So the month of February marks my thirteenth anniversary entering the fandom. I seem to be in this weird nexus of an age where I know a number of people who have been in the fandom since before I was even in intermediate school, yet I still get comments, or have conversations with people where at some point the phrase, " Man I remember you from back in the day!" emerges. Not that it bugs me but between then and now things have changed quite a bit. So instead of working like a responsible individual I'm going to spend some time being introspective.

I was introduced to furry back in 2000 by my ex and still best friend Erin ( aka ) Aside from the striking image of a Macro horse jizzing into a street- flooding it and wreaking havoc among the inhabitants there were other reasons why the fandom was such a breath of fresh air. And yes that image was done by none other than Erin and I were very big into anime at that time, and during that period of time it felt like a lot of anime fan galleries, at least in our short spectrum of knowledge at the time was severely lacking in variety of styles. So when I went from Gideon, to Karabiner, to  greenmonkey ( at that time going by Petrol ), Steve Buttenshaw and Rat Candy we ended up seeing WORLDS of variety already. I'm of course only naming a few names there. My involvement was sparse through highschool and eventually non existent through a significant part of college up until the end. Of course now it's part of how I make a living which I am eternally grateful for and despite some issues here and there I much prefer doing this than working retail... thank GOD.

My view on the fandom has run the gambit from "OMG PORN", to wishing for popularity, resentment, avoiding it thinking it'll magically effect my job, resentment again, and essentially coming to terms with realizing that yes I am interested in it, I like it, and when I don't like it then I'll stop. I can honestly only speak for myself but I realized whatever external blame I could place on the fandom: my skills as an artist, social skills, value as a person, my career goals what ever can only truly be my responsibility.

"Furries don't know how to be social." "Furries fear change." "Furries are fucked up." "Furries don't know how to handle money." "Furries are irresponsible." "Furries are mentally unstable." In my time in the fandom I have seen this us take a lot of crap for what could easily generalize the entirety of the population of humanity. This doesn't mean that I'm about to start a "Furry Pride" parade, but I'm not about to sit still and allow the voice of ignorance have the ruling voice, at least not in my house.. and I strongly advise everyone else to do similar.

Sexual perversion, stupidity, irresponsibility, financial irresponsibility, immaturity, and outright irrationality are not Furry exclusive traits. It's not furry's plague on humanity, it's humanity's plague on furry. No I'm not about to say Furries are different from humans so STOP RIGHT THERE. The deal with the devil that you make when you engage any extent of of the human race is an unprecedented amount of stupid and ignorance at any given moment in time. Being that any group- political, special interest, ethnicity, religion, hobby what have you - is riddled with people, so are these traits all in common. Working at GameStop it wasn't a furry that came in and demanded a refund for a game they bought at Target- wasn't a furry that DEMANDED I give them a discount because they didn't have the money to purchase Gears of War- and it certainly was NOT a furry that took a gigantic shit at the front of our store. And mind you the population of people that watch Fox News and BELIEVES it outnumber furry by a good number. I will tell you that the people doing the most damage to this world aren't a few people that dress up in bright colored fursuits and have sex.

I think during my time involved, the only people I have seen as the greatest enemies of the fandom are the people in the fandom that feed the stigma. If you need someone to look down upon then the only person who's at the very bottom is you.

It's hard for me to look on at furry as a life style, and to get involved in ways that I have seen others choose to. On that same token I can't very well say that there is one generalized way that every individual should live their life. If there was only one specific job, one specific interest, one specific lifestyle in which to live then life would not be as fascinating as it actually is. I view this fandom as a hobby, and I do care about this community. I have had a lot of fun growing up and having this being a part of my life.

In the last few years I've accumulated a good number of followers and because of you guys I can make a living, I have a constant flow of input and I've been put into contact with artists I truly admire and am influenced in ways I didn't think I'd imagine. The ride so far has been amazing, and I hope it continues to be just as fun!