Month: January 2016

as originally posted on upr.org

By MELISSA ALLISON

“Fursona” is a documentary premiering at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City on Jan. 22. It’s a first time effort for director Dominic Rodriguez that focuses on the world of furries, people who like to dress up like animals.

“I think that part of what the journey of the movie was the struggle and making a good solid definition because there are so many people in it,” said Rodriguez.

“I had called myself a furry but I never really understood it until I was about 17 years old. I went to work as a mascot for a Single A baseball team, surprisingly as a raccoon. And the first time I got in that suit and that mascot was just completely surreal. I mean, I could be as energetic, as happy, as crazy as I could be and people loved it.” – Diezel
“Since it’s different to everyone that is in that community,” Rodriguez said., “it’s hard to say something that is all inclusive.”

Rodriguez who is a furry himself, said he wanted to shed some light on the furry community. However, because of the negative media coverage in past years, it’s difficult to do.

“There’s a lot of fear in the furry community about it being misrepresented,” he said.

You can see furries all around at amusement parks, mascots at football games, and sometimes even on Main Street promoting a company or event. For some furries, it’s a profession, while for others, it’s a lifestyle.

“So many of us are into creating art and street performance basically with our fur suits.”said Cameron Liddiard, a furry who lives in Utah.

“A lot of furry conventions have dance competitions because there is a big dance art community in the fandom. It’s different than any other fandom because like here, no one cares who wins, everyone supports everyone, and like it’s just a big family.” – Skye
Throughout the documentary the audience is exposed to conflicts within the community. Everything from how to be a furry, to politics within their society.

Uncle Kage is a researcher by profession and is also a chairman of Anthrocon, a furry convention. He wears a lab coat at his speaking engagements opposed to his furry costume.

“I’ve got a professional reputation that I have to maintain.” – Uncle Kage

Another fursona is Boomer. He’s the antithesis of Uncle Kage who made his own costume out of clothes and shredded paper. He sweeps parts of his hair on top of his head making puppy ears.

“I love furries so much I want to see all kinds of people have it and enjoy it if they’d like to. And I’d like them to see all sides of furry, you know good and bad, whatever it is. I don’t think there’s much bad to it. People try to discover themselves in different ways.” – Boomer
“I didn’t want to just turn it into, like this tight, neat, little story. I wanted to get to know the people so we spent years,” Rodriguez said. “Like when I first met Boomer, I was shocked by his lifestyle but then the more I got to know him the more insight he shared with me and I sort of realized what a good handle on all of this he has.”

Rodriguez realized throughout the making of the documentary that something complex can still be positive.

“It doesn’t necessarily need to be like a PR piece to still have an overall positive effect,” he said. “I think if furries are portrayed as humans, you know as like flawed human … that isn’t necessarily a negative thing.”

And when all is said and done, as Rodriguez said, he hopes people walk away with a better understanding of who they are.

“It seems so strange at first,” Rodriguez said. “I hope at the end of it it’s not about furry anymore for the audience and they’ve just gotten to know these people. But see them as people and I think that is so important to me.”

BY ALICIA FREESE

as originally posted on seven days

During Burlington’s Mardi Gras celebration last February, a city employee ordered a band of people dressed as furry animals to remove their masks. The charge: They were “performing” on Church Street without the required permit.

The revelers were members of Vermont Furs — people known as “furries,” who share an interest in anthropomorphic cartoon animals. They had attempted to renew their permit prior to Mardi Gras, according to Jessica Owens — whose “fursona” is a race car-driving corgi — but had been told to hold off while the Church Street Marketplace revamped its permit policy.

Marketplace executive director Ron Redmond said he supported allowing the Vermont Furs to return to Church Street, but he first wanted to ensure patrons would be safe. He noted that in New York’s Times Square, people dressed as the Cookie Monster and Spider-Man had pickpocketed and groped people.

In the meantime, the Vermont Furs learned that Church Street wasn’t the only place that was off-limits to them. An obscure city ordinance prohibits people over age 21 from wearing masks in public, effectively barring their kind from Burlington.

UPDATE: The Church Street Marketplace updated its process for permitting street performers, and, as a result, it’s a lot harder to make the cut. In the past, “99 percent” of applicants got approved; now, just 40 percent.

Nonetheless, Redmond said the Vermont Furs would likely pass muster.

Why haven’t they auditioned?

The marketplace also upped the price of permits. The group of 12 would have to pay $540 for a one-year permit, which would cover background checks and administrative costs. That’s not feasible for the Vermont Furs, who entertain for free, Owens said.

In their quest to do away with the mask ban, the furries have gained an influential ally: Allen Gilbert, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. In early November, Gilbert urged Burlington to repeal its ordinance after police detained two men wearing Guy Fawkes masks at an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally. Gilbert argued that masks can be a form of political expression — and therefore protected speech.

In response, Burlington’s city attorney, Eileen Blackwood, is analyzing the ban. She expects to recommend “potential revisions” to the city council’s ordinance committee in January.

I have to say something about those idiots who stormed that bird sanctuary in Oregon, 100% idiots the lot of them, I know what was said on the news of how 2 friends were sent to prison for poaching wildlife on federal land, and then committed arson to cover their tracks. Believe me when I say I seen these type of people before. My late father was a hunter, and it was because of him I won’t even touch a gun. It seemed he and his friends thought it was fun aiming loaded rifles at me. Yes that really happened. These type of people before and all of them think they can do no wrong, and everyone will support them, like them now begging for snacks after they already told the media they could hold out indefinitely. Which is just plain stupid, considering they are out in the middle of nowhere and nobody wants them there. Besides even if that was the case you really think the cops would let anyone near where they are held up?!!! Hell no. They even told a reporter the other day they are surprised no rallies of support. Really now you’re surprised???!!!! Look all the cops have to do is wait them out. One of these days they are going to run out of food. By some estimates should only take a couple of weeks and all of them will be joining their friends in prison. I think the min sentence is only 3 years for what they done. BTW under Oregon law, since they have committed a felony by breaking into a federal facility they will no longer be able to own a gun after this. Way to go idiots!!!