The Xena Con

I just walked out of the last day, and already I miss it. Renee said, while she was on stage today, that nobody understands what Xena fans are all about until they come to the convention, and it's so true. I mean, I've got as much love for Xena as any other fangirl, but you just don't understand the depths to which this TV show affects people, and affects YOU until you're surrounded by this kind of thing. Sure, we all know it was just a show, and a mythical, sometimes ridiculous and cheesy show, but the base of our Xenalove comes from at least three very deep-seated human beliefs and experiences.
1) We all fight darkness inside ourselves and feel the need for redemption. Xena is the pilgrim on a road to absolve herself of all the wrongs she's committed in the past, but on some level she knows she never can. As Steven Sears (one of the writers) said this weekend, there's no way she could do enough good to balance out her bad, but she spends her whole life trying to do the right thing, and the person that keeps her on this path when she stumbles is Gabrielle. Gabrielle is the light to balance Xena's dark. She's the heart while Xena is the intellect. Their balance allows them to show both sides of the human existence, and we relate to that. This is tied to...
2) Our recognition of, and desire for, true love. All though the show's writers tried to make the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle as ambiguous as possible for as long as possible, by the fourth season it's made explicit that they are "soulmates" and leave it at that for the audience to decide for themselves whether this means they were lovers or just perfect partners in all other aspects. Regardless of whether you are a "sub-er" (supporting the idea that Xena and Gabby were together), or a "shipper" (thinking they were soulmates but were actually involved with other characters), all fans agree that what these characters share is something scarce, special, and mountain-moving. We all want to believe that this kind of love exists, and this show gives us hope. If we can dream it, we can be it, right?
3) Finally, this show gives us strength we didn't know we had. Whether it's Xena facing her past and what she did, Gabrielle growing from a girl who hid behind her friend to become a warrior in her own right, or even Joxer realizing that he has a lion's heart even though he doesn't have the stuff to be the great fighter he aspires to be. This is a show about facing everything you're scared of, opening yourself to love, taking another step when you're exhausted, and jumping off that cliff. When we watch Xena, we feel like we can take on the everyday things we need to do. Heck, if Xena and Gabby can go marching into Rome to face Ceasar's injustice, then I can fly to a new country where people are super friendly and crime is minuscule. This is why the world needs heroes, and Xena and Gabrielle are ours.

And what people don't understand is the way that Xena fans are effected by these things. This weekend, for instance, almost everything that was sold went to different charities. While Britteny Powell was up on stage yesterday she started an auction for her bra (which she does every year and is hilarious) to benefit a group that helps families whose kids have cancer. When the bidding got up to 300 dollars and people started to realize that even though we wanted to help, no one person could afford to give more than that, a woman stood up and said "alright, we're making this a competition. Start passing the hats and which ever side of the room raises more money gets the bra!" Needless to say, there was a scramble towards the front of the room, people laughing and throwing money at the designated collectors, and within fifteen minutes we'd raised 2500 dollars. This kind of thing happened during all three days, and it's based in our belief that we need to do everything we can to help others. WWXD? We can't kick cancer's ass, but we can help find a solution!

Another thing about Xena fans: we're ridiculously loyal, and the actors know it. People who have been fans for years follow Lucy Lawless' (Xena) and Renee O'Connor's (Gabrielle) careers and see pretty much everything that they're in, since they're just plain awesome. Same goes for other supporting actors. They know that we support them no matter what, and so they bring us things from their recent projects because we're a good test audience. They know we'll love it just because they're in it, so they don't have to worry too much about performing, but they also know we'll give them honest feedback in a loving atmosphere. In this spirit, we got to hear original songs from Jacqueline Kim (Lao Ma) and got the first release version of her CD, which I can say really is amazing. She has a very calming presence. Renee also brought a bunch of her new work, including a short film called "Infinity" which is about a family affected by the father's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from combat in Iraq. All I can say is that it was intense, and very, very sad. When the lights came back up after, everyone was speechless, and we needed a couple of moments before we could get back to reality to talk with Renee about it. The first thing anyone asked was "What can we do for people with this disorder? How can we help?"

That's just what we do.

Anyway, this is getting long, so I won't give you a whole summery of the weekend, but here's a funny moment...

-An example of how awesome the Xena fans my age are (there were about 20 of 'em) -
Girl A: Dude, what's "Skins?"
Girl B: It's about kids having sex and stuff. And they're, like, fifteen.
Boy A: That doesn't sound like a very good example for young kids...

Damn right! We know the importance of wicked awesome role models! :-D

And here's a coupla pictures...
Me as the stage is being reset:

Lucy made a surprise appearance! Well, everyone but Renee was surprised! Here's my cheap-seats photo...
And here's a great one taken by the nice people in the front seats!