"The Portlandian" - November 12, 2023 edition

[Special Duties Section]

TTTTT H H EEEEE
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PPPP OOOO RRRR TTTTT L A N N DDDD I A N N TM
P P O O R R T L A A NN N D D I A A NN N
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P O O R R T L A A N NN D D I A A N NN
P OOOO R R T LLLLL A A N N DDDD I A A N N

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The Portlandian, the Internet's premier source of Tonya News

November 12, 2023 Edition - ANNUAL BIRTHDAY ISSUE
(C) 2023 Portland Ice Skating Society
http://www.pdxiss.org
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Greetings, everyone, and welcome to the annual birthday edition
of the Portlandian, where we celebrate Tonya's 53rd birthday.

Tonya's loyal fan base continues to grow as more people discover
the truth about her, with her Instagram account now attracting
almost 55,000 followers. And we have been informed that Tonya has
been doing more skating since our last issue, which will
hopefully appear on-line.

In this issue, we have plenty new and old, including videos,
photos, articles, and even a couple of academic papers. Plus,
we'll finish off with how a corner of a Christchurch cafe now has
a little piece of Tonya. Oh, and don't forget the cake, which we
will upload to our birthday cake page in a day or so:

https://pdxiss.org/cake.htm


TONYAWEEN 2023

As with last year, this year's Tonyaween has been rather subdued,
as "I, Tonya" drops off streaming services and people moved
towards the predictable Barbies and Oppenheimers this time
around. But there were still a couple of noteworthy attempts
(ones that don't involve clubs) and some we've found from
previous years.

Portland Tidwell ("Portland" is actually her name) is a
journalist, current Miss Texas Ambassador and a former Miss Teen
United States:

https://sanantonioreport.org/thousand-oaks-san-antonio-neighborhood-portland-tidwell/

This year Portland decided to take her name literally, with this
tribute to that city's most famous skater, showing Tonya in
triple-axel garb, accompanied by a "Jeff" complete with hideous
mustache:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy9QR3vRBY-/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy_yd6Rx9Ld/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy_4u-Sxy--/


We also came across this other "Tonya & Jeff" combo from
Halloween 2018:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BpddMlvg3NI/ (amyhimebaugh)


Maddie Anderson (maddieshootspeople) is a photographer from
Orange County, CA. She has a few interesting Tonya poses:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzEl395vcwr/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzEmE16PBH8/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzEl91QvpiM/

Also of note:

jersey_smiles of Resorts World Las Vegas, describes herself as a
"Jersey girl, born and bred. Love to explore":

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzFqehMLTBB/

emiliacopes - "Tonya Harding, my star" from 2018.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BpezZzRgvbx/


And finally, we can't ignore Tonya herself as a 1920s flapper:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzFphI5LJBf/

Personally, we think that Tonya should have dressed as a Barbie -
after all, Margot dressed as her, so it's a chance for her to
dress as Margot.


A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT

And with Halloween out of the way, it's a reminder that it's that
time of year when our wonderful HOLIDAY SEASON is beginning, and
it's only a matter of time before that guy in the red suit starts
turning up at the local mall. So what a great way to send a
special gift - Tonya will make an individual Cameo video with a
personal message for you. What a wonderful way to show someone
you care.

Cameo videos from Tonya aren't just for the holidays, either:
they're great for birthdays, engagements, birth announcements, or
just encouraging someone who is going through a bit of a rough
patch (and if anybody knows about what it's like to go through a
rough patch, it's Tonya). Order yours today at the link below!

https://www.cameo.com/therealtonyaharding


A BIRTHDAY GIFT FOR TONYAPHILES

And now, in honor of Tonya's birthday, we have a special treat
for Tonyaphiles: the staff here at the PDXISS Special Duties
Section have prepared a new restoration of one of the earliest
photos of Tonya skating, at the Lloyd Center in 1974.

This photo has been available for some time on the internet, but
as you can see in this link, only in a severely faded form:

https://s.abcnews.com/images/Sports/ht_tonya74_le_180111_9x11_992.jpg

Now, due to the magic of digital technology, the colors have been
restored back to their former glory. Because we always believe
Tonya should look her best:

https://pdxiss.org/images/1974_Tonya-LloydCenter.jpg


MORE TONYA SKATING VIDEOS SURFACE

- Tony Wheeler has a YouTube channel where he uploads historic
figure skating videos, including ones of Tonya, some of which
have not been widely seen before:

https://www.youtube.com/@TonyWheeler/videos


Here's a home video somebody shot of the 1991 Tour of Champions -
quality isn't that great, as most of the consumer-grade cameras
of the time were crap, but this is probably the only footage of
Tonya performing on this tour that's out there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg1dje9Gvrc

Tonya can be seen here skating to "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles
- nothing gets more early '90s than this!

https://youtu.be/gg1dje9Gvrc?t=2267

She also appears in the big finale at the end:

https://youtu.be/gg1dje9Gvrc?t=3993

https://youtu.be/gg1dje9Gvrc?t=4446

There's also a couple from the 1993 Champions on Ice - Tonya
performing to "Oh Yeah" by Yello - we haven't seen this one
before. Note that the voiceover mentions the death threat, but
not Tonya's 1994 win, which the graphic does, so this must have
been recorded in late 1993 but editing only finished in early
1994:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UmdDO4nTbs

and also "When I Fall in Love" (from "Sleepless in Seattle"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X860YcB5HNo

Here's a 1994 Lillehammer Games Preview from ABC - a bit of Tonya
here. Note how gleeful Christine Brennan appears at Tonya's
inability to land the triple axel in recent years - and she's
wrong, as Tonya landed it TWICE at Skate America 1991 (in both
the short and long programs), a little over two years prior:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkkPwUfa-iM

We'd recommend keeping an eye on his channel as he regularly
posts new stuff. We'd also like to thank Alison Davies of the
Reinstate Tonya Harding Facebook group for finding these.


SHORT PROGRAMS

And now, onto our section for various Tonya-related odds & ends
that don't really fit anywhere else.

- First, we have an update on the fate of Lloyd Center Mall,
where Tonya got her start skating. Latest news is that it will be
turned into a mixed-use area of housing, green spaces and retail,
probably the best outcome that can be hoped for if the mall
itself isn't going to remain - and will finish off the talk of it
being the site for a baseball stadium. And the good news is that
it will incorporate a skating rink - hopefully they will take
this as an opportunity to restore the rink to full ISU/USFSA size
specifications:

https://www.wweek.com/news/dialogue/2023/09/30/readers-respond-to-turn-lloyd-center-mall-into-a-neighborhood/


- More from "I, Tonya" hairstylist Adruitha Lee - this time she
demonstrates fixing Margot's multiple wigs in the movie.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw0VOJKrQR_/


Alison has also brought to our attention a couple of new photos
from the goldenagefigureskating Pinterest page. The first is from
her Short Program at the U.S. Nationals in Denver in January
1988. The second shows her with her first place trophy at the
1991 Nationals:

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10225890447982664&set=pcb.1373283843289265


Finally, we would like to congratulate Amber Glenn on becoming
the sixth American woman to land a Triple Axel, at Skate America
last month:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/udfujCCnAbc


THE HARAN ARTIFACTS - PART 5

And now we have another in our series of items sent to us by the
late Joe Haran, who was a prominent member of the original Tonya
fan club in Portland in the 1990s. This one is an article he
wrote for the May 1994 edition of "The Oregon Spectator",
outlining Tonya's performance of her community service sentence.

https://pdxiss.org/haran_artifacts/1994-05_OregonSpectator-seniors.pdf

The article notes that Tonya's required level of 500 hours was
unusually high - more than twice the average that's usually
imposed - but that Tonya seemed to be taking it in good heart.

"She's been very pleasant, cooperative and has a good attitude",
according to the official who was in charge of arranging Tonya's
work. This was also reflected by her probation officer - "my
contacts with Tonya have been great", she said. "She's been very
pleasant and there are no problems".

It also contains comments from journalists from Atlanta and
Norway, the former concluding that Tonya "is the least phony
person I've ever seen - she's been caricatured as someone she
isn't."


IT'S ALL ACADEMIC FOR TONYAPHILES

Tonya's story has proven a fruitful subject for scrutiny in
academia over the years - according to Google Scholar, there have
been 3,550 research papers published that mention her since 1994.
But here's a couple that we came across recently that are a
trifle unusual - and not just because they come from as far away
as Greece and Indonesia, thereby proving that Tonya is truly an
international phenomenon.

- Back in 2019, we conducted a study of just how much swearing
was in "I, Tonya". Turns out we were not the only ones to do
research into this area. A 2021 paper entitled "Swearing and
Taboo Words by The Main Character in I, Tonya Movie" by Komang
Yuly Sintia Dewi and Ketut Santi Indriani of Udayana University,
Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia has also tackled the subject.

According the the abstract, "the study was aimed to find out the
types of swearing and taboo words and to analyze the emotion that
influences the use of swearing and taboo words of the main
character in I, Tonya movie". According to the authors, their
results contradict other research about the way women use bad
language, in particular, that they tend to use milder expletives:

https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/sastra/article/view/72417

The conclusions do seem to be a bit questionable, however, given
that "I, Tonya" was written by a man, and that the real Tonya
doesn't swear that much. And, yes, if you haven't already
guessed, the article does contain some rude words, so just be
warned if you are offended by that kind of thing.

Our original article about cuss-words in "I, Tonya" can be found
at the end of the Nov 12, 2019 issue of "The Portlandian":

https://pdxiss.org/port111.htm


The second paper is from the January 2023 issue of the "Athens
Journal of Mass Media and Communications" (that's the one in
Greece, not Georgia). "Off Thin Ice: After Decades of Media
Abuse, it Took Hollywood to Repair Tonya Harding's Image and
Reputation" is by Adam Pitluk, Courtney Hazlett & Wendy Weinhold,
and looks at the effect that "I, Tonya" had on efforts to repair
Tonya's reputation. It also has one unique feature - unlike every
other known paper, these guys actually interviewed Tonya herself,
in a phone interview in March 2022:

https://www.athensjournals.gr/ajmmc/v9i1

The writers give numerous examples of how the media rushed to
premature judgment about Tonya's guilt, often making irrelevant
comparisons to much more serious crimes where there was a lot
more evidence. They also examine various strategies commonly used
in public image repair, and how effective they were in Tonya's
case. They conclude that "the media was to blame for Harding's
sullied reputation from 1994 until 2017, even though she was
neither the perpetrator nor the mastermind of the battery of
teammate Nancy Kerrigan. As our research shows, she was more
victim than villain, and Hollywood helped her to right the
wrong".

Given that this is very pro-Tonya, and features an interview with
Tonya herself, it's definitely worth a read, with her discussing
her involvement with the film, and the various parts where it
deviates from reality (such as the "bright pink dress" scene and
when her dad left the family - which was much later than
depicted). However, it should be pointed out that although "I,
Tonya" obviously reached a much wider audience, the turnaround in
the public's perception of Tonya actually began four years
earlier, with the publication of Sarah Marshall's article "Remote
Control" in "The Believer". But we'll leave the last words to
Tonya:

There are thousands and thousands of people that are
truly nice people that have a heart and have said
wonderful, wonderful things to me. And I thank them.
People go on Instagram now and say, 'I just watched
your movie I, Tonya, and I can't believe you went
through that, you're such an inspiration and you're
strong,' and I write back and say, 'Thank you so much'
and 'God bless.'


FAN ART ROUNDUP

And now on to our regular feature of Tonya-themed fan artwork. As
with Tonya lookalikes, things seem to be drying up, but there are
still some of interest out there if you know where to look:

- Portland artist Mannie Murphy recently published this pro-Tonya
comic book. Here's some sample pages:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxD5GfSvhsw/


- Inktober has inspired this next artist, from Lima in Peru, with
the theme "back in the saddle":

https://www.instagram.com/p/CyjSfvqONyg/ - (dalucio.cv)


"I, Tonya" continues to be an inspiration:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx6L47zMYPv/ an alternative poster
- recensisco_film_colculo

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzaBZaAPzet/ - _youditit - some
"I, Tonya" sketches

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx29fBuu2Ho/ anaraejournals - an
I,T film spread

https://www.instagram.com/p/Be0NU-Nh0SA/ - pati.te - a
redrawing of the "Tonya standing against a wall" poster

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmZFZiMA7TO/ - silenadesigns
- "Fitting in is overrated"


A couple of works of Allison Janney as LaVona:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzOITv-sEx8/ - dansco.dorka
- an Allison Janney as LaVona painting.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiwZkSrnSCd/ - julianneyie
- LaVona with Little Man


"I Tonya illustration I did on hubby demand. This movie is
equally hilarious and sad, which makes it's great movie."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMVKolIj5fW/ - carlillu
- Tonya triple axel cartoon.


TONYA IS THE BELLE OF CHRISTCHURCH CAFE SOCIETY

One of the favorite cafes here in Christchurch for the Special
Duties Section is the Belle coffee shop on Armagh St, which
features pictures of many pop culture icons decorating its walls
and ceiling. Well, now it has another: Tonya!

Shortly before Christmas last year, we presented Belle with a
framed photograph of Tonya landing the triple axel at Minneapolis
(the guy we gave it to had actually seen the movie). We are
pleased to report that this is now on display near the entrance.
You can view it at the link below, along with our covering
letter:

https://pdxiss.org/images/20231031_Tonya-BelleCafe-Christchurch.jpg

http://pdxiss.org/PDXISS_Belle-covering-letter.pdf

And if you're ever in Christchurch, why not drop in anyway?
Here's their Facebook page, which has details of their opening
hours:

https://www.facebook.com/BELLECHC/

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VISIT THESE GREAT TONYA WEB SITES:

PortIce - http://www.pdxiss.org
Puppetboy - http://www.usapaul.net/tonya/
Valerie Smith - http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/LilHam.html
Swan Lake - http://members.tripod.com/~TonyaHarding/index.html
Blades of Gold - http://members.tripod.com/tmhfan/index.html
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