steve had trouble learning in a classroom; he resisted the teacher and administration; he frequently misbehaved, which had caused his suspension. In response, he loved to hang out in the garage with his father. It was during this time that Paul built a workbench in his garage for his son in order to “pass along his love of mechanics.” While his father was fixing cars and fiddling with mechanics, Steve sat at the workbench studying bits and pieces of computer hardware. In the garage, Steve found his passion for electronic and computer development. At the age of thirteen, he was given a summer job by Bill Hewlett, the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard (HP). Gradually, he realized that his place was not in traditional classrooms with other students, but it was in the garage with a few like-minded friends collectively working toward a goal. Soon enough, over the course of the years, Steve gathered a group of friends — most notably, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne — in his garage, and later, Apple Headquarters at Cupertino, working with and assembling computer parts.
Now the boy too is gone, but his talent and legacy live on in the incomparable, underlying technology giant of Apple Inc..
Apple Inc., founded by Steve Jobs.
And now you know, The Rest of the Story…
–Alex in Hsinchu, Taiwan
*****
“Truth, my boy, is the loveliest quality of youth. I would ride fifty miles to see the little boy whose heart is so honest, and his lips so pure, that we may depend on every word he says,” said his father one day to him. Born in a wealthy Virginia family, little Georgie was a playful boy who had a deep curiosity for everything. On his sixth birthday, the boy received a hatchet as a gift and was exhilarated by it. With all excitement, he experimented with his new present by cutting down everything in its path. This day, little Georgie found an English cherry tree in the garden at his house. He observed the tree and pondered about his sharp, new possession: the hatchet. As he thought about his hatchet, he became more inclined to take it out and give it a try. “No, don’t hurt the beautiful tree!” said one part of his brain. “Let’s do it and show the tree the power of my new gift!” said the other part. At last, little Georgie could not hold back his desire to play and experiment with his hatchet, so he tried the edge of the hatchet onto the trunk of the small English cherry tree. Because the tree was scarred so terribly, it quickly wilted and died.
Little Georgie later acknowledged his mistakes and was in terrible regret. He told his friends about what he did, and all his friends advised him to lie to his father that he did not cut the tree down. Finally, the day had come. His father came back from his work and found his dead cherry tree laying on the grass. His father yelled in fury and asked little Georgie if he knew who destroyed his favorite tree. In trepidation and regret, little Georgie lowered his head and replied in silence. After a brief moment of thinking, the father’s son decided to tell his father the truth. When his father heard his confession, the father turned from wrath to happiness because he discovered little Georgie’s truthfulness. Instead of punishing little Georgie, the father complimented him for being an honest child. When that brave child became an adult, he became an eminent political leader, military general, statesman, and the Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States: George Washington.
And now you know the rest of the story….
–Ian in Hsinchu, Taiwan
*****
In the early 1960s, there was a young boy named Steve. As his mother taught him to read as a toddler, he was often bored in school, misbehaving and resisting authority figures. He often played pranks on the teachers and students, terrorizing the school. He often got put in detention or suspended for these actions, although his parents never reprimanded him, only accusing the school teachers of not challenging their son enough. In fourth grade, his teacher helped him develop a love for learning, and helped him with advanced work beyond his grade level. She would bribe him to finish workbooks, and suggested his parents let him skip grades. His parents subsequently let Steve skip fifth grade, and transferred schools to Crittenden Middle School, in Mountain View, California.
However, he was often bullied, seen as a social outcast, and he threatened his parents to let him change schools or else he would drop out. Although his family did not have much money, they moved to a new house in Los Altos. During his time there, he also made a good friend, also named Steve.
After high school, Steve attended college in Oregon but dropped out after only one semester without telling his parents. He did not want them to spend money on an education that didn’t interest him. During this time, he slept on friends’ floors, traded in bottles for money, and got free meals from local temples. However, he kept attending classes, including a calligraphy course. This continued until he got hired by Atari, and then he later started his own business.
This young boy who misbehaved in school and dropped out of college would later become one of the founders of one of the biggest companies in the world, Apple, and would be known all around the world by his full name: Steve Jobs.
And now you know the rest of the story!
–Katie in Hsinchu, Taiwan
******
The boy who was called “the dopey one” only started to learn to talk at the age of four. While other kids were playing and sharing their stories with each other, the boy was only able to sit all by himself, being silent the whole day. During elementary school, many teachers thought that the young child, nicknamed Bertie, was indolent and mentally immature for his age, as he could not speak German as fluently as others could. He often trapped himself in the world of his own imagination and was usually in the clouds during class. However, maybe because of his imaginations, he began to develop an interest and excelled in mathematics and science at a relatively young age. He created his own set of proofs to the Pythagorean Theorem and mastered Calculus at the age of sixteen.
Bertie ended his secondary school or high school at sixteen. Because of his dislike of school, his teacher expelled him for his bad attitudes that were affecting other students. The teenager tried to enroll in the Federal Institute of Technology(FIT) in Zurich, Switzerland, but his limited knowledge in subjects other than physics and mathematics caused him to fail the entrance exam. Taking the advice of FIT’s principal, he attended the Cantonal School of Aarau in Switzerland, where he obtained his first diploma. After a few years of study, he automatically was admitted to the FIT and realized that he was comparatively more interested in physics than in mathematics. Bertie then passed his examination to graduate FIT, but due to opposition from one of his professors, the poor young man was unable to receive the commonly given university assistantship. Nevertheless, he met a turning point in his life.
After Bertie published several papers about thermodynamics, Brownian Motion, and the Theory of Relativity, this gifted kid quickly became eminent and many universities began competing to hire him. Finally, in 1913, the two esteemed scientists Max Planck and Walther Nernst traveled to Zurich to persuade Bertie to take the lucrative research professorship at the University of Berlin in Germany. He accepted the deal one year later, saying that “the Germans are gambling on me as they would on a prize hen. I do not really know myself whether I shall ever really lay another egg.” The genius’s name reverberated around the globe, and by his death, he left the world his astonishing discovery in the realm of physics and mathematics and his name–Albert Einstein.
And now you know the rest of the story….
— Ian in Hsinchu, Taiwan
******
In 1963, there was a boy named Mike born in Brooklyn, to James and Deloris. As a young boy, he had always been interested in sports, and not too long after he was born, he moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, where he attended elementary, middle, and high school. He was taught by his parents to be hardworking and independent, traits which would later prove to be important.
In high school, Mike loved sports, and played basketball, baseball, and football. However, when trying out for the varsity team in his sophomore year, he was rejected for being too short, standing at 5 feet 11 inches, or 180cm.
However, this did not discourage him, and he joined the junior varsity team to prove his worth as a basketball player. To prove his worth, he quickly became the star of the junior varsity team, having several 40 point games. Over his final two seasons in high school, he averaged more than 25 points a game. As a senior, he was selected to play in the 1981 McDonald’s All American Game, in which he racked up an impressive 40 points.
Earning a scholarship to the University of North Carolina on his basketball achievements, he played for them until 1984, and was trained by Dean Smith, a famous basketball coach. He played important roles and became the star of the team, and was one of the major reasons for the school winning the NCAA Championships against Georgetown University in 1982.
Mike dropped out of college in 1984 to join the NBA draft. He was chosen for the Chicago Bulls, and was also part of the Summer Olympics gold-medal winning team in 1984.
This young boy, despite his earlier troubles with his height and being rejected by his varsity team, became known as one of the most famous basketball players in the world, Michael Jordan.
Now you know the rest of the story!!
— Katie in Hsinchu, Taiwan
******
You know what the news is. In a minute, you’re going to hear The Rest of the Story.
His name was Reeve, of American, Canadian, and South African descent, and an engineer, technology entrepreneur, and visionary.
Reeve had a rough childhood. His parents divorced when he was a child, and ever since, he mostly lived with his father. In school, Reeve was often bullied by his schoolmates, and as a result, he turned to reading books and comics for pleasure. Reeve loved reading; he even calls himself, “a bookworm.” Moreover, at a young age, he was introduced to technology. Without any supervision or guidance, Reeve taught himself computer programming. When Reeve was 12, he sold the code of Blastar, a game in which he created and designed from scratch for about $500. Having moved to the United States for college, Reeve studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physics, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the Wharton School. He later went on to pursue a PhD program in Applied Physics at Stanford University; however, after just two days, he left the program to pursue and accomplish his visionary dreams in Silicon Valley. In 1995, with his younger brother, Kimbal, Reeve developed Zip2, a web software company. After he sold Zip2, he created X.com, an online banking system, which ended up merging with Confinity, an American software company, to create what is known as PayPal today. However, later on, in the interest of PayPal, he was voted off the company. Yet, this process made Reeve who he is today. His contributions are to be remembered in the automobile, astronomical, and city development industries.
The boy is not yet gone, but his talent and legacy already live on in the incomparable, underlying underground city road development sector of The Boring Company, space exploration giant of SpaceX, and electric vehicle leader of Tesla.
Elon Reeve Musk, Co-Founder of Zip2; Founder of X.com; Founder of The Boring Company; Founder, CEO, and Lead Designer of SpaceX; and Co-Founder, CEO, and Product Architect of Tesla.
And now you know, The Rest of the Story…
–Alex in Hsinchu, Taiwan
*************
After all this “The Rest of the Story”-type writing, I gave the students an even bigger challenge. Take the person you wrote about, and turn it into a rhyming poem.! I got these ideas from the life of Benjamin Franklin. As a boy of 12, he subscribed to a famous newspaper of his day and he sometimes took articles he liked and rewrote them in his own words, and sometimes he even tried to rewrite them with rhymes! That must have been hard! However, young Franklin challenged himself and look at what kind of writer he became…he was one of five on the Committee to write the Declaration of Independence in 1776. With that history in mind, I assigned my students to take their classmates’ stories and rewrite them in their own words and also once with rhymes. Here they are. Notice how the students chose different formats; either three or four lines per stanza. I thought the students did a fantastic job!
*****
He’s nicknamed Magic, a boy without great height.
With passion for sports, he joined the sports teams.
Even though he’s short, his future was in light.
With hard work and passion, he achieved his big dream.
Standing shorter than most, he was rejected with shame.
He was one with the force, and the force is with him.
Persistence and courage, gave the way to his fame.
Thousand times a day, he aimed the ball at the rim.
In competitions, Magic wins for his team.
He scored several times, 40 points in a game.
Right after those games, he rose his self-esteem.
Just during this time, the turning point came.
He worked harder than ever, to be chosen to play,
At the McDonald’s All American Game.
Scored brilliantly, Magic had made his way.
Up to UNC, a team with high acclaim.
Grew 18 cm, and tutored by Dean Smith.
Magic is flooded, with all happiness.
His life is fulfilled, being at the world’s zenith.
Even having those, his luck seems so endless.
In Summer’s Olympic, he helped win Gold Medal.
His name pervaded, the last name is “Jordan.”
A basketball legend, the first name is “Michael.”
And he’s the idol, for a boy named Ian.
–Written by Ian in Hsinchu, Taiwan
*****
His name was Reeve, and he had a big dream.
Although his time as a child was rough for a while,
He survived with a scheme.
He read on his own,
When he was alone,
And his programming skills were honed.
He sold his games,
And used them for the aim,
Of going to college with acclaim.
However, he dropped out,
And created X.com, later PayPal, a system of accounts,
Which gained him lots of money, throughout.
Although his company voted him out,
He was able to be successful throughout,
And today he receives no doubt.
His talent is still seen today,
In the development, technological and electric vehicle array,
And his name is known, and mentioned everyday:
Elon Reeves Musk.
–Written by Katie in Hsinchu, Taiwan
*****
Albert Einstein at a young age,
Flipped through the page,
And taught himself Euclidean geometry,
Possibly by a tree.
Pythagorean theorem, he did find the proof
Oh, this is the truth.
He thought nature could be understood as a mathematical structure,
Oh, for sure, he is no failure.
He later made many discoveries,
About the sciences, not fairies.
He published more than 300 papers,
And definitely left a crater.
For that, he won a Nobel Prize in Physics,
Must be because of his genetics.
“Genius” is synonymous with his name,
And that is because of his fame.
–Albert Einstein
–Written by Alex in Hsinchu, Taiwan
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