The acting community is amazing. Everyone is so supportive of each other. I experienced that with the From Cleveland, For Cleveland series. I experienced it at the Women in Film Happy Hour. And I experienced it December 15, 2022 at the Greater Cleveland Film Commission quarterly Mixer. Real community.
No great story here. Just me walking in alone and having conversation after conversation with people I know, people who know me and people I had not yet had the pleasure of meeting.
Then on December 18, 2022 we had the final From Cleveland, For Cleveland event, Monica Potter. She was a delight!
Monica Potter is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles in the films Con Air (1997), Patch Adams (1998), and Along Came a Spider (2001). She also appeared in the horror films Saw (2004) and The Last House on the Left, a 2009 remake film.
Potter has also appeared on television, as a series regular on Boston Legal, as well as a Golden Globe-nominated role as Kristina Braverman in the NBC drama series Parenthood (2010–2015). She was a series regular in the CBS drama Wisdom of the Crowd.
Potter is also known as the founder and principal owner of Monica Potter Home, an upscale home goods, natural skin care and home decor business in Cleveland, Ohio.
She was so open and very human. Without my realizing it, I had selected a seat which had me front and center in every camera shot of the crowd. Monica began calling some of the crowd out. Alex, a young man seated in front of me, wearing a crucifix necklace, became “cross boy”. Another young man who came in late due to traffic issues, sat down with his popcorn and therefore became “popcorn boy”. Me, I was “striped shirt”.
She ran long with answers to the questions posed, so I did not get to ask my question. But while closing the event, she asked what my name was. This gave me the opportunity to run the mic and deliver a joke I was planning. A little background, I went to Catholic High School in the Cleveland area. Monica, ten years my junior, did the same and she mentioned it while talking. So of course, I ran to the mic and introduced myself and said I was also a Catholic school girl….too bad I went to al all-boys school (which I did). Conversations with four Hollywood stars over the past few months and I made each and every one of them laugh! What a waste of talent I am……
The title of this post is to demonstrate the tremendous sense of community I have experienced in the acting and the modeling communities. Everyone is so supportive. Juxtapose that against the so-called LGBTQ “community” and my experience reaching out for help on the Facebook problems I had. No support, no community, whatsoever. No one cared and I have experienced that frequently. I have made some tremendous LGBT friends, but those are individual relationships. But the lack of communal support still baffles me. If anyone asked me for help and I was not able to help, I would at the very least, acknowledge their request and let them know I am unable (not unwilling) to help.
6 Responses
Kandi,
You have to accept it’s a part closeted world , people can’t always be what they want to be and some have other agendas , all we can do is be there for them .
Sometimes we may be scary to them , we live in a different world to some of them , they often have to accept they have reached a limit ( or a brickwall in my case ! )
I’ve just read a Jan Morris biography , she never considered helping the trans community as she claimed not to be an expert , all she needed was to move from James to Jan and get on with her writing .
Terri,
Sorry my friend, but I could not disagree with you more.
1. These are LGBT organizations I am speaking of. They are by definition, not closeted. They are also by definition, there to help their constituency. I have received wonderful support from LGBT individuals, but the organizations have not been there.
2. Yes, if we do nothing more than to be there for someone, that is help, but these organizations are not there.
3. Ongoing silence means nothing ever changes. If I simply accept this, as you suggest, than I am no better than those who actively seek to harm LGBT people.
4. Again the people I am referencing DO live in the world we live in.
5. Regarding Jan Morris, that is her prerogative to not help, but that is an excuse, not a reason. You have recently read about me helping the Diversity Center, yet I do not know what it’s like to be a gay teenager. I recently helped The Providence House, yet I know nothing about the struggles of a single mother in crisis.
If I accepted my lot in life, as you suggest, I would not have done all the amazing things I have done and met the amazing people I have met and done the actual, real world, tangible good that I have done.
Sorry, Terri, I will not accept injustice or neglect and I will help anyway that I am able.
Kandi
Kandi,
From my own experiences I know some within the LGBTQ community don’t want change because they are working from their personal agenda . As you know I’ve had more abuse from members of the trans communtiy than I have ever had in the RW . I must admit I’m dissapointed with the groups I used to belong to , some will really hate and despise you for acheiving what you have . Nowdays I feel like an outsider , I’m not sure how I can help members of my communtiy anymore possibly because many aren’t interested in transition , they just enjoy the few hours of dressup , that’s fine by me . In that context you may find you scare or intimidate some people without realising it . In a back handed way it could be considered a compliment because they see some of us as women .
The sad thing is you are right and it should not be that way, especially in this community. Thanks Terri!
Im so happy for your success Kandi..
Thank you Jen. My “success” is having friends like you!