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[Live] Breakthrough On A Budget

FurCast - Sat 19 Sep 2020 - 22:59

Loooong show. Lots of news and fun.

FurCast is sponsored by Twin Tail Creations. Use coupon codes REDWOLF or BLUEFOX to save up to 20% on silicone products during checkout. Free FurCast Themed Colorations are also available which can be applied as a color choice to your toy purchase.

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Link Roundup: News: Emails:
  • Redeye, the Rhody Red Lion – “Formative Years”
[Live] Breakthrough On A Budget
Categories: Podcasts

Bearly Furcasting #21 - Guest: EZ Wolf, Words in Sentences, Bamboo, Math and MadLibs

Bearly Furcasting - Sat 19 Sep 2020 - 14:00

MOOBARKFLUFF! Click here to send us a comment or message about the show!

This week we chat with EZ Wolf from The Netherlands. Taebyn tells us what Bamboo is, we do a MadLibs. This week debuts our new theme music from Regdeh with Damian Tanuki, and of course we trade bad jokes and puns. Join us for an hour of fun to take your mind off the current world issues!  

Support the Show.

Thanks to all our listeners and to our staff: Bearly Normal, Rayne Raccoon, Taebyn, and Ziggy the Meme Weasel.

You can send us a message on Telegram at BFFT Chat, or via email at: bearlyfurcasting@gmail.com

Bearly Furcasting #21 - Guest: EZ Wolf, Words in Sentences, Bamboo, Math and MadLibs
Categories: Podcasts

Oxfurred Comma: An Anthropomorphic Literature Convention (October 17th-18th)

Furry Writers' Guild - Fri 18 Sep 2020 - 03:00
Oxfurred Comma Is Comming Soon!

You’ve been hearing about Oxfurred Comma, but now we have all the details! Oxfurred Comma, an online anthropomorphic literature convention, will be taking place on October 17th-18th. We’ll be talking a bit about the convention here, and full details can be found on the Oxfurred Comma Website.

Convention panels will be streamed live on the official FWG Twitch account. We will also be hosting special chats and dealer’s den rooms on the FWG Discord. We have several features, panels, and events to consider submitting to including:

We hope to see many signups for our events, panels, and features. Please be sure to share this with all of your friends, fans of furry fiction, and any other furry you think might be interested. It’s up to us authors to help promote this big event, be sure to do your part. We look forward to seeing you all at the event!

Categories: News

与弗里茨狼(Fritzy Wolf)的谈话:通过乐趣来贡献——Furvana 举办云展代替取消的2020年大会

Global Furry Television - Thu 17 Sep 2020 - 21:57

随着越来越多的实体兽展因疫情而取消,网络活动及其对社会做出的贡献也呈上升趋势。位于美国华盛顿州(不是美国首都华盛顿特区)的Furvana兽展所举办的云展是近日最新的网络活动之一。
Categories: News

Interview With Redbone - Latinos, Cheetos, & Chicken McNuggets

What's The Fuzz?! - Thu 17 Sep 2020 - 09:43

Resources, Social Media & Donation Links
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Can You See Us Now?

On September 13th I sat down with my buddy Redbone a Latino living in the Chicago area who's not afraid to speak his mind. We don't waste time talking about the furry fandom and why there's a divide between the BIPOC furs and the white furs.

He's quick to point out the injustices he sees around him and doesn't take BS from anyone. Especially not the president. Throughout the interview he tells me where his seeds of doubt came from and why he went from wanting to be a cop to saying ACAB.

Don't forget to subscribe! I suggest Pocket Casts or Spotify. Thanks so much for listening.

Support the Show.

Interview With Redbone - Latinos, Cheetos, & Chicken McNuggets
Categories: Podcasts

(IVÁN): Israel sin holocaustos crece infinitamente con la naturaleza divina del Padre, enriqueciendo la tierra entera contigo siempre:

alt.fan.furry - Thu 17 Sep 2020 - 08:04
Sábado, 12 de Septiembre, 2020 de Nuestro Salvador Jesucristo, Guayaquil, Ecuador-Iberoamérica (Cartas del cielo son escritas por Iván Valarezo) Israel sin holocaustos crece infinitamente con la naturaleza divina del Padre, enriqueciendo la tierra entera contigo siempre: Tradicionalment
Categories: News

FWG Interview: Ana Valens on Furry, Reporting, and Patreon Guidelines for Adult Content

Furry Writers' Guild - Wed 16 Sep 2020 - 09:00

Welcome back for another FWG Interview! Today’s interview discusses adult content, so those that avoid things relating to erotic content or may be sex averse consider this your content warning before we continue.

Patreon has been cracking down on adult content which could directly affect income streams for furry writers. To help explain the situation and help writers prepare, we interviewed an expert on the subject: FWG member Ana Valens! Not only has she done a lot of reporting on the subject, but she’s also written many reports for mainstream media on the furry community while being a furry herself.

We sat down to discuss these changes to Patreon, her reporting, and her history with the furry community. Enough with the introductions, let’s get to the interview!

FWG: For those that might not know you, tell everyone a little about yourself.

Ana: Hello! Thank you so, so much for having me. My name is Ana Valens. I’m an NSFW reporter for the Daily Dot, a sex worker, an adult content creator, a leatherdyke, and, of course, a furry. I’m also a trans lesbian (she/her pronouns). That’s a lot of identities!

I first started writing professionally around 2012, but I really started to build a career for myself in 2014 when I started writing an LGBTQ column for a friend’s gaming site. In 2017, the Daily Dot brought me on as a freelancer, and it was there that I started to really write the hard-hitting stories about sex, gender, gaming, and trans rights. That’s also where the lion’s share of my reporting on the furry community began, including my piece on Bad Dragon, my guide to fursuits, my vore and giantess porn articles, my explanation on yiffing, etc etc etc.

FWG: What do you think makes a good story?

Ana: I have two answers to this as a fiction writer and a journalist!

For fiction, the most important thing is to create characters that readers care about. They don’t have to be similar to the reader (although I’m a huge advocate of this as a queer writer), but above all, what characters do, say, and feel need to make sense and have some sort of consistent logic, even if it appears illogical at first. I don’t believe good fiction comes from conflict (there are a lot of bad stories with good conflicts and a lot of beautiful stories with no conflict), but rather bringing characters together and seeing how they relate, interact, and grow (or don’t grow). This can be as simple as a main character understanding the world around them, or as complicated as, say, thee political drama between furry monarchs, dukes, and generals in a fantasy world under a scalie invasion. Conflict or not, characters have to have feelings that are understandable and relatable, feelings that flourish through storytelling. Achieve that, and the rest will follow.

As for journalism, a good story has to be newsworthy – that is, it has to speak to some sort of pressing issue or current event that others should know about. A lot of my furry coverage written by and for the furry community discusses issues they should know more about to make informed decisions as community members. Two good examples are my Bad Dragon story and my Mastodon story. My introductory guides to furry topics are technically for those outside the furry community, but they’re still for the community in the sense that they’re resources we can use to help educate non-furs.

In both of these cases, I believe what happens to the furry community both internally and externally is important, and it’s why I cover our community so passionately: because being a furry matters, and what happens to us matters. If you walk in to a furry story with that mindset, you’re halfway to a good story.

FWG: You have written several articles discussing furry topics from the history and issues of Bad Dragon to discussing the dfferences between mursuits and fursuits. What first inspired you to start reporting on furries?

Ana: Ahh, great question. The furry community’s history is so tightly connected with the internet, so as an internet-based reporter, the fandom has always interested me. But the thing that really turned me on to covering the furry community was the queer visual novel Anthrotari, which I wrote about for Kill Screen back in 2016. Anthrotari is an adorable game about the ‘90s queer furry IRC world, and it touches on everything from online connection amid offline isolation to the sort of playful, erotic energy that flowed (and still flows) through queer furry spaces. Just a few months earlier, I had covered Jae Bearhat and Rory Frances’ Little Teeth for Bitch Media, which I adored for its handling on the messiness of queer community (which, by the way, really came through in the full release). Anthrotari spoke to a lot of the same issues around queer belonging that made me gravitate toward Little Teeth in the first place, and so both titles planted that initial interest within me.

But my passion for covering the furry community really came out when I started learning more about the furry world and meeting other furs. So around late 2018 and 2019? I felt an innate sense of belonging among trans feminine furries in particular, like they understood and accepted me. That’s partly because I’m a leatherdyke, and there’s just this feeling of connection that comes between leather and queer furry spaces: we’re “others” ostracized both for our hobbies and interests as well as our systemically marginalized identities. One thing led to another, and well, here I am today!

FWG: Part of why you became a furry yourself was because of the reporting you did on the community. Can you tell us that story and a bit about your fursona?

Ana: I’m a ‘90s kid (‘94 to be exact) who grew up with the internet and knew about the furry community from a very, very young age. Unfortunately, I first learned about furries through anti-furry sentiment on sites like 4chan, Encylcopedia Dramatica, etc. The biggest and earliest “resource” for me was God Hates Furries, which popped up in 2001 and became a well-known anti-furry site during the 2000s. I must’ve stumbled across that site when I was 10 or 11, maybe? And as an impressionable kid struggling with a fuckton of internalized homophobia and transphobia, I believed God Hates Furries – for a time.

That changed dramatically as I started coming out as queer and meeting queer furs in 2015 and 2016. The furries I met were more often than not wonderful, accepting, and non-judgmental people. Reading Little Teeth in 2016 really opened my eyes to how there are many different ways to be a furry, including incredibly queer and political ways, but also aesthetic ones too. I’m far more a fan of Rory Frances’ style than the traditional funny-animals and Don Bluth-esque looks popular during the ‘90s and early 2000s.

So by the time I really started dipping my toe into furry subculture (2019) I had a lot of furry followers who became furry friends, and I fell in love with what I saw in the modern furry fandom: queer inclusion, sexual freedom, plurality in furry aesthetics, creativity and autonomous self-expression, so many other things. I came out proper as a furry this past January, and when quarantine started, I became very close with a number of lovely, wonderful queer and trans furries who really kept me going and gave me social connection when I was at the most risk of isolating myself from others. The furry community still has its problems for sure, but I think many parts of the furry fandom are lovely places to express onself. I certainly feel right at home in the little community I’ve carved out for myself.

As for how I came into creating my own fursona. My friend campmonday does a lot of furry artwork, and I fell in love with a doe girl they created in 2019. Their doe reminded me a lot of myself in certain ways, so I reached out to monday about commissioning a doe girl fursona design for myself. One thing led to another, and that spring, I had my first official fursona.

She’s supposed to be a reflection of myself down to a T: she’s not an idealized version of myself, but more like what I would be like if I was in an anthropomorphic cartoon or comic (Little Teeth? haha), flaws and all. I adore her and the design monday did, it still feels like such a fantastic representation of who I am IRL.

FWG: What is it like not only doing standard reporting but navigating that while doing sex work and creating queer adult content?

Ana: Ooh, great question. It’s as exciting as it is challenging. There are many sex workers in media, but there aren’t many that are out and open about doing sex work. The ones that are out are generally the exception over the rule. Our identities are fluid, too. There are many folks who come out only to withdraw their disclosure for their own safety or privacy. There’s no right way to be a sex worker with a public-facing civilian job, just many different ways to do it, but being bluntly out and open about it is… quite a lot to navigate.

As for the specifics of being a sex worker and an adult creator, it requires strong boundaries between your sex work, your personal life, and your civilian job(s). There’s a lot of threat modeling involved too. Every day I have to ask myself questions like, “what happens if my OnlyFans nudes leak? What happens if harassers find my sex work accounts?” I don’t think I would have come out as a sex worker if I didn’t already have a strong, stable career that could withstand whorephobia from within and without the editorial industry. Games in particular is really bad about this.

FWG: Quite a few furries write for independant news websites strictly about furry news or book reviews. Do you have any suggestions on how to pitch ideas for these sorts of articles to mainstream publications for anyone wanting to branch out?

Ana: Yes! First off, by writing about the furry community independently (whether for an indie publication, Medium, Substack, or even Dreamwidth and Tumblr), you’ve already fought half the battle: building your portfolio. This gives you a strong advantage when pitching publications because you have examples of your writing in action, and, hopefully, proof that you have a trustworthy voice within the community you want to write about (or at least discuss).

Beyond that, do some research into the different publications out there and whether they have prior furry or online subculture coverage. Then, pitch to places that are friendly to new voices: write a 300 to 400 word email to the submission editor detailing your past work, what you want to cover, and why it matters. On the queer and feminist side of things, Bitch Media, Autostraddle, and, of course, Daily Dot are all great picks. In terms of geekdom and gaming coverage that converges with the furry world, Fanbyte, Unwinnable, and Gayming Magazine are all friendly to new voices and pay decent rates as well.

FWG: Let’s move on to our main topic. It’s no secret that there are many erotica writers in the furry fandom. Plenty of these writers use Patreon to help get paid for their writing within the furry community.

Patreon has recently begun to crack down on adult content, even content posted to other websites. You have been reporting on these changes as they happen. Can you discuss why Patreon is doing this?

Ana: I used to believe Patreon’s recent censorship wave all came down to credit card companies and banks dictating what kind of content can be posted where and when on Patreon. I still think that’s the biggest contributing factor, but I don’t think that’s the sole explanation. There are high-risk payment processors out there that Patreon could have partnered with, but chooses not to. And if Patreon really cared, it would find ways to make room for the kind of content it’s now banning, just as it would have found ways to make room for the sex workers it deplatformed.

As Veil Machines’ E-Viction pinpoints so well, Patreon is engaging in something called digital gentrification: The site became popular because it provided adult content creators and sex workers with an avenue to collect money without a middle-man (i.e. a publisher, a studio) facilitating the exchange. Patreon now wants to change its image and branding so it’s influencer-friendly, so it’s cleaning out the porn and remaining sex workers. Now, YouTubers squeamish around hypno smut and murrsuits don’t have to feel uncomfortable using the site! Hooray! /s

TL;DR: Patreon is facing external pressure from its payment processors, but it’s also trying to change its target demographic, so they’re engaging in the same cruel cycle that happens all the time in Silicon Valley: a new start-up says sex workers and adult creators are welcome, raises investment money off our backs, becomes stable enough to no longer require us, spits us out, and invites in a more “respectable” crowd.

FWG: Some might be worried that getting their customers to move off Patreon, where they are already comfortable, might result in a serious loss of support. What can authors do to protect their sources of income through this?

While Patreon is the most popular, should furry writers consider switching to a different platform now to save time building a base there?

Ana: The sad reality is that we don’t know what’s going to happen next. I think Patreon will continue slowly picking its battles by carefully censoring and deplatforming the folks it knows it can get away with censoring and deplatforming: fetish creators, kinky erotica writers, adult artists doing anime content, furry porn writers and artists, etc. If it’s non-normative smut and likely to squick out a random person on the street, it’s a target.

Furry writers on Patreon should book a day to audit their online presence and figure out which platforms are the most important to them financially and socially. Then, use that report to create a backup plan that prepares you for the worst. If you rely on Patreon for most of your income, and if it’s the sole way you communicatee with the majority of your fans, start to branch out and monetize your base elsewhere. Twitter is a hot mess, but it’s where most people are these days, so I highly recommend hopping on there to start. Consider creating a Discord server and inviting your patrons and non-patrons alike to it: that way you can engage in direct communication with your fans and even create monetization solutions via your server. I don’t think it hurts to create a SubscribeStar right now either, although I would continue monetizing your content on Patreon for as long as you can to prevent potential income loss.

One closing thought: When the Tumblr NSFW purge hit, artists and writers that already had a strong following off-site on Patreon, Discord, Twitter, Mastodon instances, etc were in a much better position than those who did not. The key right now is to see where your target demographic hangs out and plant your feet there. But I wouldn’t run away from Patreon quite yet, because the purge process is still very slow: it’s better to be prepared than to uproot suddenly.

We would like to thank Ana once more for sitting down to talk with us! You can keep up with her and her work by following her on Twitter (NSFW). You can also check out her creative writing by checking out her trans lesbian BDSM erotic game Blood Pact on itch.io. We hope this interview was as informative as it was entertaining! Until next time, may your words flow like water.

Categories: News

TigerTails Radio Season 12 Episode 40

TigerTails Radio - Tue 15 Sep 2020 - 04:12
Categories: Podcasts

Spaghetti and a Nice Chianti?

In-Fur-Nation - Tue 15 Sep 2020 - 01:57

Okay, this has us scared… We just came across this article at Slash Film: “Gary Dauberman is producing Stray Dogs, a movie based on an upcoming Image Comics title from Tony Fleecs [My Little Pony] and Trish Forstner. Plot details aren’t readily available, but the project is described as Silence of the Lambs meets Lady and the Tramp. [!] The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop on the Stray Dogs movie, reporting that Paramount Animation and Gary Dauberman have picked up the rights, with Game Night writer Mark Perez tackling the script.” Image Comics is set to release the Stray Dogs comic in 2021, so we’ll know more of what we’re in for then.

image c. 2020 Image Comics

Categories: News

"Christianized" Furry Characters

Ask Papabear - Mon 14 Sep 2020 - 12:04
Dear Papabear,

I've been thinking about whether or not I should fatten up any furry characters who aren't Christians. You see, most of my fat comics and skinny pictures have portrayed Christian birds and other animals, and I'd like to know this: Is it a good idea, or should I just stick to my Christianized characters?

Signed,
Penguin Dareangel12

(P.S. I believe that fattening up humans - which I've NEVER done - disgraces God's image since He created human beings in his likeness; however, I know that fattening up animals is perfectly fine since they're NOT created in His image. Isn't that cool?)

* * *

Dear Penguin,

Well, I'm sorry to inform you that that is utter nonsense. "Created in God's image" has nothing to do with your body. What is meant by that is that human beings possess souls; God is Spirit, and this spirit imbues our essence.  It has nothing to do with your body.  God doesn't look like a Homo sapiens.  God is beyond mere physicality. God does not have a gender or legs or eyes or a mouth or hands or anything like that.  Christian portrayals of God as an old man on a throne are mere anthropomorphic interpretations of the Great Spirit.  Therefore, in your art, portraying Christians or non-Christians as overweight is not an insult to God because it is completely unrelated to God.

I'm surprised you didn't know that. But there it is. I think if you talked to any modern priest or minister they would agree on this point. That said, I am not a Christian and have different ideas about the spiritual, but that is a longer letter....

​Hugs,

Papabear

Be Sympathetic to Parents' Confusion as You Explore Your Sexual/Gender Identity

Ask Papabear - Mon 14 Sep 2020 - 11:52
Dear Papabear,

Since I was about 7 years old, I've felt like I wasn't a girl. When I tried talking to my dad about it, he told me not to listen to how I feel. At first, I thought I wanted to be a boy, but 3 years ago I discovered the term non-binary and only came out about a month ago. I only told my mom and best friend, and while my best friend has been super supportive, my mom seems a bit uncomfortable. I told her she could continue to call me "she" and her "daughter" to make her more comfortable, but it doesn't feel right. I want her to call me "they," but I don't want her to feel weird. Me and her have always loved drag queens, and she has always told me if I ever turned out to be gay she would be supportive, so it confuses me a bit to know she's uncomfortable with me being non-binary. Do you have any idea why she might feel this way and what I could do to make her feel better?

Hugs,
Hijinkx the Cataroo (13)

* * *

Dear Hijinkx,

First of all, your father's advice to not listen to how you feel is absolutely THE WORST advice he could possibly give you. So, do not listen to him on this point. As for your mother, at least she is trying to be sympathetic to you. I think she is uncomfortable about the non-binary term because she doesn't really understand what that is.  She can comprehend homosexuality, but, let's face it, lately, there has been a lot of research and terms being flung around by the scientific and LGBTQI+ community that can be very confusing to most people. This page https://www.healthline.com/health/different-types-of-sexuality lists 46 terms that describe sexuality, gender, and orientation, for example, and there are actually even more than that.

What's going on here is that science, in recognizing that human sexuality and gender are very complex, is attempting to define all the various possibilities. Many people find this helpful because there is a sense of relief when one feels that one's personal feelings have been validated scientifically. But for those who are just plain-old heterosexual, white bread, and socially "normal," it can muddle the issue more than it clarifies it. I mean, throw around terms like cisgender, skoliosexual, demisexual, etc., and you are gonna get a blank stare. So many definitions can give one a headache and make one just want to tune it all out.

But just as this terminology can take some time and study to comprehend, so is your own sexuality coming into definition. At 13, you are still undergoing many changes, and you are still figuring things out. You are making a lot of progress and you definitely have resolved the fact that you don't feel like a girl even though that is what you are genetically. But now you are working toward what exactly that means and what variations of that apply to you, as well as how are you going to deal with it. This is an extremely personal voyage that only you can travel, although it helps when you have support from family and friends, people who can hold your hand.

What I am saying is this: Do not rush too quickly into defining yourself. You are only 13, and you are going to be developing physically, mentally, and emotionally for years to come still. And, just as you should not push yourself to the finish line too quickly (the finish line will just move farther ahead anyway), you should not push your parents too hard, either. Do not insist on them using the "they" pronoun yet. To them, you are their daughter, and that is a lot of responsibility in and of itself. Let them call you by whatever they are comfortable with. It is not an important issue right now. What is important is that you continue to explore your own feelings (and ignore parents who say ignore your feelings). This is not to say don't talk to your parents! TALK to them. But don't insist on anything. Just be honest about how you feel and don't put a label on it. Labels can be limiting anyway. If your mother can deal with this best by just thinking of you as being gay, then let her for now, even if she is not being accurate. If your father can't grasp your complex identity just yet, then let him just think of you as his daughter.

While this is all very much about you, it is also about your parents and their feelings. Try to be as sympathetic to what they are going through as you would like them to be about what you are going through. Do you understand? This is a process that will take many years. Do not expect instant results or instant sympathy and understanding. Take your time and be patient with them. And count yourself lucky that at least your parents are there for you, even though they are struggling to understand you. 

And remember: we are more than just our sexuality and gender. We are complex beings of mind, spirit, and body. Your sexuality and gender are just one aspect of a complex human being--do not neglect the other aspects of yourself while you evolve as a person, and do not keep your parents from appreciating those other aspects as they strive to raise their child. Let them into your life without being insistent on what is just one part of you. Don't hide it, but don't bludgeon them with it, if you get my drift.

Let me know if you have any further questions. 

Big Bear Hugs,
Papabear

A talk with Fritzy Wolf – Contribution through fun: Furvana ‘takes the internet’ in lieu of cancelled 2020 convention

Global Furry Television - Mon 14 Sep 2020 - 02:28

点击此,读中文报道 As more physical furcons cancel due to the pandemic, the trend of online events, as well as their contributions to society rises. Furvana, a furcon based in the US state of Washington (not to be confused with the US capital city Washington D.C.), is one of the latest events to do so. On Sept. […]
Categories: News

Looking On In Awwww

In-Fur-Nation - Sun 13 Sep 2020 - 01:53

And another “ridiculously cute” (to quote one critic) full-color graphic novel for young readers: Bunbun & Bonbon, Volume 1 — Fancy Friends, written and illustrated by Jess Keating. “Bunbun has it all: a delightful Bunbun nose, a winning Bunbun smile, a ridiculously cute Bunbun tail, and not one, but two adorable Bunbun ears. But Bunbun doesn’t have a friend — until Bunbun meets Bonbon. Learning how to be fancy and eating donuts for lunch are two of the duo’s many adventures in this irresistible young graphic novel by acclaimed author and illustrator Jess Keating. Hop hop hooray!” Previews has more.

image c. 2020 Scholastic

Categories: News

Bearly Furcasting #20 - Fox Amoore from Foxes and Peppers, General mayhem!

Bearly Furcasting - Sat 12 Sep 2020 - 14:00

MOOBARKFLUFF! Click here to send us a comment or message about the show!

This week we are honored to have Fox Amoore from Foxes and Peppers as our guest. He talks with us about the making of the video Come Find Me, and Dream Catcher as well as many other aspects of his fascinating life.  We learn a bit about Nuns, Hobbits and Johnny Cash. Flatland is discussed, the 3rd, 4th and 5th dimensions make an appearance along with the IARP. Do Leprechauns and Elves share a common ancestry?  Find out all this and more with Taebyn and Bearly on this very special 20th episode!

Support the Show.

Thanks to all our listeners and to our staff: Bearly Normal, Rayne Raccoon, Taebyn, and Ziggy the Meme Weasel.

You can send us a message on Telegram at BFFT Chat, or via email at: bearlyfurcasting@gmail.com

Bearly Furcasting #20 - Fox Amoore from Foxes and Peppers, General mayhem!
Categories: Podcasts

Dungeon Crawly Critters

In-Fur-Nation - Sat 12 Sep 2020 - 01:16

And more new stuff from MacMillan Publishing. Dungeon Critters is a new full-color fantasy graphic novel written by Natalie Riess and illustrated by Sara Goetter. “Join the Dungeon Critters — a tight-knit squad of animal companions — on a wild adventure investigating a sinister botanical conspiracy among the furry nobility. As they risk their lives traveling through haunted dungeons, swamps, and high society balls — they also come closer together as friends. Motivated by rivalries, ideals, and a lust for adventure, these critters navigate not only perils and dangers of the natural world, but also perils and dangers…of the heart!” MacMillan has preview pages on line. Look for it later this month.

image c. 2020 First Second

Categories: News

Some Tips on Moving to Another State

Ask Papabear - Thu 10 Sep 2020 - 11:13
Dear Papa Bear,

I'm writing to you because you've helped me out multiple times while I was a teenager, and it just felt nice to come to you for advice once more as an adult! So for that, let's start this off with a thank you.

So, the TLDR of my situation is that my parents divorced. Dad retired from the army, kicked me out. My mom helped me move to California, where I had a lot more job opportunities. Mom is moving back with her bf in January, and I'm planning on leaving California. They (half) joke about you needing to make $30/h or higher to live here on your own haha. It's just a bit too expensive for my taste.

So when January comes, I'm hoping to go to Kansas, but I'm unsure, actually. It'll be my first time on my own. I was always planning on moving out but so many things in life kept happening that my plans kept suddenly changing.

When it comes to that time, do you have any advice on moving out on your own? How much money should I have saved up? What things should I do to make sure it goes smoothly? Advice on getting an apartment for the first time?

Sorry that this is a big question. It's been weighing on my mind a lot lately.

Anonrat

* * *

Dear Anonrat,

Welcome back. It's weird, this column has been going on for about 8 years now and, yes, some original letter writers who were teens back then are now adults. How fast you grow up!

Depending where you live in California, you need to make more or less money. For example, it's much cheaper to live in the Central Valley than in a coastal city, but I get what you're saying.

Moving across the country is a really complicated and involved process, and I could write a book on just how to do that. Really, too much to say for this little column of mine. But I can give you a few pointers:

  • Have a job in your new location BEFORE you move; otherwise, it could be an expensive disaster in which you spend a lot of time and money and end up moving back to where you started. This is critical. Don't just up and move without a plan. If you need to, find a temporary place to stay while you job hunt. 
  • How much money should you save? As much as you possibly can. There are too many factors to say. If you can save up a lot of money--enough to cover expenses while you job hunt--then good for you. If you already have a job waiting for you, then all you will need is enough to cover travel expenses and, say, at least two-months' rent and deposit money.
  • Finding an apartment: it helps if you know people out there who have an apartment and then you can ask them if they like where they are living. I didn't know anyone out here in the valley before I moved and ended up in a shitty apartment. Fortunately, I only lived there a year before getting a house. Barring personal contacts, try a ratings site such as https://www.apartmentratings.com/ks/ to help you gauge which places are run well and in your price range.
  • When moving, try to move as few things as possible. Moving trucks and companies for cross-country are pricey, so if you don't have a lot of furniture etc., try to pack everything in your car and go. If you have some old furniture and stuff, I would advise selling it and buying new when you arrive. If you have too much stuff to fit in your car, consider boxing some of it up and mailing it to your destination.
  • Get to know where you are going--in your case, Kansas. Here is a helpful guide https://www.greatguyslongdistancemovers.com/moving-to/kansas/

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Papabear