Landline with Mary Mahoney

Figure skating journalist, coach, and writer Maura Sullivan Hill joins me to discuss what I'm predicting will be an extremely messy Winter Olympics. We talk about the lore surrounding today's figure skaters, the politics baked into every aspect of the sport, and why—spoiler alert—Michelle Kwan should have won the gold medal. Plus, Maura breaks my heart by confirming the pachinko is not technically possible.

Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction and welcoming Maura Sullivan Hill
03:13 - About Maura's book "Legends of Women's Figure Skating."
08:18 - Figure skating as a lens for understanding culture and politics
13:31 - The 2002 Salt Lake City judging scandal
15:26 - Old 6.0 system vs. new International Judging System
20:22 - U.S. women's team: Amber Glenn, Alyssa Liu, Isabeau Levito
28:28 - Amber Glenn as an openly pansexual athlete
34:25 - Music selection and music rights issues
43:12 - The French team controversy and Gabriella Papadakis's memoir
53:39 - Same-sex ice dancing partnerships
1:01:02 - Deanna Stellato-Dudek competing at age 42
1:04:38 - Men's figure skating and Ilya Malinin
1:07:58 - Maxime Naumov's story after the 2024 plane crash
1:09:38 - Citizenship and nationalism in figure skating
1:19:45 - Closing and Patreon watch party info

Further Reading/Viewing:
Check out Maura’s Book, Legends of Women’s Figure Skating
Finding Her Edge (Netflix). Is this great? No. Is it fun? Absolutely.
The Cutting Edge. A classic.

Want even more resources, deep dives, and behind-the-scenes context on this episode's topics? Patreon members get access to my exclusive newsletter with extended research, additional links, and insights that didn't make it into the show. You can get the weekly newsletter when you join for free. Paid members get a monthly bonus episode, access to my AIM Buddly List chat, and more!

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Read the full episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oPLlyYTke-HjI7B4DsWTgqJuDuzGJ7cM5s8nlJzHBDE/edit?usp=sharing

Connect with Mary:
Website: www.marymmahoney.com
Instagram: @mimimahoney
Email: [email protected]

Connect with Maura:
Website: https://www.maurasullivanhill.com/
Instagram: @maura_sullivan_hill
Check out Maura’s book, Legends of Women’s Figure Skating

Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline.
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American Girl is turning 40 this year (same, honestly), and with that milestone comes some reckoning with their original books. A few years ago, they quietly released revised editions of some classics, including "Kirsten Learns a Lesson"—the book where Swedish immigrant Kirsten befriends an Indigenous girl named Singing Bird, they somehow communicate without language, and then Singing Bird's family just...leaves Minnesota voluntarily at the end. For my first episode of Landline, I call up Colette Denalie Dion Montoya, an indigenous researcher and librarian, to help me understand what American Girl changed in the new edition and whether swapping out words like "savage" actually addresses the deeply colonial narrative at the heart of this story. We talk about representation, nostalgia versus history, the insidious ways racism gets re-coded, and why Pleasant Rowland collaborating with Barbie feels like a betrayal.

Timestamps
00:00 — Why American Girl Made Millennials Like This
Main character energy, history-as-personality, and the doll books that rewired our brains.
07:00 — “American Girl Is in Its Hot Mess Era”
Mattel, quiet revisions, and why the 40th anniversary feels… tense.
12:00 — The Plot of Kirsten Learns a Lesson (Red Flags Included)
Secret forest meetings, “Indian friends,” and who gets to claim land as “home.”
23:30 — What American Girl Changed (and What They Didn’t)
From “savages” to “treaties”: how blame quietly moves off settlers and onto “the government.”
38:00 — Nostalgia vs. History
Why revisions, Barbie collabs, and 90s dolls reveal what the brand values now.

Further Reading/Viewing:
Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Diversity Statistics and Graphics: https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/literature-resources/ccbc-diversity-statistics/
LibGuides: Native American Literature: Children’s Books (from Ohio Northern University): https://library.onu.edu/c.php?g=1279965&p=9394796
“Manifest Destiny” in The American Yawp (a collaborative textbook on American history)
“Running Zach” episode of Saved by the Bell, which its star discussed (and apologized for) on a later rewatch podcast, Zack to the Future.
Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can’t Quit American Girl (full disclosure: I co-wrote this unhinged history of a brand that has meant a lot to me!)

Want even more resources, deep dives, and behind-the-scenes context on this episode's topics? Patreon members get access to my exclusive newsletter with extended research, additional links, and insights that didn't make it into the show. You can get the weekly newsletter when you join for free. Paid members get a monthly bonus episode, access to my AIM Buddly List chat, and more!

Become a Patreon member →

Read the full episode transcript here: (link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GY9vpEsF4CPdkcppujqW5gXKLY_u4xl7mfguine7DxY/edit?usp=sharing )

Connect with Mary:
Website: www.marymmahoney.com
Instagram: @mimimahoney

Connect with Colette:
Instagram: @colettka_cutletka

Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Landline is the podcast where pop culture gets some context. Hosted by historian Mary Mahoney—your millennial friend with too many interests and not enough friends willing to talk on the phone—each episode calls up guests to connect today’s celebrity culture, internet trends, TV, music, and movies to the histories that explain why it all feels so familiar (even if it’s not).

Blending non-boring history, sharp cultural analysis, and the intimacy of a private phone call, Landline helps listeners make sense of the present by dialing into the past.

Want more Landline? Join Landline on Patreon. You’ll get a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly episodes delivered to you all for free. For $5 a month, you can get a bonus episode, a weekly newsletter of links and recommendations, chat with other listeners about all things pop culture and history, suggest topics for future episodes, and more!

Full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BHkqtU7EJ8537Uo2wlSURrKMZiLx_tByVFs6P_bL4rU/edit?usp=sharing

Connect with Mary:
Website: www.marymmahoney.com
Instagram: @mimimahoney

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.