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I want more contacts to bother!
Add me on Skype if you will~ my username is: neurotoxinstudios. Add me! :D
submitted by z0mBiEs23[link] [4 comments]
Birds of a Feather
It’s so trite that it’s an eyeroller. But that doesn’t mean it’s not true. Birds of a feather do flock together, even when the “birds” in question lack bills and plumage. I’d guess this is especially evident in my native United States because our population is among the most culturally diverse on the planet. Take my original hometown of St. Louis, for example. During my childhood Italian-Americans lived in a neighborhood called “The Hill”, while German-Americans (commonly referred to as “scrubby Dutch”, and half of my own ethnic heritage) mostly tended to live on the South Side and in the inner southern suburbs. The city’s small but prosperous Lebanese population also lived towards the south end of town, though not so far in that direction as the Germans. Old-money rich folks lived mostly in a now-decrepit area not far from Forest Park, while more recently prosperous families bought homes in the suburbs of Ladue or Brentwood. Artsy types were mostly clustered in a couple little zones near either Washington University or Webster College, in Webster Groves. The gay community was very small in those days, but even so Tower Grove Park and the neighborhoods immediately surrounding it were closely associated with what little activity there was. The North Side of St. Louis, as well as the adjoining suburbs, have been home to most of St. Louis’s African-American population for as long as I can remember and probably much longer.
St. Louis isn’t at all unusual in how the various social and ethnic groups are geographically clustered; choose any American city and you’ll see pretty much the same pattern repeat itself over and over again. In fact, it doesn’t even take a city-sized population for the trend to manifest itself—not far from my current home in Middle Tennessee a group of artists are trying to start an “art village” in what was once a cluster of vacation homes overlooking Kentucky Lake, pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. It seems, in other words, that “flocking” of this sort is a basic human behavior pattern. Sometimes the clustering is involuntary and/or due to economic discrimination and racism, as in the old-style Jewish ghettos of Europe and arguably in the case of many of America’s worst urban nightmare-neighborhoods of today. For the most part, however, the decision to live together in culturally-distinct groups is clearly a voluntary choice by groups of individuals who share much in common and wish to live a lifestyle together that’s optimized towards their own specialized wants and needs.
We furry authors have been taking advantage of this tendency almost since there have been furry authors. The “Blind Pig” storyverse is just one example among many; it’s adventures are centered on what amounts in social-function terms to a gay-type bar located in a distinctly furry neighborhood. (Yes, Blind Pig characters sometimes are not furry and suffer from unrelated issues that have nothing to do with anthropomorphism. But let’s keep things simple for the purpose of this essay.) I’ve seen this pattern repeated in more furry stories than I can remember, and even in stories in which there are no normal humans I often note references to “the canine district”, “Vulpine Alley”, “The Warrens”, etc. “Neighborhooding” is such a basic, familiar phenomenon that it’s hard for human authors to imagine a world in which it does not take place.
Now, let’s take it one step further. Recall the St. Louis neighborhoods I cited. Most were based on ethnicity. But…
…one was the gay district. And another was the “artsy parts of town”.
After attending as many furry conventions as I have and watching the fandom interact with itself, I’ve often wondered. Will we, someday, become culturally distinct enough from mainstream society to form a neighborhood or our own somewhere? Real-life, I mean—not fictionally.
I mean, think about it. Ears and tails, when we choose to wear them, mark us as visibly different from society at large in very much the same way as a Hassidic Jew is visible. Our tastes in recreation and art are also notably different—how many non-furs so love to wear whimsical costumes in public? In a furry neighborhood, game-shops would flourish and suit-makers would operate little boutiques in the most expensive parts of town. People would hug each other openly on street-corners, while perhaps on the busiest street corners professional suiters would “busk” for tips and photo opportunities. Tourists would come from all over to see this, which would in turn mean souvenir shops and nice hotels for them to stay in. Policemen and street repair gangs would be free to wear—or not—ears and tails on the job, while art would be everywhere.
It’s doable, I think. Unlikely, yes—at least in my lifetime. But eminently doable, and probably economically viable as well. A large furcon is a lot like a temporary neighborhood, in that it provides structure and security for a large population for a few days. So, in a sense, a furry neighborhood would just sort of be like a large con that simply never ends. And isn’t that a wonderful thought?
I once wrote a story based on this premise entitled “Pelton”. In it, several thousand furs backed by a multi-millionaire buy large parts of a failing downstate Illinois town in order to create a furry “homeland”. (It’s available at http://tsat.transform.to/stories/pelton.html for anyone who wishes to read it, but I’ll offer advance warning that it’s one of my earliest works and therefore needs re-editing badly. Someday I’ll get around to that…) Between the furs, the poor befuddled Old People who predated the anthropomorphic invasion and the eternal fandom-type drama that was always waiting to rip and rend everything that’d been so carefully built, well… It was quite a challenge for the man unfortunate enough to be Mayor. Yet in the end, like our fandom itself the grand experiment proved capable of giving birth to something… Beautiful.
Do I really expect to live to see it happen? Not really, unless we’re lucky enough to find the kind of deep-pocketed backer I specify in my story. But…
…just on the off-chance, I vote for someplace with a warm climate and affordable housing like Florida or Texas. And… Please call me early, because I want to buy a house with a balcony overlooking the town square!
RIP: Lemondae Coyote
RIP LemonadeCoyote
This is a tragic loss for the furry community. Last night he passed while on duty as an EMT. RIP Tim McCormick http://fox59.com/2013/02/16/ambulance-involved-in-crash-downtown/#axzz2L5HHcgV7
Here is a picture of him RL (on right) : http://i.imgur.com/N14F6PG.jpg
One of him in his fursuit with a friend : http://i.imgur.com/R9tzSU1.jpg
He also suited as Cyrus the deer and Lemonade Coyote
He said this is one of his favorite pictures of himself : http://i.imgur.com/oAGRk.jpg
Here is his video as part of the "It gets better project" http://youtu.be/3nAHdrVy4xY
submitted by evilsibe[link] [56 comments]
FA getting dumped again
A Young Dog Learning New Tricks
Valley Dog is a full-color on-line comic created by Michael Adinso Rebrekal, also known as Mike Folf. “Born and raised in the affluent and bustling capital of Washington, DC. The young Francis Gris knows of nothing but a life of strict and stern professionalism, shunned from the likes of artistically creative endeavors. This all changes when, for business reasons, the coyote and his family move across the country to the small town of Silvercreek, California. In order to maintain his lifestyle, Francis’ parents enroll him into Picasso Charter High School – the one school in town that is renowned for its emphasis on professionalism. However, it soon turns out that the school (and the town as a whole) is anything but.” You can find out more and see the latest adventures at — where else? — www.valleydogcomic.com.
image c. 2013 by Mike Folf
Summer Days (IA Sketch), by Cherrybox
The mods of /r/furry, while awesome, aren't very active. Could we maybe add a new mod or two that are more active?
Hello fuzzies! First off, no disrespect to the mod team over here. Thanks for doing what you do.
However, while This is a pretty self maintaining subreddit, some more active mods wouldn't hurt. Perhaps when one of you guys read this, we could perhaps do some moderator applications? Or something like that.
This is just a post I felt like sharing instead of messaging the mods. Feel free to discuss, obviously.
submitted by allthefoxes[link] [18 comments]
In 2011 I made it my new years resolution to leave the furry fandom. 22 months later I discovered reddit, which in turn lead me here. I've never felt more at home. Thank you all so much.
When I was 16 I discovered the horrors of the Internet and eventually found my way into the fringes of furry society. At this age I still didn't know who or what I was and some of the more questionable aspects of the fandom started to consume my personality. I made the decision to cut it out of my life altogether after a year or two of expose as I thought it was poisoning my soul.
Towards the end of 2012 I found reddit and discovered in some random askreddit /r/furry. I fought against the urge to come here with all my might. Every ounce of my mind and body told me it was wrong. I don't know how easy it was for the rest of you to come to terms with your niche interest but I'm still struggling. After staring at the screen for a good half hour I finally summoned the courage to enter the fandom once more.
What I found surprised me. Not only was this SFW (or as SFW as anything furry can be) but there is a sense of community here which I'd never experienced in my earlier years. This is the place I should have been all that time ago. I guess I have some catching up to do.
So to all of you wonderful people out there in the world, even though you've never spoken to me before, thank you. Thank you for helping me fill a void in my life, helping me come to terms with what I am, and for helping me find a new home and hopefully some new friends too. :)
submitted by GoneFurAWhile[link] [12 comments]
Furry Cons
Ok what cons are yall attenting in the future? I know FWA ( Furry Weeken Atlanta) is next month and me and my mate are attending? who else is going so maybe we can have a reddit meet up =_=
submitted by LucasKale69[link] [31 comments]
![[link]](http://i.imgur.com/1UAprrV.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](http://i.imgur.com/kmQbs9M.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](http://i.imgur.com/1ZU63n2.jpg){kind=link}
Fursuit Video linked in Political Blog entry
From "Wingnut PAC Used Female Interns For Simulated Sex Video With Hillary, Panda Bear"
Emotionally Damaged, He Runs Away from Relationships
I’m coming to you for an answer that I can’t quite answer myself. I wish I could say I had an awesome childhood (which I might have had but don’t remember much), but I mostly remember the painful memories that I endured. My dad cheated on my mom several times, but she forgave him and tried to make it work so we could keep our family together. During those times my dad would take me to his mistress's houses and then would threaten me of disownment if I ever spoke of them to my mother. Eventually they got divorced which was messy and somewhat set the path of an even more interesting childhood as we grew up constantly living with our dad or mom for a few years. The lies and tricks my dad pulled were horrible and have somewhat set influence in my life.
I feel nowadays that these memories have taken its toll on my life. I have fears of commitment, trust, and abandonment and because of that I have set up a defense that leaves me emotionless most of the time and hurts others around me. I created a trait of self-sabotage. Sometimes when I feel I get too close to someone, I get scared and I distance myself from them, sometimes I cut communication, I come up with excuses, I leave them for someone else, end a friendship, etc. I do it with as little emotion as possible. I feel this way I wont get hurt and that I wont have to ever deal with the possibilities of my fears, but because I do this, it hurts those iv become close to or friends around me.
My question is, how do I stop sabotaging myself so I can enjoy life the way its intended and stop hurting friends and loved ones around me?
SpaceBear Sparx
* * *
Dear SpaceBear,
Parents are so key to our lives. They can nurture you and help you grow into a well-adjusted adult, or they can totally fruckerhump your brain and scar you emotionally for years to come. Your dad didn’t give you a very good example of how to be a loving and good human being. Observing him as you grew up, you developed this sense of “this is how adults behave in relationships” and imposed that world view upon your own life.
What you need to remember are two things: 1) You are not your father, and 2) The past is the past. The only reason why you are having problems with your social relationships now is because you believe that your life will somehow mimic that of your parents. Furthermore, your self-esteem has been crushed.
In order for you to regain control of your life, you need to acknowledge that you are in charge of your own decisions. What you are currently doing is allowing FEAR to control you. When you are afraid, when you are scared of things, you will inevitably make bad choices, as I have said before in other columns. And the only person you are hurting is yourself by doing this.
SpaceBear, do you want to be happy? Do you find that this strategy of yours of running away from relationships and being “emotionless” makes you happy? Bet you $100 right now it doesn’t make you happy, or else why write to me?
You are confusing the relationship you had with your parents as being commensurate with a relationship with a potential mate. You need to divest yourself of this incorrect thinking. Yes, relationships can be hard sometimes, and there is no guarantee that you will find a mate who will always be by your side forevermore. However, if you run away from every possible chance you have at happiness, you are GUARANTEEING you will never be happy.
Because you no doubt have low self-esteem from the way your parents treated you, what you need to do is get that back. You can start with some meditation exercises. Find a quiet place to be with your own thoughts and, for at least 15 minutes a day, say, out loud, to yourself, “I deserve happiness. I am a good person. I deserve love. I deserve someone to love and someone who will love me back. I am worthy of being loved.” You don’t have to use those exact words, but something similar. You need to hear them, which is why I tell you to say them out loud. There might be times when those “little voices in your head” tell you otherwise. When they do, shout them down! Yell at them, “You are wrong! I am a good person! I deserve to be happy!” Keep yelling at them until they shut up.
SpaceBear, I know you personally (as a few of my readers might know) and I can tell you’re a good guy. Your father was wrong and cruel to threaten to disown you. You have a loving heart, and in our conversations you have repeatedly told me you want to help the furry community. Judging by your letter, other people have sensed this too, and they have approached you, but you have pushed them away.
By doing this, you might think you are protecting yourself, but you are not. You are hurting yourself. Like a person who is addicted to smoking and is damaging his health, at some point you have to stub out the cigarette and tell yourself to stop it. Self-doubt and self-criticism can become addictive, too. You’re used to it; it even feels good sometimes, doesn’t it? Like a relief. “I don’t have to get involved in a relationship because I am unworthy, so why put out the effort?”
I have a feeling you know all of this already, don’t you? You just needed to hear it from someone else. Now that you’ve heard it, do something about it. Work on defeating that inner voice that brings you down, and the next time someone comes up to you and asks you on a date, tell them “Yes!” Or the next time you see someone cute that you like, resist every negative inclination in your body and go over to them and ask them out. Dive into that ocean, SpaceBear, and be renewed.
Papabear