Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Pushkin.
Yeah, I'll take that.
That's a part of my meditation is naming your hellos.
Kind of weird, but all right. We're going to revisit another great episode today.
Hit me.
It's called Christina.
Oh, yeah. It's truly one of my favorite episodes.
Yeah, it's a really good one.
Yeah, I love it. I will say this, and maybe you can confirm this, fact check me on this, but this was an early season two episode. And up until this point, I had largely worked with people that I already knew, like friends and family. And this was the first time that I was actually traveling out in the world to meet someone.
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Chapter 2: What led Christina to quit basketball in 11th grade?
Hey, everyone. When Heavyweight returned last year, we were so encouraged by the heartfelt messages from you, our dear listeners. I can safely say that without you, Heavyweight wouldn't exist today. So, thank you. And if you want to take your valuable support to an even higher invaluable level, consider signing up for Pushkin Plus.
It makes us look good to our bosses, and you'll get to listen to Heavyweight ad-free. because you'll be the sponsor. Plus, and this is what really puts the plus in Pushkin Plus, you'll also get bonus material. If you want to get 25% off an annual Pushkin Plus subscription, head to pushkin.fm slash plus and use the code HEAVY25. Thanks for your support.
Chapter 3: How did Christina's foster mother's rules impact her life?
Hey, do you have a copy of TV Guide? No. Why? I can't find my copy and I was wondering what was on TV. Don't you remember calling people up on the phone?
I do remember that, yeah.
Just to see what was on? I remember calling up my Aunt Tilly because I was too lazy to get up off the couch to look for the TV guide, so I just called her up. The poor woman could hardly walk, and she had to search around for a TV guide.
All right, I got to go.
From Gimlet Media, I'm Jonathan Goldstein, and this is Heavyweight. Today's episode, Christina. This is the best of all possible worlds, my father was fond of saying. The words were spoken contentedly, often while reclining in a Barca lounger, belt buckle undone after a large meal of baked beans and lamb chops. But what did my father know of other worlds?
He'd held down the same job and was married to the same woman for decades. Plus, he hardly left the house. But what he did know was that this world had one thing over all of those other worlds. It existed. For my father, that was enough to make it best. I, on the other hand, am not won over so easily.
Sure, existence is a nice quality, a fine quality, but going so far as to call a world that contains both soul patches and puddles the best possible anything seems a little extreme. And so imagining other worlds, the same, only better, is just too irresistible, in spite of the pain such thinking inevitably invites. Why don't we start from the beginning? Okay. Okay.
This is Christina, and like me, she knows this world can use a few tweaks. Overall, she says, her life hasn't been a bad one. It's just not the one she was meant to live. She's worked as a waitress, a receptionist, as a home care worker. The kinds of jobs you do, but not necessarily the kind you dream about. Lately, she's been helping run her husband's company.
It's a disc golfing backpack company.
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Chapter 4: How did Christina feel about her foster mother's strictness?
It would have been different, I think. You know, but I was interested in what she did and how she progressed. I wanted her to do well at school and do well at everything, and I was very proud of her when she did. She was with us a long time. Couldn't get rid of her.
I'm just kidding.
Isabel pauses, and then she says appraisingly, She deserves a good life.
I do have one. Good. And I think it's better because she had some stability in it, which I feel she got in my house.
I'll get on that side. We say our goodbyes and head to the car. Outside Isabelle's, the parking lot has grown dark.
Thank you.
Yeah. As we get into the rental car, Christina lets out a sigh. Well, so how did you feel about that?
It was just really intense, and there's a lot of things that she said that were very hurtful to me. It's like she affected me tonight, but not in the way that she used to. I didn't get the fuzzy, teddy bear, cuddly...
thing and that's okay that I didn't get that but what I got was her and and it wasn't everything I needed but I feel like that's how she shows love and it's not with hugs and it's not with I love you's and it's not with praise necessarily either It's in a way that I understand now, whereas before I just felt like she just didn't even like me.
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Chapter 5: What role did basketball play in Christina's sense of identity?
And then she takes it from my hands.
Check.
Check.
A little rusty.
But when she gets going, it seems to come back to her.
Oh, behind the back. A little behind the back. A little spin move. Oh, behind the back again. Oh, shoot. Oh, there it goes. What do you got?
What do you got? Trash talking, calling her own shots, driving hard to the basket. There was a different side to Christina that was coming out on the court. It happened suddenly and easily.
Okay, I think you're winning. I thought you were going to get burned. I think it's 2-0 at this point. I don't think I've scored yet, have I? I think I have one or two.
The best basketball players are said to have an almost supernatural ability to see a little ahead, to anticipate what will happen next. But Christina and Levi aren't that good. And so they play like a couple of kids for whom the future doesn't matter or the past. And in that space between, it seems like a pretty good life.
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Chapter 6: What ultimatum did Christina receive from her foster mother?
Thank you very much. Hey, everyone. When Heavyweight returned last year, we were so encouraged by the heartfelt messages from you, our dear listeners. I can safely say that without you, Heavyweight wouldn't exist today. So, thank you. And if you want to take your valuable support to an even higher invaluable level, consider signing up for Pushkin Plus.
It makes us look good to our bosses, and you'll get to listen to Heavyweight ad-free. because you'll be the sponsor. Plus, and this is what really puts the plus in Pushkin Plus, you'll also get bonus material. If you want to get 25% off an annual Pushkin Plus subscription, head to pushkin.fm slash plus and use the code HEAVY25.
Thanks for your support.