Planes, trains and automobiles – my trip to Philadelphia and New York

By BetteAndTinaForever

I’ve never been to Philadelphia. In fact, before I began watching The L Word, I’d never gone anywhere in the USA, except for California. I visited Disneyland after I first moved here. Now, thanks to The L Word, I’ve visited places here and abroad and Philly is definitely a great place to visit!

Mazzoni Center provides “comprehensive health and wellness services in an LGBT-focused environment. Their services include competent, compassionate and nonjudgmental primary medical care, mental health counseling, and a full range of HIV / AIDS testing & social services to the region’s historically underserved sexual minority and HIV-affected communities.”

On October 30, Mazzoni Center held their biggest fundraising event ever, which they advertised as a ‘One Night Stand with the cast of The L Word in Philly’. As Nurit Shein, the executive director of the Mazzoni Center explained, this event happened solely because of Jennifer Beals.

Here’s the story. Jennifer went to Philadelphia in March to help with Obama’s campaign and she visited the center. As Nurit showed her around Jennifer expressed how impressed she was. Nurit asked if Jennifer could sign a copy of Season 5’s DVD so they could auction it at a later date; perhaps for $25. Jennifer instead suggested having a benefit for the center so they could raise needed money.

Mazzoni Center chose the craziest time of the year to hold their benefit. Not only was it right before Halloween and a few days before the most important election in US history, but also the day after the Phillies won their second championship in their 126-year history. It seemed like everyone had the day off! There was a huge parade on Friday right in front of the Hyatt Hotel where I stayed and the festivities lasted all day long.

Maybe it was because the Mazzoni Center benefit was such “small potatoes” compared to the baseball victory but the press conference we were supposed to have before the VIP event was cancelled. It also may have been because they didn’t have enough press representatives to cover it and everyone was already running late.

Whatever the reason, the red carpet was cancelled and I went straight to the VIP area to place myself strategically right in front of the stage so I could get a better view of the cast members.

I knew there was no hope for a meet & greet because the room was full of fans and I didn’t think that the cast members would risk walking around. After almost an hour of waiting and drinking, Nurit Shein came on the stage and announced the cast from our favorite show. They all seemed very shy for some reason and Kate, Rose and Daniela were standing mostly at the back.

After telling us how much they all appreciated our support, Nurit let the fans ask some questions. The majority of the questions were directed at Ilene and Jennifer, while the rest of the gang was just standing there, looking pretty.

Someone asked the cast if they were doing any campaigning for Obama while they were here and Jennifer replied that Daniela and she had spent two hours on the phone banks that afternoon, trying to get people to volunteer. Prior to that, Ilene and she were in Cleveland, convalescing and speaking to people in different stages of sobriety. After everyone stopped laughing, Ilene added that they would be in the bar the next night for an Obama Rally, and she encouraged people to vote and get everyone they knew to vote.

Okay, I have to revert back to the old story that I told before about Rose Rollins and me, the one about her being upset with me when I wrote my first interview with her. Actually, later in New York she brought it up again but that’s another story, which I will tell in my New York report. When Rose saw me at the Philly event, she began laughing as if she didn’t believe I was there. A few times I noticed her smiling at me and shaking her head, especially when during the questions and answers, I asked if they could tell us anything about Bette and Tina.

Luckily, I wasn’t alone in my questioning. Ilene asked if we wanted to know anything about Season Six and I yelled, “Bette and Tina…are they together at the end?” and everyone joined me, asking the same. Ilene finally asked us if we wanted Bette and Tina together. The whole crowd yelled, “Yeeeeeeeees!!!” and they all laughed. Ilene then looked at Jennifer and said, “I think we are going to go back and re-shoot.” The crowd yelled again, this time with disapproval and then Jennifer grabbed the microphone quickly and replied, “None of it is my fault, I did not write this.”

Another fan screamed, “Jennifer, we are the movement, The Movement”, referring to an interview in TV Guide, where Jennifer talked about fans of Bette and Tina, TiBetters and she was the one who called them, ‘the movement’.

Someone said that we need to see committed lesbian couples and Ilene replied, “Yes, you’re right. We believe in committed relationships, we believe in love and we want to show it to you.”

I made a motion with my hand as if I was writing on my left hand and said, “I’m writing this down and you won’t be able to deny this.” Don’t know if Ilene heard me because it was pretty loud in there.

There were a few questions that fans asked Jennifer and here are some of her answers. She said that it is her fantasy to run a half Iron Man, though her husband doesn’t know it yet and it might cost her, her marriage.

She never thought it was a risk for her to be straight and play a lesbian. The role of Bette was like a gift and she was happy until she had to do her first love scene and then she was like, “Oh, wow. Is there a website I can check out and learn what to do?” She added that the show changed her life and that she is grateful to be in it, to meet new friends and to learn new things. And after the show is over, she will continue to do something to be helpful to the community that has helped her so much already.

She talked a little about her daughter when someone asked about Halloween. Jennifer said that she wants to take her trick-or-treating but her daughter hadn’t decided what to be yet.

Then fans began asking Ilene. One of the questions was if she had any idea when she started this project that it would affect and change so many lives. Ilene replied that she would speak on behalf of everyone in that all they wanted to do at first was to tell good stories and use the opportunity to do that through the show. They all felt incredibly grateful that the show touched the lives of so many people and also grateful for the fans support because it gave so much to all of them. She finished with the words, “And the incredible support and outpouring of community that we felt in doing this show has taken us all and lifted us up.”

She was asked a question that was also asked in New York about the filming on the last day and how they all felt. Kate said that she basically shut herself out of it because it was very emotional and sad. It felt very surreal to say goodbye to the family that this show created, including the crew that was there for them for many years. It was bittersweet.

Then Jennifer jumped in and said that they all wrapped up their last scenes on different days because they were doing singles. (I think ‘singles’ means that they were doing individual scenes, even though some might involve more than one person. I actually know what Jennifer was talking about but I still can’t reveal it due to the contract I signed.) So everyone or several people wrapped up on different days and Jennifer was the last person standing and she felt incredibly excited. She compared that feeling with riding a horse at full speed back to the barn because she felt excited and proud of what they had accomplished as a family, crew and large community. Jennifer added that it was an incredible experience because she sensed that it won’t really end because of the nature of their stories and that there are many left to tell.

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