title: Gail Kim

text: Kim saved Rayne from an attack from The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) on the April 24 episode of "Impact Wrestling", but later lost a tag team match against The Beautiful People with Rayne as her partner. Kim and Love continued their feud, attacking each other on different occasions. On the June 12 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Kim defeated Brittany and Madison Rayne to become the number one contender to Love's championship. Kim faced Love for the championship on June 15 at Slammiversary, but she was unsuccessful in winning the title.


title: Gail Kim

text: Kim received a rematch against Love for the Knockouts Championship on the July 3 episode of "Impact Wrestling", where Kim won the championship for a fourth time. In her first title defense, Kim successfully retained her championship against Love, Madison Rayne and Brittany in a four-way match on the July 10 episode of "Impact Wrestling". On the July 31 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Kim successfully defended her championship against Taryn Terrell after the match went to a no-contest due to interference from The Beautiful People. Following a backstage attack by Love, on a special Hardcore Justice edition of "Impact Wrestling", Kim ended her feud with The Beautiful People when she defeated Love in a Last Knockout Standing match with her Knockouts Championship on the line.


title: Gail Kim

text: Kim successfully defended her title against Taryn Terrell on the September 3 episode of "Impact Wrestling". After the match, Kim and Terrell were both attacked by the debuting Havok. In September, Kim injured her shoulder during a pre-match brawl with Havok. Going against doctor's advice, Kim defended her title later that night and lost her championship to Havok. Soon after, it was announced that Kim had suffered a separated shoulder and torn ligaments at the hands of Havok, and would be out of action indefinitely. Kim returned to "Impact Wrestling" in November, demanding her rematch for the Knockouts title against Havok, which Kim ultimately lost.


title: Gail Kim

text: On the January 30, 2015 episode of "Impact Wrestling", in a three–way match for the Knockouts Championship, Kim and Madison Rayne lost to the defending champion, Taryn Terrell. On the May 1 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Kim started an alliance with Awesome Kong to feud with Terrell, Jade and Marti Bell, collectively known as The Dollhouse. The following week, Kim and Kong were defeated by The Dollhouse in a three–on–two handicap match. Kim sustained an arm injury on the May 29 episode of "Impact Wrestling", after unsuccessfully challenging Terrell for the Knockouts Championship in a steel cage match and being attacked by The Dollhouse afterwards.


title: Gail Kim

text: After some hiatus, Kim returned on the July 15 episode of "Impact Wrestling", portraying a superhero-like character and attacking Jade, which allowed Brooke to win the Knockouts Championship. On the September 16 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Kim won her fifth Knockouts Championship by winning a four-way match also involving Brooke, Lei'D Tapa and Awesome Kong. Kim successfully retained the championship against Kong at Bound for Glory on October 4. During October and November (taped in July), she participated in the TNA World Title Series, where she ended first of her block, tied with Awesome Kong, advancing to the finals. on the December 2 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Kim lost to the then current TNA X Division Championship Tigre Uno and was eliminated from the TNA World Title Series. On January 19, 2016, Kim defended her title against Kong. She then lost her title to Jade in a three-way match also involving Madison Rayne after Maria hit Kim with her title belt on the April 5.


title: Gail Kim

text: On the May 10 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Kim faced Jade for the Knockouts championship, which she lost by DQ after Sienna attacked them. On the May 24 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Kim defeated Sienna to keep her job, only to be attacked by Sienna and Maria. A week after, with EC3 as a manager for the night, Kim received a match against Maria at Slammiversary. At Slammiversary, her match with an injured Maria turned into a Triple Threat match for the Impact Knockouts Championship between her, Jade and Sienna (who eventually won the match).


title: Gail Kim

text: On June 14, 2016, Kim was announced as the first female inductee into the TNA Wrestling Hall of Fame. Shortly after, on October 2 at Bound for Glory she defeated Maria Kanellis for the Impact Women's Knockout Championship, winning the title for the record-tying sixth time which she had to vacate a week later after sustaining a back injury that forced her to take a few months off in-ring competition, during which Kim made a few appearances in November and December as she showed her support for Jade who feuded with Rosemary for the vacant championship.


title: Gail Kim

text: On the July 6, 2017, episode of the recently rebranded "GFW Impact!", Kim returned to announce her legit retirement that is about to take place at the end of 2017. A month later, on August 17, at Destination X, Kim faced Sienna for the Unified GFW Knockouts Championship which she was unsuccessful to win due to interference by the return of her old rival Taryn Terrell. On November 5 at Bound for Glory (in what was supposed to be a fatal–four-way match between Kim, Sienna, Allie and Terrell but reverted to a three–way after Terrell's release from the company) Kim competed in her final match where she won the Impact Knockouts Championship for a record-breaking seventh time. The next night, she formally announced her retirement from professional wrestling and vacated the title in the process.


title: Gail Kim

text: Kim wrestled what was announced to be the final match of her career on February 3, 2018 for Southside Wrestling in Stevenage, United Kingdom, where she defeated Kasey Owens in the main event of the show. After this retirement, Kim returned to Impact Wrestling as a producer and agent (talent development roles in which a seasoned, active or retired performer is a behind-the-scenes coach to active wrestlers on how to improve, and how to handle the day-to-day demands of being a wrestler).


title: Gail Kim

text: In late–November, Kim was inserted in the feud between Taya Valkyrie and Tessa Blanchard, after the latter had retained her title by attacking the referee. In December, in order to prevent any shenanigans from their upcoming match, Kim was announced as the special guest referee for the next encounter between the two Knockouts, that was set for January 6, 2019, at "Impact Wrestling Homecoming". At the event, after she attacked Kim multiple times, Blanchard lost the Impact Wrestling Knockouts Championship to Valkyrie after Kim used her finishing move ""Eat Defeat"" on Tessa Blanchard. Throughout the next few months, the feud between Kim and Blanchard progressed even further as both attacked each other inside and outside the ring (including at the restaurant of Kim's husband). This led to the announcement of a match between the two, at "Impact Wrestling Rebellion" on April 28, where Blanchard defeated Kim in what was officially Kim's last match. After the match the two women embraced and in a backstage interview Kim confirmed that she is still going to work as a producer for the company.


title: Gail Kim

text: Kim has been praised as one of the greatest female wrestlers ever. Former Knockouts Champion ODB named Kim "the greatest Knockout ever". Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer commented that Kim "was so ahead of her time."


title: Gail Kim

text: Although references of Kim were ultimately dropped by WWE following her second departure, in 2021, WWE Network included her in a list of Top 50 female performers in the history of the company.


title: Gail Kim

text: Kim was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on February 20, 1977. She attended York Memorial Collegiate Institute and majored in kinesiology at the University of Toronto before transferring to Ryerson University and changing her major to nutrition.


title: Gail Kim

text: Kim married celebrity chef Robert Irvine on May 11, 2012. The couple met on the set of "". On October 10, 2017, Kim announced that she became an American citizen. Since she is also a Canadian citizen, she now holds dual citizenship.


title: Gail Kim

text: Kim posed topless for a cell phone ad campaign in South Korea. In 2007, Kim was listed on "Forbes"<nowiki>'</nowiki> top 40 list of "America's Most Eligible Bachelorettes". In 2009, Kim was a part of the cast of the independent psychological thriller entitled "Royal Kill". On October 13, 2011, Gail Kim, along with The Miz, John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, Heath Slater and Eve Torres appeared on a special WWE edition of "Family BrainSurge". On August 18, 2012, Kim's and Robert Irvine's wedding ceremony was documented on an episode of Irvine's "" program.


title: Gail Kim

text: In March 2020, Kim, along with Lita and Christy Hemme, announced "KAYfABE", a new wrestling show inspired by true events which blends scripted drama with pro wrestling.


title: Gail Kim

text: Kim appeared in the video games "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010" and "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011" during her second and final run with WWE.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 126,587. The Topeka metropolitan statistical area, which includes Shawnee, Jackson, Jefferson, Osage, and Wabaunsee Counties, had a population of 233,870 in the 2010 census.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: The name "Topeka" is a Kansa-Osage word that means "place where we dig potatoes", or "a good place to dig potatoes". As a placename, Topeka was first recorded in 1826 as the Kansa name for what is now called the Kansas River. Topeka's founders chose the name in 1855 because it "was novel, of Indian origin, and euphonious of sound." Mixed-blood Kansa Native American, Joseph James, called Jojim, is credited with suggesting Topeka's name. 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.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: The city is well known for the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka", which overturned "Plessy vs. Ferguson" and declared racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: For many millennia, Native Americans inhabited the Great Plains of North America. From the 16th to the mid-18th centuries, the Kingdom of France laid claim to large parts of North America. In 1762, late in the French and Indian War, France secretly ceded Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain in the Treaty of Fontainebleau. In 1800, Spain returned Louisiana to France. In 1803, the United States purchased the territory, which included most of the land of modern Kansas, from France for $15 million.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: In the 1840s, wagon trains made their way west from Independence, Missouri, on a journey of , following what came to be known as the Oregon Trail. About west of Kansas City, Missouri, three half-Kansas Indian sisters married to the French-Canadian Pappan brothers established a ferry service allowing travelers to cross the Kansas River at what is now Topeka. During the 1840s and into the 1850s, travelers could reliably find a way across the river, but little else was in the area.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: 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. The group included Cyrus K. Holliday, an "idea man", who became mayor of Topeka and founder of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. Soon, steamboats were regularly docking at the Topeka landing, depositing meat, lumber, and flour and returning eastward with potatoes, corn, and wheat. By the late 1860s, Topeka had become a commercial hub that offered many Victorian era comforts.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka was a bastion for the free-state movement during the problems in Kansas Territory between abolitionist and proslavery settlers (the latter of whom controlled the legal government based out of Lecompton). After southern forces barricaded Topeka in 1856, Topeka's leaders took actions to defend the free-state town from invasion. A militia was organized and stone 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. The militia manned the fortifications until at least September 1856, when the siege around the town was lifted.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: After a decade of abolitionist and proslavery conflict that gave the territory the nickname Bleeding Kansas, Kansas was admitted to the Union in 1861 as the 34th state. Topeka was chosen as the capital, with Dr. Charles Robinson as the first governor. In 1862, Cyrus K. Holliday donated a tract of land to the state for the construction of a state capitol. Construction of the Kansas State Capitol began in 1866. About 37 years were needed to build the capitol, first the east wing, and then the west wing, and finally the central building, using Kansas limestone. In fall 1864, a stockade fort, later named Fort Simple, was built in the intersection of 6th and Kansas Avenues to protect Topeka, should Confederate forces then in Missouri decide to attack the city. It was abandoned by April 1865 and demolished in April 1867.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: State officers first used the state capitol in 1869, moving from Constitution Hall, what is now 427-429 S. Kansas Avenue. Besides being used as the Kansas statehouse from 1863 to 1869, Constitution Hall is the site where antislavery settlers convened in 1855 to write the first of four state constitutions, making it the "Free State Capitol". The National Park Service recognizes Constitution Hall in Topeka as headquarters in the operation of the Lane Trail to Freedom on the Underground Railroad, the chief slave escape passage and free-trade road.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Although the drought of 1860 and the ensuing period of the Civil War slowed the growth of Topeka and the state, Topeka kept pace with the revival and period of growth Kansas enjoyed from the close of the war in 1865 until 1870. In the 1870s, many former slaves, known as Exodusters, settled on the east side of Lincoln Street between Munson and 12th Streets. The area was known as Tennessee Town because so many of them were from the Volunteer State. Dr. Charles Sheldon, pastor of the Central Congregational Church, organized the first African American kindergarten west of the Mississippi in 1893.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Lincoln College, now Washburn University, was established in 1865 in Topeka by a charter issued by the State of Kansas and the General Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches of Kansas. In 1869, the railway started moving westward from Topeka, where general offices and machine shops of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad system were established in 1878.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: During the late 1880s, Topeka passed through a boom period that ended in disaster. Vast speculation on town lots occurred. The 1889 bubble burst, and many investors were ruined. Topeka, however, doubled in population during the period, and was able to weather the depressions of the 1890s.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Early in the 20th century, another kind of boom, this time the automobile industry, took off, and numerous pioneering companies appeared and disappeared. Topeka was not left out. The Smith Automobile Company was founded there in 1902, lasting until 1912.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Home to the first African-American kindergarten west of the Mississippi River, Topeka was the home of Oliver Brown, the named plaintiff in "Brown v. Board of Education", which was the case responsible for eliminating the standard of "separate but equal", and requiring racial integration in American public schools. In 1960, the Census Bureau reported Topeka's population as 91.8% White and 7.7% Black.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: At the time the suit was filed, only the elementary schools were segregated in Topeka, and Topeka High School had been fully integrated since its inception in 1871. Furthermore, Topeka High School was the only public high school in the city of Topeka. Other rural high schools existed, such as Washburn Rural High School—created in 1918—and Seaman High School—created in 1920. Highland Park High School became part of the Topeka school system in 1959 along with the opening of Topeka West High School in 1961. A Catholic high school —Assumption High School, later renamed Capitol Catholic High School, then in 1939 again renamed, to Hayden High School after its founder, Father Francis Hayden — also served the city beginning in 1911.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Monroe Elementary, a segregated school that figured in the historic "Brown v. Board of Education" decision, through the efforts of the Brown Foundation working with the Kansas Congressional delegation place in the early 1990s, is now Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. The Brown Foundation is largely responsible for the content of the interpretive exhibits at the historic site. The National Historic Site was opened by President George W. Bush on May 17, 2004.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka has struggled with the burden of racial discrimination even after "Brown". New lawsuits attempted unsuccessfully to force suburban school districts that ring the city to participate in racial integration with the inner-city district. In the late 1980s, a group of citizens calling themselves the Task Force to Overcome Racism in Topeka formed to address the problem in a more organized way.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: On June 8, 1966, Topeka was struck by a tornado rated F5 on the Fujita scale. It started on the southwest side of town, moving northeast, passing over a local landmark named Burnett's Mound. According to a local Indian legend, this mound was thought to protect the city from tornadoes if left undisturbed. A few years prior to the tornado strike, development began near the mound, including a water tank constructed near the top of the mound against the warnings of local Native Americans. The tornado went on to rip through the city, hitting the downtown area and Washburn University. Total repair cost was put at $100 million, making it, at the time, one of the most costly tornadoes in American history. Even to this day, with inflation factored in, the Topeka tornado stands as one of the most costly on record. It also helped bring to prominence future CBS and A&E broadcaster Bill Kurtis, who became well known for his televised admonition to "...take cover, for God's sake, take cover!" on WIBW-TV during the tornado. (The city is home of a National Weather Service Forecast Office that serves 23 counties in north-central, northeast, and east-central Kansas).


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka recovered from the 1966 tornado and has sustained steady economic growth. Washburn University, which lost several historic buildings, received financial support from the community and alumni to rebuild many school facilities. Today, university facilities offer more than one million square feet of modern academic and support space.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: In 1974, Forbes Air Force Base closed and more than 10,000 people left Topeka, influencing the city's growth patterns for years to come. During the 1980s, Topeka citizens voted to build a new airport and convention center and to change the form of city government. West Ridge Mall opened in 1988, replacing the White Lakes Mall, which opened in 1964.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: In 1989, Topeka became a motorsports mecca with the opening of Heartland Park Topeka. The Topeka Performing Arts Center opened in 1991. In the early 1990s, the city experienced business growth with Reser's Fine Foods locating in Topeka and expansions for Santa Fe and Hill's Pet Nutrition.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: During the 1990s, voters approved bond issues for public school improvements, including magnet schools, technology, air conditioning, classrooms, and a sports complex. Voters also approved a quarter-cent sales tax for a new law-enforcement center, and in 1996, approved an extension of the sales tax for the East Topeka Interchange connecting the Oakland Expressway, K-4, I-70, and the Kansas Turnpike. During the 1990s, Shawnee County voters approved tax measures to expand the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. The Kansas Legislature and governor also approved legislation to replace the majority of the property tax supporting Washburn University with a countywide sales tax.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: In 2000, the citizens again voted to extend the quarter-cent sales tax, this time for the economic development of Topeka and Shawnee County. In August, 2004, Shawnee County citizens voted to repeal the 2000 quarter-cent sales tax and replace it with a 12-year, half-cent sales tax designated for economic development, roads, and bridges. Each year, the sales tax provides $5 million designated for business development and job creation incentives, and $9 million for roads and bridges. Planning is under way to continue to redevelop areas along the Kansas River, which runs west to east through Topeka. In the Kansas River Corridor through the center of town, downtown Topeka has experienced apartment and condominium loft development, and façade and streetscape improvements.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: On March 1, 2010, Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten issued a proclamation calling for Topeka to be known for the month of March as "Google, Kansas, the capital city of fiber optics." The name change came from Ryan Gigous, who wanted to "re-brand" the city with a simple gesture. This was to help "support continuing efforts to bring Google's fiber experiment" to Topeka, though it was not a legal name change. Lawyers advised the city council and mayor against an official name change. Google jokingly announced it would change its name to Topeka to "honor that moving gesture" on April 1, 2010 (April Fools' Day) and changed its home page to say Topeka. In its official blog, Google announced this change thus affected all of its services as well as its culture, e.g. "Googlers" to "Topekans", "Project Virgle" to "Project Vireka", and proper usage of "Topeka" as an adjective and not a verb, to avoid the trademark becoming genericized.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka is at , in north east Kansas at the intersection of I-70 and U.S. Highway 75. It is the origin of I-335 which is a portion of the Kansas Turnpike running from Topeka to Emporia, Kansas. Topeka is also on U.S. Highway 24 (about east of Manhattan, Kansas) and U.S. Highway 40 (about west of Lawrence, Kansas). US 40 is coincident with I-70 west from Topeka. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are covered by water.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: In 2007, "Forbes" named Topeka as one of the leading U.S. cities in terms of having the greatest variations in temperature, precipitation, and wind.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification "Dfa"), with hot, somewhat humid summers and cool to cold, fairly dry winters, and is in USDA plant hardiness zone 6a. Over the course of a year, the monthly daily average temperature ranges from in January to in July. The maximum temperature reaches an average of 41.5 afternoons per year and reaches an average of 3.5 afternoons per year. The minimum temperature falls below an average of four mornings per year, and 21 afternoons per year stay below freezing. The average window for freezing temperatures is October 15 through April 17.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: The area receives nearly of precipitation during a typical year, with the largest share being received in May and June—the April through June period averages 33 days of measurable precipitation. Generally, the spring and summer have the most rainfall, with autumn and winter being fairly dry. During a typical year, the total amount of precipitation may vary from . Much of the rainfall is delivered by thunderstorms. These can be severe, producing frequent lightning, large hail, and sometimes tornadoes. An average of 100 days of measurable precipitation occur per year. Winter snowfall is light, as is the case in most of the state, as a result of the dry, sunny weather patterns that dominate Kansas winters, which do not allow for sufficient moisture for significant snowfall. Winter snowfall averages . Measurable (≥) snowfall occurs an average of 12.9 days per year, with at least of snow being received on five of those days. Snow depth of at least an inch occurs an average of 20 days per year.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: As of the census of 2010, the city had 127,473 people, 53,943 households, and 30,707 families. The population density was . The 59,582 housing units averaged . The city's racial makeup was 76.2% White, 11.3% African American, 1.4% Native American, 1.3% Asian, 4.8% from other races, and 4.9% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 13.4% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites were 69.7% of the population in 2010, down from 86.3% in 1970.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Of the 53,943 households, 29.5% had children under 18 living with them, 37.9% were married couples living together, 14.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 43.1% were not families. About 35.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.29, and the average family size was 2.99.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: The city's age distribution was 24.4% under age 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24; 26.1% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% were 65 or older. The median age in the city was 36 years. The city's gender makeup was 47.8% male and 52.2% female.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: As of the 2000 census, 122,377 people, 52,190 households, and 30,687 families were residing in the city. The population density was 2,185.0 people per square mile (843.6/km). There were 56,435 housing units at an average density of 1,007.6 per square mile (389.0/km). The city's racial makeup was 78.5% White, 11.7% African American, 1.31% Native American, 1.09% Asian, 4.10% from other races, and 3.26% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 8.9% of the population.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Of the 52,190 households, 28.0% had children under 18 living with them, 41.8% were married couples living together, 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.2% were not families. About 35.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.27, and the average family size was 2.94.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: About 24.3% of the city's population was under age 18, 9.9% was from age 18 to 24, 28.9% was from age 25 to 44, 21.9% was from age 45 to 64, and 15.1% was age 65 or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.4 males.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: As of 2000, the city's median household income was $35,928, and the median family income was $45,803. Males had a median income of $32,373 versus $25,633 for females. The city's per capita income was $19,555. About 8.5% of families and 12.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.7% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Although Topeka experienced problems with crime in the 1990s, the city's crime rates have improved since. Overall, crime in Topeka was down nearly 18% in the first half of 2008, compared with the same period of 2007. Topeka police reported a 6.4% drop in crime from 2007 to 2008, including significant reductions in business robberies and aggravated assaults and batteries, as well as thefts.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: On October 11, 2011, the Topeka city council agreed to repeal the ordinance banning domestic violence in an effort to force the Shawnee County District Attorney to prosecute the cases. Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor said the DA "would no longer prosecute misdemeanors committed in Topeka, including domestic battery, because his office could no longer do so after county commissioners cut his budget by 10%." The next day, Taylor said his office would "commence the review and filing of misdemeanors decriminalized by the City of Topeka." The same day, 17% of the employees in the district attorney's office were announced to be laid off.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka is sometimes cited as the home of Pentecostalism, as it was the site of Charles Fox Parham's Bethel Bible College, where glossolalia was first claimed as the evidence of a spiritual experience referred to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1901. It is also the home of Reverend Charles Sheldon, author of "In His Steps", and was the site where the famous question "What would Jesus do?" originated in a sermon of Sheldon's at Central Congregational Church.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: The First Presbyterian Church in Topeka is one of the few churches in the U.S. to have its sanctuary completely decorated with Tiffany stained glass (another is St. Luke's United Methodist in Dubuque, Iowa; another is the Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Cumberland, Maryland).


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: The Roman Catholic population is large, and the city is home to nine Roman Catholic parishes, five of which feature elementary schools. Grace Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas is a large Gothic Revival structure in the city.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka also has a claim in the history of the Baháʼí Faith in Kansas. Not only does the city have the oldest continuous Baháʼí community in Kansas (beginning in 1906), but the community also has roots to the first Baháʼí community in Kansas, in Enterprise, in 1897. This was the second Baháʼí community in the Western Hemisphere.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka is home of the Westboro Baptist Church, a hate group according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The church has garnered worldwide media attention for picketing the funerals of U.S. servicemen and women for what church members claim as "necessary to combat the fight for equality for gays and lesbians." They have sometimes successfully raised lawsuits against the city of Topeka. Across the street from them is the Equality House, a pro-LGBT home where volunteers of Planting Peace can stay. It is painted in rainbow colors and serves as a home for social workers caring for the LGBT+ community, directly opposite the property of the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Being the state's capital city, Topeka's largest employer is the State of Kansas—employing about 8,400 people, or 69% of the city's government workers. Altogether, government workers make up one out of every five employed persons in the city.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: The educational, health, and social services industry makes up the largest proportion of the working population (22.4%). The four school districts employ nearly 4,700 people, and Washburn University employs about 1,650. Three of the largest employers are Stormont-Vail HealthCare (with about 3,100 employees), St. Francis Health Center (1,800), and Colmery-O'Neil Veterans Administration Hospital (900).


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: The retail trade employs more than a tenth of the working population (11.5%) with Wal-Mart and Dillons having the greater share. Nearly another tenth is employed in manufacturing (9.0%). Top manufacturers include Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Frito-Lay, and Jostens Printing and Publishing. Jostens announced plans in May 2012 to move production from its Topeka facility to Clarksville, Tennessee, affecting about 372 employee positions. Southwest Publishing & Mailing Corporation, a smaller employer, has its headquarters in Topeka.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Other industries are finance, insurance, real estate, and rental and leasing (7.8%); professional, scientific, management, administrative, and waste management services (7.6%); arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services (7.2%); construction (6.0%); transportation and warehousing, and utilities (5.8%); and wholesale trade (3.2%). Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas is the largest insurance employer, with about 1,800 employees. BNSF Railway is the largest transportation employer, with about 1,100. Evergy employs nearly 800. About a tenth of the working population is employed in public administration (9.9%).


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: The Topeka Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1957. Topeka is home to broad areas of fine art, specifically in the North Topeka Arts District (NOTO), as well as the Topeka Civic Theatre.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: The current mayor of Topeka is Mike Padilla. The city manager is Bill Cochran. The city manager is responsible to the Topeka's City Council, which consists of the mayor and nine members elected from separate districts within the city. The city council members select the deputy mayor, Spencer Duncan, from among themselves. The deputy mayor chairs the Committee of the Whole and represents the City of Topeka at official functions whenever the mayor is unavailable. The city manager also guides the council through the meetings but cannot vote.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka is also home to several private and parochial schools such as Topeka Collegiate and Cair Paravel-Latin School. There are also elementary and junior high schools supported by other Christian denominations. Hayden High School, a Catholic high school is also in Topeka, as well as Cornerstone Family Schools, a non-denominational Christian organization that offers junior and senior high school athletics to home-school families in the northeast Kansas area. Cornerstone's mascot is "the Saints".


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka has several colleges, universities, technical schools and branch campuses of other universities around the state. These include the following:


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka is the home of a daily newspaper, the "Topeka Capital-Journal"; a bi-weekly newspaper, "The Topeka Metro News"; and the "Topeka Metro Voice". All three newspapers have online versions (The Topeka Metro News - Online Edition and CJOnline).


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Additionally, most of the Kansas City stations provide at least grade B coverage of Topeka. KANU-FM in Lawrence (in the Kansas City market) serves as Topeka's NPR member station.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: I-70, I-470, and I-335 all go through the City of Topeka. I-335 is part of the Kansas Turnpike where it passes through Topeka. Other major highways include: US-24, US-40, US-75, and K-4. Major roads within the city include NW/SW Topeka Blvd. SW Wanamaker Road. N/S Kansas Ave. SW/SE 29th St. SE/SW 21st St. SE California Ave. SW Gage Blvd. and SW Fairlawn Rd.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka Regional Airport (FOE) formerly known as Forbes Field is in south Topeka in Pauline, Kansas. Forbes Field also serves as an Air National Guard base, home of the highly decorated 190th Air Refueling Wing. Manhattan Regional Airport (MHK) in Manhattan, Kansas is the next closest commercial airport; Kansas City International Airport (MCI) in Kansas City is the closest major airport. Philip Billard Municipal Airport (TOP) is located in Topeka's Oakland area.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Passenger rail service provided by Amtrak stops at the Topeka Station. Service is via the Chicago-to-Los Angeles Southwest Chief during the early morning hours and makes intermediate stops at Lawrence and Kansas City. The Kansas Department of Transportation has asked Amtrak to study additional service, including daytime service to Oklahoma City. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad and Union Pacific Railroad provide freight service as well as several short line railroads throughout the state.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Greyhound Lines provides bus service westward towards Denver, Colorado, eastward to Kansas City, Missouri, southwest to Wichita, Kansas.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: The Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority provides local transit service. The agency offers bus service from 6 am to 6:30 pm Monday through Friday, and 7 am to 5 pm on Saturday. It also provides demand response general public taxi service which operates evenings from 8 pm until 11:30 pm and on Sundays.


title: Topeka, Kansas

text: Topeka has two major hospitals, Stormont-Vail and The University of Kansas Hospital - St. Francis Campus. Both are in central Topeka. Topeka is also home to the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Clinic and Topeka ER & Hospital.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: Eric Demetric Dickerson (born September 2, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. Dickerson played college football for the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University and was recognized as an All-American. He was selected in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft and played professionally for the Los Angeles Rams, Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Raiders, and Atlanta Falcons of the NFL. During his NFL career, he rushed for over 13,000 yards. He holds the NFL's single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards, set in 1984. Dickerson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999 and, in 2019, was named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest running backs of all time. He wore prescription goggles throughout his career due to myopia.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: Dickerson committed to Texas A&M before reconsidering and deciding amongst Oklahoma, Southern California and Southern Methodist University (SMU). His great-great aunt talked him into staying in the state of Texas to attend Southern Methodist University because she liked SMU coach Ron Meyer. Dickerson was the subject of recruiting controversy when he started driving a new Pontiac Trans-Am during his senior year of high school. According to "myth," Dickerson began driving a new Pontiac Trans-Am automobile about the same time he committed to A&M, and, when he signed with SMU, he suddenly was not driving the Trans-Am because it had been destroyed by a vengeful Aggie". Ron Meyer famously called the car, the "Trans A&M." At the time he said his grandmother from Mexico bought it for him. Dickerson still refuses to answer on whether or not he accepted anything to attend SMU, saying, "Even if I did take something, I still wouldn't tell."


title: Eric Dickerson

text: Initially, Dickerson shared carries with Craig James and Charles Waggoner, all three blue-chip recruits in 1979. Waggoner was hurt returning a kickoff their freshman season, leaving Dickerson and James to lead SMU's running attack, called the Pony Express. Dickerson gained 4,450 yards on 790 carries to break Earl Campbell’s Southwest Conference record for yards and attempts. His 48 career touchdowns tied Doak Walker’s SMU total for career scoring. In his senior year, despite splitting time with James, Dickerson finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting, behind Herschel Walker and John Elway. He was also a first-team All-American in 1982 and a second-team All-American in 1981.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: While he considered going to the Los Angeles Express in the United States Football League, Dickerson decided to go into the National Football League. He was selected second overall in the 1983 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams. An immediate success, he established rookie records for most rushing attempts (390), most rushing yards gained (1,808) and most touchdowns rushing (18), including another two receiving touchdowns. His efforts earned him All-Pro, Pro Bowl, Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: In his second season, Dickerson continued his onslaught on the NFL record book becoming a member of the 2,000-yard club. Twelve times in 1984 he gained more than 100 yards rushing, breaking the record of 100-yard games in a season held by O. J. Simpson. His 2,105 total yards rushing beat Simpson's 1973 NFL season record of 2,003 yards (Dickerson having reached 2,007 yards after 15 games), but since the NFL expanded the regular season from 14 to 16 games in 1978, Dickerson had the benefit of playing in two additional games. No one has since rushed for more yards in a single NFL season. Dickerson's 5.6 yards per carry led the Rams to a playoff berth in 1984.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: Although he rushed for 1,234 yards in 1985 while missing the first two games while in a contract dispute, he missed the Pro Bowl for the first time in his young NFL career. He did go on to rush for a playoff record 248 yards against the Dallas Cowboys in post-season play.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: The 1985 season marked the beginning of ongoing contract disputes between Dickerson and the Rams. In 1987, after playing just three games for the Rams during the strike-shortened 1987 season, Dickerson was traded to the Indianapolis Colts in one of the NFL's biggest trades ever at that time. In a three-team deal, the Colts traded linebacker Cornelius Bennett, whom they drafted but were unable to sign to a contract, to the Buffalo Bills for their first-round pick in 1988, first- and second-round picks in 1989, and running back Greg Bell. The Colts in turn traded Bell and the three draft choices from Buffalo plus their own first- and second-round picks in 1988, their second-round pick in 1989, and running back Owen Gill to the Rams for Dickerson. With the picks the Rams took running back Gaston Green, wide receiver Aaron Cox, linebacker Fred Strickland, running back Cleveland Gary, linebacker Frank Stams, and defensive back Darryl Henley. The trade reunited Dickerson with Ron Meyer, who had left SMU after Dickerson's junior season to take the head coaching position in New England and who was hired by the Colts in 1986 following Rod Dowhower's firing.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: Although he played in just nine games with the Colts that year, he still managed to gain 1,011 yards to finish the season with 1,288. Also, he spearheaded a late season Colts run that helped the team to their first winning season (and first playoff berth) in 10 years.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: In 1988, Dickerson, with 1,659 yards rushing, became the first Colt to lead the league in rushing since Alan Ameche in 1955. This would mark the apogee of Dickerson's career with the Colts (although he would gain 1,311 yards rushing in 1989). Also, 1989 was the year that he passed the 10,000-yard mark, becoming the fastest player ever to do so (91 games), accomplishing the feat faster than greats like Jim Brown (98 games), Barry Sanders (103 games), Emmitt Smith (106 games), and LaDainian Tomlinson (106 games). By 1989, he had set a new NFL record with seven straight seasons of more than 1,000 yards rushing, and led the league for four of those seasons. With the retirement of Tony Dorsett at the end of 1988, he became the leader among active players in career rushing yards, a position he occupied until his own retirement in 1993.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: However, injuries, further contract disputes, and suspensions clouded his final two seasons with the Colts. Dickerson, at 29, was the highest-paid running back in the NFL, receiving an annual reported salary of $1.4 million. Following prolonged contract disputes, the fed-up Colts placed him on the inactive list before the start of the 1990 season where he stayed for 7 weeks and lost more than $600,000 in salary. In his sixth game back from suspension, he rushed for 143 yards against the Bengals on 22 carries—this effort lifted him past Jim Brown to third place on the NFL career rushing list behind Walter Payton and Tony Dorsett. He was again suspended in November 1991, and amidst injuries and age, managed to run for only 536 yards that season. The Colts finished the year bottoming out with a 1–15 record.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: Dickerson has described the trade to Indianapolis as the worst moment of his career, and stated that he disliked his time with the Colts.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: On April 26, 1992, Dickerson was traded by the Colts to the Los Angeles Raiders for their fourth- and eighth-round picks in the 1992 draft. There were occasional flashes of greatness—107 yards against the Broncos, 103 against the Chargers, where he recorded his 63rd and 64th career 100-yard games—but those would be his last. Dickerson also scored on a 40-yard touchdown run, reminiscent of his prime, in front of a nationally televised Monday Night audience in a game against Kansas City. That year, he led the team in rushing attempts and yards. However, he suffered from splitting carries with Marcus Allen by having the latter finish the second half.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: The following season, Dickerson was traded to the Atlanta Falcons on July 7, 1993, for a sixth-round draft pick. He played in a backup role, making his final national televised appearance during the "Monday Night Football" game on September 27, 1993, when the Falcons hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers in a losing effort. The Falcons traded Dickerson and third-year cornerback Bruce Pickens to the Green Bay Packers for running back John Stephens on October 13, 1993.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: The trade came a week after Dickerson said he had been told that the Falcons were waiving him because Coach Jerry Glanville wanted to use younger players. The next day, Falcons officials said that there had been a misunderstanding and that Dickerson had not been placed on waivers. Dickerson retired as the second leading rusher of all time after failing a physical with the Packers.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: On August 29, 2017, Dickerson signed a one-day contract to officially retire as a member of the Los Angeles Rams.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: Dickerson became the seventh back to gain more than 10,000 yards and the fastest ever to do so, reaching the milestone in just 91 games. During his 11-year career, Dickerson gained 13,259 yards rushing, which was second all-time at the time of his retirement, and rushed for 90 touchdowns. He gained another 2,137 yards and 6 touchdowns on 281 pass receptions. A six-time Pro Bowl selection, Dickerson was All-Pro in 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987 and 1988. In 1999, his first year of eligibility, Eric Dickerson was selected to become a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Also in 1999, he was ranked number 38 on "The Sporting News"' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. The following year, he provided on-field commentary during "Monday Night Football" broadcasts.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: Dickerson was inducted into the Indianapolis Colts Ring of Honor during the week 15 game against the Houston Texans on December 15, 2013 along with Marshall Faulk, another former Colts running back, who, coincidentally, also played for the Rams-albeit in St Louis.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: Along with Melissa Stark, Dickerson served as a sideline reporter on Monday Night Football broadcasts for ABC during the 2000 and 2001 NFL seasons.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: During the 2007 football season and 2016 football season, Dickerson worked as a broadcaster for KCBS television in Los Angeles, providing commentary for NFL pregame and postgame shows.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: He started a sports memorabilia company called Original Mini Jerseys with former Los Angeles Rams teammate LeRoy Irvin. The company received their NFL license in 2006 and sells authentic miniature replica jerseys. He also owns an internet-based sporting goods company, E Champs.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: Dickerson made a cameo appearance in the television series "Hawaii Five-0" in 2014. In August 2016, he began hosting a two-hour Monday afternoon program on Los Angeles sports-talk station KLAC.


title: Eric Dickerson

text: In 2017, he competed in the reality television game show "The New Celebrity Apprentice". He was the third contestant "terminated" by host Arnold Schwarzenegger.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The Brahma Kumaris (, "Daughters of Brahma") movement was founded by Lekhraj Kripalani. The organisation is known for the prominent role that women play in the movement.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: It teaches a form of meditation that focuses on identity as souls, as opposed to bodies. They believe that all souls are intrinsically good and that God is the source of all goodness. The organisation teaches to transcend labels associated with the body, such as race, nationality, religion, and gender, and it aspires to establish a global culture based on what it calls "soul-consciousness".


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: In 2008, the movement claimed to have more than 825,000 regular students, with over 8500 centres in 100 countries.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The Brahma Kumaris, originally called "Om Mandali", started in Hyderabad, Sindh in north-west India (present-day Pakistan) It received this name because members would chant "Om" together, before having discourse on spiritual matters in the traditional satsang style. The original discourses were closely connected to the Bhagavad Gita.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The founder, Lekhraj Khubchand Kirpilani (who became known in the group as "Om Baba") was a wealthy jeweler. He reported what he said were a series of visions and other transcendental experiences that commenced around 1935 and became the basis for the discourses. He said he believed there was a greater power working through him and that many of those who attended these gatherings were themselves having spiritual experiences. The majority of those who came were women and children from the Bhaibund caste - a caste of wealthy merchants and business people whose husbands and fathers were often overseas on business.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: After about three years of meetings it became clear that "Om Mandali" was giving very special importance to the role of women, and was not adhering to the caste system. The group had named a 22-year-old woman, Radhe Pokardas Rajwani (then known as "Om Radhe") as its president, and her management committee was made up of eight other women. People from any caste were allowed to attend meetings. The group also advocated that young women had the right to elect not to marry and that married women had the right to choose a celibate life. In tradition-bound patriarchal India, these personal life decisions were the exclusive right of men. A committee headed by a number of important male members of the Bhaibund community began to form in opposition and became known as the 'Anti-Om Mandali Committee'. On 21 June 1938 this group picketed Om Mandali's premises preventing members from entering. This caused considerable upheaval in the community. Women attending were verbally abused, there was an attempt to burn the premises down and the police made several arrests. Many women and girls were later victims of domestic violence in their homes. The picketing resulted in criminal proceedings being taken against both groups, and on 16 August 1938 the local District Magistrate ordered that Om Mandali be prevented from meeting. This ban was reversed on 21 November 1938 after an appeal to the Court of the Judicial Commissioner of Sindh. In an unusual move the judges directly criticised the District Magistrate for trying to punish the victims for the disturbance caused by the perpetrators and for trying to apply the law according to his own personal bias. Nevertheless, in an increasingly sour atmosphere, "Om Mandali" had decided to leave Hyderabad and gradually relocated its activities to Karachi in the latter half of 1938. Approximately 300 members moved.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: On 31 March 1939 the government appointed a tribunal to inquire into the activities of "Om Mandali". When the Tribunal made its findings, Om Radhe responded by compiling a book titled "Is this Justice?" criticising the tribunal, which did not have a constitutional basis and made its findings without taking evidence from "Om Mandali". In May 1939 the government used the tribunal's findings to effectively reinstate the ban, declaring "Om Mandali" an "unlawful association" under section 16 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1908. Nevertheless, "Om Mandali" continued to hold their Satsangs, and the government did not enforce it. Possibly because of this the committee then hired someone to kill Om Baba, but the attempt was unsuccessful.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: In May 1950 Om Mandali moved to Mount Abu in Rajasthan India. From the beginning, the organization's focus had been on education, not worship, and for this reason it renamed itself as Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: In 1952, after a 14-year period of retreat, a more structured form of teaching began to be offered to the public by way of a seven lesson course.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: After an unpromising beginning when it almost ran out of funds, from the mid-1950s the Brahma Kumaris began an international expansion programme. Since the 1970s it first spread to London and then to the West. The most visible manifestations of the religion are its "Spiritual Museums" located in most major Indian cities.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: In 1980 the Brahma Kumaris became registered as a Non-Governmental Organisation with the United Nations Department of Public Relations. In 1983 the Brahma Kumaris achieved consultative status with the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The leadership and membership of the BK movement remains primarily female, for example, in the UK only one-third of the 42 centres are run by males and 80% of the membership are women. , centres are mostly in followers' own homes with a tendency toward middle or upper class membership. Estimates for its worldwide membership ranges from 35,000 in 1993 to 400,000 in 1998 to 450,000 in 2000, however, it is reported that many were probably not completely committed to the group's worldview.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The movement has distinguished itself from its Hindu roots and sees itself as a vehicle for spiritual teaching rather than as a religion.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The Brahma Kumaris see humans as being made up of two parts; an external or visible body (including extensions such as status and possessions) and a subtle energy of the soul whose character structure is revealed through a person's external activity – but always this is created by the inner soul -whether actions are done with love, peacefully, with happiness or humility is an aspect of one's soul. The group teaches that the soul is an infinitesimal point of spiritual light residing in the forehead of the body it occupies, and that all souls originally existed with God in a "Soul World", a world of infinite light, peace and silence.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The Brahma Kumaris teach that souls enter bodies to take birth in order to experience life and give expression to their personality. Unlike other Eastern traditions, the Brahma Kumaris do not believe that the human soul can transmigrate into other species.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The Brahma Kumaris use the term "Supreme Soul" to refer to God. They see God as incorporeal and eternal, and regard him as a point of living light like human souls, but without a physical body, as he does not enter the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. God is seen as the perfect and constant embodiment of all virtues, powers and values and that He is the unconditionally loving Father of all souls, irrespective of their religion, gender, or culture.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The Brahma Kumaris believe God's purpose is to be the spiritual re-awakening of humanity and the removal of all sorrow, evil and negativity. They do not regard God as the creator of matter, as they consider matter to be eternal.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: Pratibha Patil, the UPA-Left candidate and former President of India said on camera during the 2007 Indian presidential election, that she spoke to "Baba" (a term the BKs use for God) at the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University at their headquarters in Mount Abu, Rajasthan. Patil stated that when she met Baba He had indicated great responsibility was coming her way.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The Brahma Kumaris believe that every action performed by a soul will create a return accordingly, and that the destiny of the soul's next body depends on how it acts and behaves in this life. Through meditation, by transforming thinking patterns and eventually actions, the Brahma Kumaris believe that people can purify their "karmic account" and lead a better life in the present and next birth.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: In contrast to linear theories of human history that hypothesize an ancient point of origin for the universe and a final destruction, the BKs do not posit a start, end or age for the universe, believing such concepts to be an erroneous application of the human life cycle to the universe. BKs believe the universe to follow an eternal, naturally occurring 5,000-year cycle, composed of four ages ("yugas"): the Golden Age ("Satya Yuga"), the Silver Age ("Treta Yuga"), the Copper Age ("Dvapara Yuga"), the Iron Age ("Kali Yuga") and each represents 1250 years of the cycle. They also believe that at the end of the Iron Age there will be "Destruction." They believe Destruction will kill everyone on Earth and cleanse the Earth. Then only can the cycle repeat again. They believe Destruction will happen when U.S.A. goes to nuclear war to Russia. The present period of this cycle is sometimes described as a fifth age or "Confluence age" as it is considered to be the confluence (the junction or meeting) between the Iron Age and the Golden age.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The first half of the cycle (the Golden and Silver ages) is considered to be the age of "soul conscious living". The Brahma Kumaris see this as a time of "heaven on earth" or as a version of the Garden of Eden when human beings are fully virtuous, complete, self-realised beings who lived in complete harmony with the natural environment. The primary enlightenment was the innate understanding of the self as a soul.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The Brahma Kumaris believe that modern civilization will be destroyed by global nuclear conflict, coupled with natural calamities and that these cataclysmic events form part of a natural and cathartic cyclic process.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: When the organisation began, emphasis was placed on the physical destruction of the world as seen in the cataclysmic visions of Dada Lekhraj. As the organisation developed, it witnessed World War II, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Cold War, and the destructive aspects of its teachings were reframed as a process of transformation. The students of the organization had also made many failed predictions of the violent destruction of the world, between 1987 and 2008 and the original teachings also referred to a particular date 1976, aspects which are now downplayed.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The Brahma Kumaris teaches a form of meditation through which students are encouraged to purify their minds. This may be done by sitting tranquilly, then making affirmations regarding the eternal nature of the soul, the original purity of one's nature, and the nature of God. The aim of the BK meditation is also to learn to hold meditative states while being engaged in everyday life.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: Flowing on from the BK belief that everyone is a spiritual being, is the practice of "Shubbhawna" (pure feelings) and "Shubkamna" (good wishes). For BKs, all prejudices and ill-feelings are seen as arising from identifying the self and others based on external labels like race, religion, gender, nationality, beauty (or lack of), etc. However, when there is the practice of finding the intrinsic goodness in each one, the prejudice based on those labels is replaced by the vision of one Spiritual Parent, one Human family, and universal spiritual values such as respect, love, peace and happiness. A flagship slogan for the BKs has been "When we change, the world changes". It is for this reason that BKs consider bringing about this kind of change within the self as an important form of "world service".


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: Brahma Kumaris' students study the murli. The Hindi word "murli" literally translates to "flute". It is an oral study, read to the class early each morning in most BK centres on the world. The murlis are derived from mediumship and spirit possession.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: Avyakt murlis are still being spoken at the BKs headquarters in India. Students must complete the Brahma Kumaris foundation course and start by attending morning Murli class before visiting the headquarters.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: Brahma Kumaris recommend a specific lifestyle in order achieve greater control over physical senses. However, many participate in a casual way, electing to adopt whichever beliefs and lifestyle disciplines in the following list they wish:


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: Traditionally, the Brahma Kumaris conducted an "introduction to meditation" consisting of seven two-hour-long sessions. The sessions include their open-eyed meditation technique and their philosophy. The organisation also offers courses in "positive thinking", "self management leadership" and "living values". They also have a number of voluntary outreach programs in prisons.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: With the support of Vicente Fox, the Brahma Kumaris introduced their meditation practice and philosophy to the government of Mexico through the "Self Management Leadership" (SML). The SML course is closely related to the Brahma Kumaris philosophy and is the backbone of Brahma Kumaris management philosophy. 90 trained facilitators ran programs through which 25,000 people at the top level of government have passed.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: The Brahma Kumaris have launched several environment initiatives. Their work in solar energy and sustainable energy has included the 2007 development of the world's largest solar cooker, and a solar thermal power plant in Talheti at the base of Mount Abu, where the international headquarters is located. The 25-acre site is projected to produce 22000 kwh of electricity daily. The project was made financially possible with the support of the Indian and German governments.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: Sustainable Yogic Agriculture (SYA) is a program started in Northern India in 2009. The program has been a collaboration between Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University in Gujarat India and the Brahma Kumaris Rural Development wing. The program has now been publicly backed by the Indian Government. A key member of Narendra Modi's Cabinet, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh announced the governments support for the program. With the governments support the program has been redesigned into Akhil Bharatiya Krushak Sashakatikaran Abhijan (ABKSA), and was launched in December 2015. ABKSA extends the initial scope of the SYA program to include teaching meditation and self empowerment to the farmers themselves. This is possibly a response to the problem of farmer suicides in India. ABKSA now comprises three main elements:


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: One basic premise of the Brahma Kumaris environmental initiative is that thoughts and consciousness can affect the natural environment. More esoteric approaches to plant development are nothing new, perhaps most widely known is Findhorn Ecovillage.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: In 2012, experiments were being conducted in partnership with leading agricultural universities in India to establish if the practice of Brahma Kumaris meditation in conjunction with implementing more traditional organic farming methods could be shown to have a measurable and positive effect on crop development. An article published in the Journal of Asian Agri-History reviews two separate studies on SYA. One study was conducted by G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar, Uttarakhand and the other by Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University (SDUAT) of Gujarat. The review reports that the Brahma Kumaris meditation techniques used enhanced seed growth, seed germination rates and increased the level of microbes present in the soil.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: In 1991, the Brahma Kumaris, Ashok Mehta, and the brothers Gulab and Khubchand Watumull opened the J Watumull Global Hospital in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan, offering medical facilities to the local population.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: In 1998 the Brahma Kumaris gained consultative status with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: Adherents have been criticised by nonmembers for hiding or downplaying their prophesied physical destruction of the world particularly as they still believe that such an event will happen "soon". However, they maintain that their primary purpose is to teach meditation and peace of mind, not to push their views about the different challenges the world is facing on non-members who may be visiting the group to learn about meditation or values based living.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: In the "Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion", Howell reported that the Brahma Kumaris protected itself from the practice of families "dumping" their daughters with the organisation by requiring a payment from the families of those wishing to dedicate their daughters to the work and services of the organisation. The payment is intended to cover the living expenses incurred during the trial period.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: John Wallis wrote a book examining the status of tradition in the contemporary world, which used the religion as a case study, focusing on recruitment methods, the issue of celibacy, and reinterpretation of religious history. He reported the rewriting of the revelatory messages (Murlis) by the Brahma Kumari. They have been accused of breaking up marriages.


title: Brahma Kumaris

text: When the organisation started, empowering women to assert their right to remain celibate, particularly in marriage, was a prime factor in the controversy that arose in 1930s Sindh, as it directly challenged the dominance of men over women in the patriarchal Indian subcontinent. Feminist commentator Prem Chowdry has criticised the practice of celibacy within the organisation as being a form of patriarchal control.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne of Tarth is a fictional character in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of fantasy novels and its television adaptation, "Game of Thrones". She is a prominent point of view character in the novels.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne is introduced in the second novel of the series, 1998's "A Clash of Kings", as a warrior fighting for the honor of serving in the Kingsguard of Renly Baratheon. She later swears her loyalty to Catelyn Stark and vows to return the captive Jaime Lannister to King's Landing in exchange for Sansa and Arya Stark, whom Catelyn believes are being held by the Lannisters. She additionally appears in "A Feast for Crows" (2005) and "A Dance with Dragons" (2011). Because she is a woman, Brienne is barred from serving as a knight, even though she is one of the most honorable and skilled warriors in all of Westeros. Her personal struggle towards honor, justice, and recognition has received significant critical attention, as has her complex relationship with Jaime, and she is one of the more popular characters in both the novels and television show.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: In the television series, Brienne is portrayed by English actress Gwendoline Christie and is introduced in season two. After appearing as a recurring cast member for two seasons, Christie was promoted to the main cast from season four onwards. Christie has received significant critical praise for her portrayal. For her performance in the season three, she was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television and for two Screen Actors Guild Awards, alongside the rest of the cast, for the third and fourth seasons. In 2019, she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in the series's final season.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne is the daughter and only surviving child of Lord Selwyn Tarth, Lord of Evenfall Hall on the island of Tarth. House Tarth is a bannerman to House Baratheon, the lord paramount of the Stormlands. Brienne's mother died when she was a child, and she had a single older brother, Galladon, who drowned when she was 8, and two younger sisters, both of whom died in infancy. Brienne as a child was under the tutelage of Septa Roelle, who found fault in everything about Brienne and destroyed her self-esteem. She told Brienne that although a man would marry her, as she is heir to her father's land, he could never desire her.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne's father tried to find her a suitor to wed. This proved to be difficult, however, due to both Brienne's resistance and her ungainly appearance. Nonetheless, three successive but ultimately unsuccessful betrothals were attempted. The first was when she was 7 and her fiance was 10, but he died of an illness. Next, a betrothal was brokered by the lord of the land-poor house Connington, to his young newly knighted heir Ronnet, but young Ser Ronnet broke the betrothal the first time he met Brienne.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne's father's last attempt was to betroth her at 16 to Ser Humfrey Wagstaff, a middle aged friend of his, who was castellan of another house. Humfrey informed Brienne that she was expected to give up her training and become more feminine after their wedding. Brienne rejoined that she would acquiesce, but only if Wagstaff could beat her in combat. Their fight resulted in three broken bones and a broken betrothal.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne had begged Tarth's master-at-arms Ser Goodwin to teach her skill at arms. As her skills grew, so did her confidence. He made her get over her inability to inflict pain by slaughtering pigs.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: At one point in her history, Brienne met Renly Baratheon when he visited her island on a coming of age tour. He treated Brienne with courtesy and respect, and danced with her; as a result, she fell in unrequited love with him. When the War of Five Kings begins, with Stannis and Renly Baratheon both claiming the crown, Tarth remains neutral, but Brienne gets her father's permission to go independently and declare for Renly.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne is described as unfeminine in appearance, and is considered unattractive. She is very tall, muscular, flat-chested, and ungainly, with straw-colored hair and broad, coarse features that are covered in freckles. Her teeth are prominent and crooked, her mouth is wide, her lips are swollen, and her nose has been broken more than once. However, her large blue eyes are described as rather beautiful by both Catelyn Tully and Jaime Lannister.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: In the novel "A Feast for Crows", Brienne describes herself as "the only child the gods let [my father] keep. The freakish one, one not fit to be son or daughter." In "Beyond The Wall", a collection of essays, Caroline Spector describes Brienne as a "study in heartbreaking contradictions. She embraces the romantic ideals of her culture, both emotionally and through her actions, but is continually betrayed by the real world simply because she cannot turn herself into the woman the Westerosi legends tell her she should be."


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Charlie Harwood of HBOwatch describes Brienne as "loyal, stubborn, headstrong, and judgmental. Despite the repeated insults from knights, who mockingly call her "Brienne the Beauty", she holds a simple idea of knighthood, believing that knights should be chivalrous and always honor their vows." In an interview for "SFX" magazine, Gwendoline Christie described Brienne as an outsider who has had to develop "outer strength that often matches or supersedes that of any man in order to be treated with equality. She doesn't want to get married...yet she's internally romantic...she has an overriding sense of honour and what is right, and that's what makes her such a brilliant character to play: that her outer is so stable and masculine, but inside she's so fragile."


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne joins Renly Baratheon's army when he marches on King's Landing. She wins the Melee at Bitterbridge, held by Renly, and is permitted to join Renly's Rainbow Guard as her prize. When it becomes apparent that Renly will be forced to battle his brother Stannis, Brienne is assigned as his standard bearer. However, before the battle, in which Renly intends his brother's death, Renly is assassinated by a shadow. Brienne is accused of the murder before Catelyn Stark is able to convince those present of her innocence, and Brienne accompanies Catelyn back to Riverrun. Although Brienne wishes to have revenge on Stannis for Renly's death, Catelyn persuades Brienne to serve her instead. Catelyn later goes to visit the captive Jaime Lannister in the dungeons; when Jaime begins to mock Catelyn's husband Ned's infidelity, Catelyn calls for Brienne's sword.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Catelyn has Jaime sent to King's Landing to exchange him for her captive daughters Sansa and Arya, escorted by Brienne and Jaime's cousin Ser Cleos Frey. They are attacked by outlaws who kill Cleos, and Jaime tries to escape in the commotion. Brienne restrains Jaime, but they are captured by the mercenary company the Brave Companions, allied to House Bolton. When their leader, Vargo Hoat, cuts off Jaime's hand, Brienne convinces Jaime to live to have revenge on Hoat. In return, Jaime stops the Brave Companions from raping Brienne. The two prisoners are taken to Harrenhal, where Jaime reveals that he killed the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen to stop him from burning King's Landing. Roose Bolton allows Jaime to return to King's Landing but allows Hoat to keep Brienne as his prize. Hoat attempts to rape Brienne, but she bites off his ear, and Hoat throws her into a bear pit before Jaime returns to have her released.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne and Jaime arrive in King's Landing to find that King Joffrey Baratheon has been poisoned, Catelyn Stark has been murdered by the Freys, and both Arya and Sansa have fled the city. Renly's lover Ser Loras Tyrell accuses Brienne of Renly's murder, and Jaime has Brienne imprisoned for her own safety. Jaime allows Loras to speak to Brienne, and she convinces him of her innocence. Jaime releases Brienne and gives her a sword forged from Ned Stark's Valyrian steel sword "Ice"; Jaime asks her to name the sword "Oathkeeper". Jaime asks Brienne to find Sansa and fulfill her oath to Catelyn.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: At Duskendale, Brienne encounters Tyrion Lannister's squire Podrick Payne and allows him to join her. During her journey through the Riverlands she finds Ser Hyle Hunt, whom she knew from Renly's camp, and hires Nimble Dick Crabb as a guide (he is killed when Brienne encounters some of the Brave Companions). Brienne eventually arrives at the inn at the crossroads, where she meets Arya's former traveling companion Gendry, now helping shelter a group of orphans. The inn is attacked by another group of Brave Companions, and Brienne is forced to intervene to protect the children. She is grievously wounded by the outlaw Biter before the Brotherhood Without Banners arrives to kill the Companions. The Brotherhood takes Brienne, Podrick, and Ser Hyle Hunt (who had been following them) captive and presents them to their leader Lady Stoneheart, whom Brienne is horrified to realise is a reanimated Catelyn Stark. Stoneheart accuses Brienne of serving the Lannisters, and forces her to choose between killing Jaime or being hanged. When Brienne refuses to choose, Stoneheart orders her and her group hanged. Seeing Podrick dying, Brienne agrees to kill Jaime in order to spare their lives.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne confronts Jaime at the Lannister camp at Pennytree, and entreats him to come with her and save Sansa from whom she thinks is Sandor "The Hound" Clegane.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne is first introduced when she defeats Ser Loras Tyrell to win the sword tournament held by Renly Baratheon, who has declared himself King, and is rewarded with a place in his kingsguard. Catelyn Stark arrives at Renly's camp soon afterward, and successfully negotiates an alliance between Robb Stark and Renly, but Renly is promptly killed by a shadow demon with the face of Renly's brother and rival Stannis, who has discovered he is the rightful heir to House Baratheon, but whom Renly intended to kill the next day. Brienne kills two of Renly's kingsguard in self-defense, when they attack her thinking she murdered Renly, and Catelyn counsels her to flee with her back to Robb's camp in the Westerlands. Brienne swears allegiance to Catelyn. At Robb's camp, Catelyn releases the captive Ser Jaime Lannister and tasks Brienne with taking him to King's Landing, forcing Jaime to vow to return Sansa and Arya Stark to Catelyn in exchange.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: In the Riverlands, Brienne and Jaime are captured by a squad of Bolton's soldiers. Jaime dissuades the soldiers from raping Brienne by claiming that her father will reward them with sapphires for returning Brienne unharmed, but their leader Locke cuts off Jaime's sword hand when he tries to bargain to be untied. Brienne and Jaime are taken to Harrenhal, where Jaime reveals to Brienne that he killed the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen to stop him from burning King's Landing. Roose Bolton has Jaime released but keeps Brienne prisoner for abetting treason. Locke tries to ransom Brienne but is offended by what he perceives to be Selwyn Tarth's paltry ransom (compared to the sapphires Jaime had led him to expect) and instead throws Brienne into a pit with a bear and only a wooden sword with which to defend herself. When Jaime learns that Brienne has been left at Locke's mercy, he returns to Harrenhal, finds Brienne in trouble, and jumps in to save her by coming in between her and the bear. Jaime then forces Locke's men to pull up both Brienne and himself. They then complete their journey to King's Landing.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne cannot return Sansa to Catelyn Stark, as Catelyn has been murdered by the Freys, and Jaime argues that Sansa (now married to Tyrion) is safer staying in King's Landing. Brienne speaks with Margaery Tyrell and explains that she did not kill Renly, then attends King Joffrey Baratheon's wedding to Margaery Tyrell. At the wedding, Cersei confronts Brienne and implies that Brienne loves Jaime, and Brienne witnesses Joffrey's death by poisoning. After Tyrion is accused of the murder, his brother Jaime gives Brienne a Valyrian steel sword (which Brienne names "Oathkeeper") and a coat of armor in support of her mission to find Sansa and take her to safety. He also gives her Tyrion's former squire, Podrick Payne, whose life is in danger after he refuses to offer false testimony against Tyrion.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: On their way through the Riverlands, Briene and Podrick meet Arya Stark's former travelling companion Hot Pie; after learning from him that Arya is alive, they decide to travel to the Vale, as they suspect she is being sheltered by her aunt Lysa Arryn. There, Brienne encounters Arya and her escort, Sandor "The Hound" Clegane. When Arya refuses to go with Brienne, Brienne and the Hound fight, culminating in Brienne's forcing him off a cliff and dealing him an apparently deadly wound, although Arya escapes in the confusion.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: After searching fruitlessly for Arya, the dispirited Brienne and Podrick spot Sansa Stark in a tavern in the company of Lord Petyr Baelish, and Brienne offers Sansa her services. Sansa refuses, and Brienne, realizing that she is in danger from Baelish, flees with his guards in pursuit, but undeterred, she follows Sansa to the ancestral Stark stronghold of Winterfell, where she has been wed to Roose's sadistic son Ramsay. Staying in the nearby town, Brienne manages to have a message smuggled into Winterfell instructing Sansa how to signal if she is in need of help. The woman who relays this message is tortured and dies before revealing who sent it. Sansa eventually manages to escape the room where Ramsay has kept her captive, while the Boltons are preparing to battle Stannis' approaching forces. However, Brienne has left to find and kill Stannis (having sworn to avenge his brother Renly's death) before she can see Sansa's signal. Brienne finds Stannis gravely wounded in the aftermath of the battle and, after he confesses to his role in Renly's death, she executes him, telling him she is doing so in the name of the rightful king Renly.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne follows a group of Bolton soldiers sent to recapture Sansa, who had fled Winterfell along with Ramsay's slave Theon Greyjoy, and kills the soldiers before offering her services again to Sansa, who accepts. Brienne reveals to Sansa that Arya is still alive, although her whereabouts are unknown. Brienne, Podrick, and Sansa journey on to Castle Black (Theon having returned to the Iron Islands), where Sansa's half-brother Jon Snow, has just resigned as Lord Commander. At Castle Black she encounters Stannis' former advisors Davos Seaworth and Melisandre, and mockingly informs them that she killed Stannis and still blames them for their part in Renly's death. Also, a wilding, Tormund Giantsbane, takes a liking to Brienne, which she finds bothersome. Brienne escorts Sansa to meet with Littlefinger, who reveals that Sansa's great-uncle Brynden "Blackfish" Tully has captured House Tully's home Riverrun from the Freys. When Jon and Sansa leave Castle Black to gather men to overthrow Ramsay Bolton, Sansa sends Brienne to Riverrun to seek the Blackfish's support. Brienne claims Davos can't be trusted due to his former support for Stannis and then abandoning him, even though Davos only left on Stannis' orders.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne arrives at Riverrun to find it besieged by the Frey and Lannister armies, led by Jaime. Jaime permits Brienne to enter Riverrun to talk to the Blackfish, who is sympathetic to Sansa's cause but refuses to abandon his home. Soon afterward, the Blackfish's nephew Lord Edmure Tully is coerced into ordering the Tully troops to stand down. As the Lannisters begin pouring into the castle, the Blackfish helps Brienne and Podrick escape. Jaime sees them sailing away, and he and Brienne exchange a mournful farewell.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Despite Brienne's failure to secure House Tully's support, the Stark loyalists are successful in ousting House Bolton, albeit only with the intervention of the Knights of the Vale and Littlefinger. Bran and Arya Stark, having heard of the Starks' victory, return to Winterfell. Arya spars with Brienne and takes Brienne aback when she is able to fight Brienne to a draw.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Sansa receives a letter inviting her to King's Landing, where Jon intends to present evidence of the White Walkers to Queen Cersei. Refusing to return to King's Landing, Sansa sends Brienne as her representative, despite Brienne's reluctance to leave Sansa unprotected from Littlefinger. In King's Landing she is reunited with the Hound, who survived his injuries, and tells him Arya is safe. When Cersei refuses to aid in fighting the dead, she entreats Jaime to change her mind.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne returns to Winterfell after the parley with the Lannisters, and is present to greet Jon and Daenerys Targaryen as they arrive with Daenerys' forces. Jaime arrives at Winterfell soon after, revealing that Cersei has no intention of sending her forces to Winterfell. Daenerys, the daughter of the Mad King, wishes to execute Jaime, but Brienne vouches for him and Sansa overrules Daenerys. Jaime tells Brienne that he has come to fight under her command, and knights her with Podrick, Tormund, Davos, and Tyrion bearing witness. With this, she becomes the first woman in Westeros history to be knighted.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne commands the forces of the Vale during the battle against the dead with Jaime and Podrick by her side, and survives the battle. After the battle, Jaime and Brienne become lovers. However, after learning of Cersei's forces' attack on Daenerys' fleet, Jaime leaves Winterfell for King's Landing which devastates Brienne. Jaime is ultimately killed during Daenerys' destruction of the Red Keep. When Jon kills Daenerys, Brienne travels to King's Landing with the Starks to determine the future of the Seven Kingdoms. Bran Stark is chosen as king, and Brienne is named commander of his Kingsguard, with Podrick also serving after being knighted. Brienne completes Jaime's entry in the White Book, commemorating the Kingsguard.


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: Brienne has proved to be a popular character with fans of the "Ice and Fire" series. Her popularity has led to merchandising, and HBO has released a T-shirt with Brienne's house sigil on it. Brent Hartinger writes in his essay, "A Different Kind of Other: The Role of Freaks and Outcasts in A Song of Ice and Fire", that Brienne is a disappointment, even a freak, to her family and culture. He believes her character is a well-written departure from fantasy novels where the main characters are commonly "the slender, the heterosexual, the average-heighted, the conventionally abled and traditionally gendered." Writing for witandfancy.com, Samantha Mann describes Brienne as an "awesome" character who "sticks to her belief that a knight is an honorable person who always keeps their oaths," even in a story where "good people do bad things (and vice versa)." Arthur McCulloch, writing for chamberfour.com, states that "Brienne, who while unique as a character, is never really developed. Brienne's issues and struggles remain constant. The reader merely follows her on her quest, which is an unsatisfying one at best."


title: Brienne of Tarth

text: In her essay "Power and Feminism in Westeros," Caroline Spector describes Brienne as a woman who does not conform and who defies cultural expectations. Her character highlights the perception of women in Westeros in that her fellow warriors assume that her sexuality is "something to be coerced or taken, not something over which she has control... So, too, the consistent rejection Brienne endures for failing to offer the men around her a pleasing countenance." Spector also observes Brienne as a woman who has "taken for herself most of the attributes of male power," and thus provides a "stark lesson how women who dare to take male power for their own are judged and treated not only in Westeros but in all conventionally patriarchal societies."


title: Striptease (film)

text: Striptease is a 1996 American black comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by Andrew Bergman, and starring Demi Moore, Armand Assante, Ving Rhames, Robert Patrick and Burt Reynolds. Based on Carl Hiaasen's novel of the same name, the film centers on an FBI secretary-turned-stripper who becomes involved in both a child-custody dispute and corrupt politics.


title: Striptease (film)

text: Moore was paid a then-unprecedented $12.5 million to star in "Striptease", making her the highest-paid film actress up to that time. The film was released theatrically on June 28, 1996, by Columbia Pictures and grossed $113 million worldwide against its $50 million budget. However, it was panned by critics, and has come to be evaluated as one of the worst movies ever made. It won six Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture. The debacle of the film marked a downturn in Moore's career.


title: Striptease (film)

text: Former FBI secretary Erin Grant loses custody of her young daughter Angela to her ex-husband Darrell, a criminal who cost Erin her job. To afford an appeal to get her daughter back, Erin becomes a stripper at the Eager Beaver, a strip club in Miami.


title: Striptease (film)

text: A Congressman named David Dilbeck visits the club and becomes infatuated with Erin. Aware of Dilbeck's embarrassing indulgences, another Eager Beaver patron approaches Erin with a plan to manipulate the congressman to settle the custody battle and help her get Angela back. However, Dilbeck has powerful business connections who want to ensure he remains in office. Consequently, those who can embarrass him in an election are murdered. Meanwhile, Erin retrieves her daughter from Darrell's negligent care.


title: Striptease (film)

text: Dilbeck's personal interest in Erin persists, and she is invited to perform privately for him. He asks her to become his lover and later his wife, despite his staff's concerns that she knows too much. A debate occurs as to whether to kill Erin or simply keep her quiet by threatening to take away her daughter. However, Erin and a police officer, Al Garcia, begin to suspect the congressman's guilt in the murders, and Erin concocts a plan to bring the congressman to justice. She tricks him into confessing on tape, and he is soon after arrested. Thus, Erin regains full custody of Angela, quits stripping, and gets back her job in the FBI. Darrell returns to prison after he is convicted of his crimes.


title: Striptease (film)

text: Castle Rock Entertainment produced "Striptease". The film is based on the novel "Strip Tease" by Floridian crime writer Carl Hiaasen. It was published in 1993 and was a bestseller.


title: Striptease (film)

text: The screenplay itself was written by Andrew Bergman, who also directed. According to one critic, the novel's plot is "quite faithfully followed" by the screenplay, but in bringing the complicated story to the screen, "Bergman forgets to explain persuasively what a nice girl like Erin – smart, spunky and a former FBI employee – is doing in a dump called the Eager Beaver."


title: Striptease (film)

text: Bergman says, "I loved the book, and the funny thing was, [author Carl] Hiaasen loved the movie. He thought it was really, really true to the book, which I wanted to do! I don't regret it. I was treated like a freakin’ child molester for making that movie, but so be it."


title: Striptease (film)

text: ""Striptease" was hard because the tone was so crazy," said Bergman. "How do you stay true to the tone? You have to be true to those strip clubs. There's always some woman with like 50 triple-Ds, they always advertise, and you have to have someone like that. To actually see it, you’re walking this fine line. I didn't want to sanitize it, and I didn't, and I got my ass kicked for it."


title: Striptease (film)

text: Moore played the main female character, Erin Grant. For the film, she was paid $12.5 million, which was at the time a record for an actress.


title: Striptease (film)

text: Bergman later said, "Is Demi the funniest person in the world? No. Would the movie have been made without her? Probably not. No other major star was willing to take her clothes off, and I was not going to do a TNT version of "Striptease" with people running around in swimsuits."


title: Striptease (film)

text: To prepare for her role, Moore visited strip clubs in New York City, California and Florida, and she met with strippers. She also read the novel, exercised, and practiced yoga. Moore was cast before other important parts were cast, creating some interest in the project. In the first attempt at filming Moore stripping, two hundred extras were used to portray the audience. Although their salaries were small, many accepted the role to see Moore nude. After waiting for a while, when Moore finally appeared and started dancing the crowd turned so loud and wild that the shooting had to temporarily cease. As Moore said, "After my experience, I felt very confident."


title: Striptease (film)

text: Rhames plays a bouncer named Shad. The filmmakers, in trying actors out for Shad's part, looked for someone "at least 6'2 and physically massive...any ethnicity." Reynolds played Congressman Dilbeck, and he based his performance on politicians he knew in his early life, through his father, a police chief.


title: Striptease (film)

text: Reynolds was not an actor that the filmmakers originally had in mind for the part (they wanted Gene Hackman), but Reynolds pursued it. When Hackman turned the role down, Reynolds contacted Castle Rock head Rob Reiner, and traveled to Miami to audition. "To be honest," said producer Lobell, "we were not enthusiastic at first. There was the hair and his reputation, but we were curious... At the first audition, on the first day, Burt had to take off his toupee in front of six or seven people. It was tough for him, but he did it. It was a very, very humbling thing to do. But by the end of the audition, it was really clear that Burt was the guy." "I knew I could play him," said Reynolds. "I could make him likable and dangerous. There are very few people who can do that. I always played likable and dangerous. I had a persona. Unfortunately, my persona became bigger than my acting." Reynolds accepted a salary of $350,000; lower than what he had been paid earlier in his career.


title: Striptease (film)

text: Moore's own daughter Rumer Willis, who was 7 years old when the film was released, played Erin's daughter Angela. As Moore explained, "she [Willis] wanted it so badly" that Moore asked that Willis be considered for the part. In reality, this required Willis to see Moore dancing topless, for a scene in which Angela sees Erin performing. However, Moore said that this was acceptable, as "[W]e don't shame the body, we encourage the body as something beautiful and natural, and my children bathe with me, and I walk around naked."


title: Striptease (film)

text: The cast included some notable real-world strippers such as Pandora Peaks. "Talk about a happy set", said Bergman. "We were shooting in Miami for six months. It was a gas".


title: Striptease (film)

text: During test screenings, audiences objected to a scene at the end where Dilbeck becomes violent and attempts to rape Grant, holding a knife to her throat. The scene was reshot five months later to make it funnier, causing a one-month delay in the release, but test screenings also turned up less than favorable reactions.


title: Striptease (film)

text: Striptease: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on June 25, 1996. While the soundtrack did not include every song heard in the film, a notable exclusion were most tracks Erin (Demi Moore's character) danced to in the film, which, aside from "If I Was Your Girlfriend" by Prince, were all sung by Annie Lennox (whether as part of the Eurythmics or solo). While "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" was featured on the disc, "Money Can't Buy It", "Cold" and "Little Bird" were left off, as was "Missionary Man", which was played during the end credits. Furthermore, it excluded the song "(Pussy, Pussy, Pussy) Whose Kitty Cat Are You?" by the Light Crust Doughboys which won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song.


title: Striptease (film)

text: "Striptease" was finally released in the United States on June 28, 1996, after a June 23 premiere in New York City. It opened in Australia, France and Germany in August, and Argentina, Italy, Bolivia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Japan in September.


title: Striptease (film)

text: Nudity was heavily emphasized in advertisements. The Motion Picture Association of America raised concerns regarding a poster that it felt revealed too much of Moore's naked body. A Castle Rock employee disagreed, saying "there are racier perfume ads."


title: Striptease (film)

text: The previous year's film about nude dancers, "Showgirls", was generally disliked, so filmmakers feared audiences would pre-judge "Striptease" on this basis. To avoid any association, advertisements were designed to make "Striptease" look more comedic than "Showgirls", which was a drama. Besides the subject matter, "Striptease" and "Showgirls" did have two notable connections. The choreography in these films was by the same person, Marguerite Derricks. Both also featured performances by Rena Riffel, who plays a dancer in each. To promote the film, Moore appeared on the "Late Show with David Letterman" and a Barbara Walters special. In both cases, she danced or otherwise exhibited her body.


title: Striptease (film)

text: "Striptease" holds a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 72 reviews, with an average score of 3.9/10. The critical consensus reads, ""Striptease" can't decide whether it is a lurid thriller or a sexy satire - which becomes a moot point as it proves disastrously incapable of pulling either off." In the Carl Hiaasen book of the same name, upon which the movie was based, every character was premised upon being a source of amusement. In the movie, however, there was a major departure, as the main character, played by Moore, was meant to be portrayed differently. Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" complimented some of the characters, but ultimately concluded the film failed because "all of the characters are hilarious except for Demi Moore's." He felt the drama surrounding the main character "throws a wet blanket over the rest of the party." Ebert also found the nudity not too sexy. Leonard Maltin was harsher, writing in his book that the film was too depressing, and "Not funny enough, or dramatic enough, or sexy enough, or bad enough, to qualify as entertainment in "any" category." Barbara Cramer concurred with Ebert that Moore's character was written too dramatically, compared to other characters. She said the film was predictable and would appeal mostly to "post-pubescent schoolboys or closet voyeurs." However, Cramer also cited Reynolds' "best role in years," and said Rhames was "worth the price of admission."