IN: John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 - January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only three writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others were Booth Tarkington and William Faulkner), Updike published more than twenty novels, more than a dozen short-story collections, as well as poetry, art and literary criticism and children's books during his career.

The principal themes in Updike's work are religion, sex, and America as well as death. Often he would combine them, frequently in his favored terrain of "the American small town, Protestant middle class", of which he once said, "I like middles. It is in middles that extremes clash, where ambiguity restlessly rules." For example, the decline of religion in America is chronicled in In the Beauty of the Lilies (1996) alongside the history of cinema, and Rabbit Angstrom contemplates the merits of sex with the wife of his friend Reverend Jack Eccles while the latter is giving his sermon in Rabbit, Run (1960). Critics have often noted that Updike imbued language itself with a kind of faith in its efficacy, and that his tendency to construct narratives spanning many years and books--the Rabbit series, the Henry Bech series, Eastwick, the Maples stories--demonstrates a similar faith in the transcendent power of fiction and language. Updike's novels often act as dialectical theological debates between the book itself and the reader, the novel endowed with theological beliefs meant to challenge the reader as the plot runs its course. Rabbit Angstrom himself acts as a Kierkegaardian Knight of Faith. Describing his purpose in writing prose, Updike himself, in the introduction to his Early Stories: 1953-1975 (2004), wrote that his aim was always "to give the mundane its beautiful due." Elsewhere he famously said, "When I write, I aim my mind not towards New York but towards a vague spot east of Kansas." Some have suggested that the "best statement of Updike's aesthetic comes in his early memoir 'The Dogwood Tree'" (1962): "Blankness is not emptiness; we may skate upon an intense radiance we do not see because we see nothing else. And in fact there is a color, a quiet but tireless goodness that things at rest, like a brick wall or a small stone, seem to affirm."
QUESTION: How did the public take to these themes?
IN: Jason Gilbert Giambi (; born January 8, 1971) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter. In his Major League Baseball (MLB) career, which began in 1995, he played for the Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Colorado Rockies and Cleveland Indians. Giambi was the American League MVP in 2000 while with the Athletics, and is a five-time All-Star who led the American League in walks four times, in on-base percentage three times, and in doubles and in slugging percentage once each, and won the Silver Slugger Award twice. Giambi has publicly apologized for using performance-enhancing drugs during his career.

Late in 2003, Giambi was named by FBI officers investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) as being one of the baseball players believed to have received anabolic steroids from trainer Greg Anderson. In December 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle reported it had seen Giambi's 2003 grand jury testimony in the BALCO investigation. The newspaper said that in his testimony, Giambi admitted to using several different steroids during the off-seasons from 2001 to 2003, and injecting himself with human growth hormone during the 2003 season. In a press conference prior to the 2005 season, Giambi apologized publicly to the media and his fans, though he did not specifically state what for. The lawyer who illegally leaked the testimony later pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison. Giambi apologized again on May 16, 2007, this time specifically for using steroids, and urged others in the sport to do the same. "I was wrong for using that stuff", he told USA Today. "What we should have done a long time ago was stand up--players, ownership, everybody--and said, 'We made a mistake.'" When asked why he used steroids, Giambi responded: "Maybe one day I'll talk about it, but not now." Giambi did speak with George J. Mitchell, after being forced to do so by Bud Selig. Subsequently, in December 2007, the Mitchell Report included Giambi along with his brother Jeremy Giambi, who also admitted to using steroids during his career. The prosecution in the Barry Bonds perjury case indicated they intended to call both Jason and Jeremy Giambi to testify against Bonds in his March 2009 trial.
QUESTION: What is BALCO?
IN: Taryn Nicole Terrell-Dryden (born December 28, 1985) is an American professional wrestler, ring announcer, referee, model, actress and stunt woman. She is best known for her time with Impact Wrestling, formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under her real name Taryn Terrell and also had short stint in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where she performed under the ring name Tiffany. She is a former TNA Knockouts Champion, and she holds the record for the longest reign with the title at 279 days. During her time in WWE, she trained at WWE's then-developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), and served as the final general manager of the now-defunct ECW.

Terrell tried out for the 2007 WWE Diva Search. She made it to the final eight, but was eliminated fourth. In February 2008, WWE signed her to a developmental contract. Terrell debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), WWE's developmental territory, alongside Beverly Mullins, and they competed in various matches together, including lingerie matches. Soon afterwards, Terrell and Mullins drifted apart, leading to Terrell receiving a larger singles wrestling role as she competed against various other FCW Divas, including Mullins (now renamed to Wesley Holiday), Miss Angela, The Bella Twins, Alicia Fox, and Roucka. Terrell made her FCW television debut when she competed in a twist competition, which ended in a no contest. She and Angela were then used as ring announcers. On the March 11, 2008 episode of FCW TV, Terrell teamed up with Nic Nemeth and Brad Allen to defeat The Puerto Rican Nightmares (Eric Perez, Eddie Colon and Angela Fong). On the August 2, 2008 episode of FCW TV, Terrell teamed up with The Bella Twins to defeat Alicia Fox, Roucka and Daisy and again on August 9, 2008. Later on, Terrell, now renamed Tiffany, lost her first FCW televised match in a fatal four-way match including Roucka, Holiday, and Fox. She then teamed with Nikki Bella and Eve Torres on the December 14 episode of FCW TV to defeat Roucka, Holiday, and Fox. Tiffany participated in the tournament to determine the inaugural Queen of FCW, and defeated Holiday in the first round before losing to Fox in the semi-finals. She teamed up with Angela Fong on several occasions, and also competed against Serena Mancini, April Lee, and Fox in a four-pack challenge to determine the new number one contender to the Queen of FCW crown, but was unsuccessful. On July 30, 2009 episode of FCW TV, Tiffany tamed up with Angela Fong and April Lee to defeat Alicia Fox, Roucka and Serena Deeb in a 6-Diva tag team match. On the August 6 episode of FCW TV, Tiffany and Yoshi Tatsu defeated Fox and Ricky Ortiz in a mixed tag team match. Tiffany unsuccessfully challenged the newly crowned Serena Mancini for the Queen of FCW crown and injured her humerus bone, on the September 24 taping of FCW TV. She returned on the February 19, 2010 episode of FCW TV, teaming with Aksana to defeat Courtney Taylor and Liviana in a tag team match.
QUESTION:
did she continue fighting after this set of matches?