ECW PRES S

True By Fans For

How

XENAchanged Our Lives

Edited by Nikki Stafford

Introduction vii

The Story of Sword and Staff xi

JCetia Changed My Life 1

Watching Xena .37

"You're Not HER, You??" 65

Hiate@ 87

Friend in Need 99

"Will Tou WelcomeStars of the Show..." 111

Hardcore Nutballs 137

Saying Go

The Quill Is Mightier

In Memory:Kevin Tod Smith 1963-2002 2

Table of Contents

When I originally sent ou t a not e askin gfor stories , I said I was looking for storiesof ho w th e sho w ha d changed people' slives. The following storie s are about per -sonal triumph , learnin g to fin d strengt hthrough the show, losing loved ones, andgrowing up . Jus t a s Xen a an d Gabriellewent throug h persona l traumas , joys ,and emotiona l development , s o di d th eviewers o f the show during the si x yearsit wa s on . Wha t bette r wa y t o star t of fthe book !

Banding Together

BY AJW

What has Xena: Warrior Princess meant to me? It's hard to sumit up in a few words, but I'l l try. My oldest sister watched thshow when Xena was on Hercules. Her comment was, "When Igrow up I want to be Xena " I, of course, thought this show wasstupid a t first . Every tim e m y sister would com e home for avisit she'd glue herself to the TV to watch it.

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My Lir eHow Xena Changed

XEIUA

Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor insummer 2OO1. (Photo by Wendy Sparks)

The firs t episod e I saw was "Titans" in reru n o n USA , an dwent, "Umm ... OK." The first new one I saw was "Forget MeNot," and I thought , "No t bad. " Lon g story short , her e I amwith Xena pictures on my wall. I had always thought this showhad some kind of subliminal message to hook a person; it's theonly way to explain it.

Then two years ago I lost my mother t o many illnesses allin one. I've heard so many times that God will not giv e a per-

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son mor e tha n the y ca n handle . Hearin g m y 68-year-ol dmother cr y out in pain fo r her own mother . . . well, it stil lamazes me that whatever age you are, you'll always want yourmom whe n you're scare d o r sick . Watching a person withe rand no t jus t die , bu t suffe r befor e death , make s a person'sfaith shatter .

The person left behind goes on, though. I would have, couldhave, should have , but slee p escaped my sou l fo r quit e som etime. I got this computer an d discovere d the Xena Web pagesand fan fiction. I met so many people all over the world, some-thing I never imagined myself doing.

Each Xenite has his or her own tale of why this show meantso much, and it' s something I truly believe Lucy or Renee willnever understand. Every Xenite is a form of a misfit in one wayor the other , havin g to overcom e som e kin d of obstacle tha tthey never thought the y would, or could, until this show. I'veseen peopl e mak e friends , fin d loves , band togethe r fo r an ycause, and pray. We also lost some friends and mourned them ,though most of us had never met them and only knew them bytheir screen name. The show gave hope to so many, gave theman idea that they needed to try.

All of these things are in this show. Xena and Gabrielle hadto overcome so many things, do things for the greater good, allfor love . What better message can you give? It was nice to see awoman bein g stron g withou t the influenc e o f a man. It' s s ohard just t o be a woman i n thi s world , s o hard t o teach ou rdaughters to be strong in a world where no matte r ho w hardthey fight, they'll always be considered second class.

It was also refreshing to see two women in real life be closefriends an d I have a strong feeling Renee and Luc y will con -

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tinue to be just that. We were all given a gift to dream with thisshow and reading the fan fiction out there makes you see this.All these reasons and many more are why I loved the show. Theending o f Xena hurt me and even now, almost a year later, I'mleft feelin g this turmoil an d anger , but al l in all, I'm stil l grate-ful tha t this show came into my life.

/ loved the following story, and while it was short,

Ashley Berry was the youngest person to send me a

submission:

Girl PowerBY ASHLEY BERRY (AGE 13)

Xena change d my life because I used to get picked on a lot bymost o f my class when I was in school . I started watchin g i twhen it first came out, but I was seven, and wasn't really inter-ested i n i t a t such a young age . But two years ago, my frien dcalled i t t o m y attentio n agai n an d I starte d t o watc h it . I tquickly became my favorite TV show. I saw how Xena never letpeople wal k all over her an d I admired that . I tried i t and i tworked! At school one day a guy came up t o me and starte dcalling rne names, and I was used to having this happen to mebut something inside me just started saying, "You don't need totake this from anyone! " I really didn't have any self-esteem, soI thought I could borrow Xena's for a moment, and I told tha tboy, "Stop messing with me; I don't like it!" And from that dayon h e hasn' t spoke n t o m e since ! Ever sinc e then my life ha sbeen a lot happier .

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HOW MEiVM GH/&W&ED MW LIFE

"Even In cfeaffs „ . ."

BY JULIE BENNETT

I fell in love with the show Xena, not because of the heroics ofXena, bu t becaus e o f th e relationshi p betwee n he r an dGabrielle. I believe that women share a certain bond that evena man can' t have with a woman. I grew up with a girl namedSabrina. She was my best friend: we were roommates, she wasa bridesmaid i n m y wedding, we were there fo r eac h other' spregnancies. We were friends throug h the good times and th ebad, and sh e outlasted my first marriage. We were everythingto each other. I loved her more than my own sister.

Like Xena left Gabrielle , Sabrina lef t m e a t th e ag e of 29in 199 4 when sh e die d o f cervica l cancer . I too k car e o fSabrina on her deathbed. Sabrina has a 14-year-old daughternamed Storm y who i s a spitting image of her mother . I stilltake Stormy from tim e to time , and sh e is growing up wit hmy daughter. They are six months apart .

Sabrina has been dead for eight years now and I still can' tget her out of my heart. I feel that like Sabrina and I, Xena andGabrielle have a beautiful friendship and a bond tha t no ma nor woman coul d eve r shatter. I miss my friend an d watchin gX: WP reminds me of the closenes s that I once had with her. Iloved Sabrina as much as a woman could love another womanin a platonic relationship.

Women at times are so busy being at each others' throats orcompeting with one another, but Xena showed us that womencan be there for each other through the sad times as well as thejoyful time s and friend s ca n even be there until the end. Theshow has brought me out of depression at times and has always

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given me something to look forward to . Even as a teenage girlgrowing up I was never s o fanatica l abou t anythin g a s I a mabout that show. I've even had my kids ask me, "Mom, are youin lov e with Xena? " I just hav e to laug h because the y don' tunderstand. In a way Xena has filled the emptiness in my heart,the emptiness that was there from losing my best friend. Tha tis what the show has done for me.

Efternal BoneisBY JESSICA HEHSCHMAN

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Jessi e wholoved her parents very much. So much, in fact, that she had dif-ficulty partin g fro m them . No t i n th e sens e tha t Jessi e wasunable to be away from them, but in the sense that the thoughtof leaving home permanently was extremely troubling to her .Jessie treasured the years with her family , evading contempla-tion o f university and it s requirement: movin g away . But sheknew tha t th e tim e woul d eventuall y come , an d th e mer ethought o f it made her very sad. Jessie fel t restricted , like sheowed it to her parents to love and support them, and to fulfil lher duty as their youngest child by remaining the baby of thefamily, at home. This, after all , was her role — to be the lovingand loyal daughter; the youngest in the family ; the slowest togrow up and move away. And yet, part of her yearned for free -dom and autonomy. Another part restrained her, as if growingup was a breach of her self-defined role .

So, Jessie trudged along, feeling rathe r helpless and afraid ,craving an d avoidin g th e inevitabl e whe n suddenly , a rol e

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model emerged. "She was Xena, a mighty princess forged in theheat o f battle," the show' s opening credit s exulted . Xen a theWarrior Princess was a strong, independent woman who man-aged t o overpowe r he r adversarie s using formidabl e strengt hand intelligence. No matter the situation, Xena and her trustysidekick, Gabrielle , could outlas t any foe. Despite the difficul tsituations and problems they faced, Xena and Gabrielle wouldalways emerge triumphant. Jessie greatly admired these heroes,finding qualitie s in them sh e believed to be lacking in herself.Not only were they strong and courageous, but also independ-ent and adventurous. Xena and Gabrielle managed to save theworld at least once a week (and in the summers during reruns)with the help of only each other.

But, after all , Xena was a television heroine, and Jessie knewthat. Xena had a crew of writers and producers calculating eachand every movement. Her hair and makeup were flawless, evenafter th e mos t difficul t battles . Whil e Jessi e receive d som eribbing fo r lovin g a "comic-book " heroine , sh e remaine dundaunted. Fo r it was not th e Warrior Princess who inspire dand encourage d he r (althoug h Jessi e di d lov e th e action -packed figh t sequences) , but th e value s fo r whic h sh e stoo dand exemplified. Xena and Gabrielle were strong, independentwomen, fightin g evi l with courage . While Xen a fought withbrain an d brawn , Gabrielle provided a sensitive counterpart ,helping other s throug h kindnes s an d understanding . Jessi erespected these values, and adopted some of them for her own,to help her travel through life .

So, what doe s a Warrior Princes s have to d o wit h Jessie'sadolescent angst ? Xena an d Gabrielle' s value s inspire d an dencouraged her, allowing Jessie to confront her own difficultie s

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Lucy dressed in her Spider-Man get-upat the Pasadena convention. May 2OO1.(Photo by Ellen Filler)

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and to fight her own battles. They provided a sense of strengthand self-relianc e lacking durin g Jessie' s younger years, a timewhen these qualities were not neede d to the same extent as atpresent. Now that sh e was struggling for self-reliance and th ecourage to move on, Xena coul d help her on that journey.

Jessie realized that roles could change during life; her posi-tion as the youngest daughter developed into that of a youngwoman. And the role of the young woman will probably shif tagain. We need role models to help us evolve, so that when thetime comes we will be able to dea l with life' s transformation swith greate r ease . Having develope d he r independence wit hthe inspiration of a heroine, Jessie learned to accept her chang-ing role, and to grow with it . She has also come to realize thatmoving out does not mean leaving forever. Although she maygo away to university , she can continue t o love and value herfamily And that, might I say, is a happy ending achieved with-out the assistance of writers and producers.

Wajn-f®^. Princess, Teatsfier

BY DIMITKIOS PROVIAS

About six years ago I was 12 years old, living in Athens, Greece,and goin g to th e Frenc h schoo l there . I ha d rea d textbook sabout math, biology, science, literature, art, and other curricu-lar subjects . I knew quite a bit abou t a lot o f different things ,and considered myself a learned young man.

When Hercules: Th e Legendary Journeys cam e o n televi -sion, I though t i t ha d absolutel y n o regar d fo r Gree kmythology and I refused t o watch it. After a little while, how-

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ever, I watched on e o f the movies . I didn't think i t was thatbad, and I watched the rest of them. I decided that they had-n't distorte d th e mytholog y afte r all ; i t wa s actually a goo ddepiction of the myths. Then I started watching the series. Notlong afte r that , I sa w previews for a new serie s by the sam eproducers calle d Xena: Warrior Princess. Although a t firs t Ithought i t was going to be the female version of Hercules an dI decided no t t o watch it , I eventually caved in. Much to mysurprise, I though t Xena wa s actuall y a lo t bette r tha nHercules. It also contained ne w elements. Xena hadn't alwaysbeen a hero. She was trying to redeem herself. Also, Xena did-n't have to go through i t alone. She had a friend whose namewas Gabrielle.

Although what had drawn me to the show at first was theaction, afte r abou t a year, I started to look beyond that . Sure,Xena knew how to beat the bad guys up and she had a war crythat pumped my adrenaline every time, but i t was more thanthat that kept me watching. What made me tune in every weekwas the growing friendship between the Warrior Princess andthe Bard of Poteidaia. It was the fac t that nothing could comebetween them despite some rough times. As another year wentby, Xena's figh t with he r inne r demon s wa s explored a littl emore in depth. I then realize d how I myself had to fight withmy own inner demons. I recognized that we all have the poten-tial to do good or evil and that our actions define who we are.And that not doin g anything was almost as bad a s doing evil.So I decided that I would try to emulate Xena by striving to dogood ever y day . I learne d abou t th e greate r goo d an d tha tsometimes w e need t o sacrific e som e o f ou r ow n thing s t omake the world a better place.

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