... we were each little gods of our own and this world was our womb? Then, when we "die," it is actually when we emerge from the womb of this world and emerge into a world of our own creation....

If you could create your own universe, what would it be like? Would it be like this one or different? I think the first thing I would do is create a race of anthrobears, but that should not surprise anyone LOL.

But what if we ARE all little gods, only temporarily imprisoned here? I know I sure as heck would like to get out of here and create a more beautiful world based on what I have learned in this toilet.

There's a new award category in the GFAs this year
https://www.askpapabear.com/lifetim.....ent-award.html

This year, there will be a LIVE awards presentation at Biggest Little Fur Con in Reno, Nevada! The ceremony will be on Friday, June 3, at 5pm in the Ruby Room, so if you're going to BLFC I hope to see you there!

IMPORTANT GFA UPDATE: The nomination time for the awards has been shortened by one month. Nominations will now be accepted until March 31, 2022, and voting will occur through April.
The reason for the shortening of the schedule is so winners can be determined and prizes ordered in time for a live presentation at this year's Biggest Little Fur Con in June in Reno, Nevada.
To nominate someone for the award, please go here https://www.askpapabear.com/2022-voting.html, and to see a list of who's been nominated so far, just click here https://www.askpapabear.com/2022-nominees.html.
A note about nominees, voting, and the selection process. Nominees come from you furs in the fandom, not yours truly. And the person who wins is also selected by all of you. We have some wonderful candidates this year, including some past nominees. Sometimes, though, we get some trolls and spammers, and as a result, a couple of nominees have been deleted from the list as ineligible. I do vet the list and will double-check it before voting goes live. Please feel free to contact me at https://www.furaffinity.net/user/zoobear/ if you have a question or complaint about a nominee or the voting process.

Well, here I am in prison again. This time, it's for saying mean things about Karens. I think this is like the fourth time for me (my recidivism rate is high! I'm incurable!). Makes me happy that stock in FB has plunged recently. Bite me, Zuck.

Anyway, I keep looking for a good place to have social online bonding with furries. A site where they can have boards and groups etc. I'm wondering.... Discord? If I move my Greymuzzle group there, I will probably lose some members. I dunno, but I'm getting awfully tired of FB's shit.

I've been getting a number of nominations for the Good Furry Award for some furry with variations of the name, including Sophie the Cat, Sophie the Ferret, and Cali-co Cat. All three are partnered with someone named Angelo, but the descriptions of this person and why she deserves to with the Good Furry Award vary quite a bit. And I'm beginning to wonder whether this is a BS/trolling nomination. I'll post the three nomination texts below. Can anyfur help me out here?

Sophie The Cat has been a dedicated furry for years. Her fur is all rainbow; she has been a inspiration for the trans community, with her being a trans girl. She has also taught the young about foot fetishists. She has stood her ground against furry haters and has bitten them and attacked. She has been working on her meow and growl for years. We have gone to furry conventions together. She also has been in a long-term relationship with another furry named Angelo. Sophie The Cat is a icon to the furry and LGBT+ community.

Sophie The Ferret is such an important part in the Delaware furry and LGBTQ+ communtiy. She has helped so many people to be their true furry self. Currently, she is in an ICONIC relationship with Angelo The Ferret. They are such an inspiration for our community. Together, they have fully embraced their true ferrets selves by having a threesome together with a real life ferret, Jingles. You can always hear them. They are both even starting to really embrace themselves by getting work done on their faces to really get that true ferret look. Currently, they are both teaching the younger furries to truly, fully embrace their furry selves. Sophie lives in a hand built hut in the woods with 69 ferrets. Just the other day, she hosted an Among Us in real life event for all the younger furries. Sophie The Ferret is truly the best, kindness, most amazing furry that I have ever met and deserves this award.

Furries come in all shapes and sizes. Cali-co Cat has always been larger than everyone because of her weight but she supports body positivity and is always looking to help others who have the same condition as her (morbidly obesity). She is also a trans queen and transitioned within 2 weeks of birth. She was born a boy but her parents felt she was truly a girl and she felt the same way. She has had multiple relationships but she is currently engaged to another furry who goes by the name of Angelo the Rat. The reason I am nominating Cali-co Cat as this year’s furry award is because she currently is working at Chucky E. Cheese and would really like to live her dream by being on Ru Paul’s Drag Race. She loves kids she currently has 69 children at the age of 22. She has birthed 9 of them and adopted the other 60. She is at standing her ground against other furries. Vote Cali-co Cat for 2022 furry of the year.

Hi. I am seeing more and more posts in Facebook and elsewhere about how the fandom has strayed from its original purpose, complementing the fact that in my Ask Papabear column I am seeing more and more letters from very young kids. I've talked to furries from England to the US to Germany to Australia, and there seems to be a consensus among the more experienced furries that the fandom is becoming less about fiction, animation, and cartoons and too much about "how do I become popular and get noticed?"

Because the fandom has grown so huge and has no organizing body (no association for any kind of oversight), it was inevitable that it would kind of spin out of control. But that doesn't mean you have to "leave the fandom."

Instead of just lying there and taking it, we can take back what we love about the fandom. I think, too, that some people forget that there are still old-school publications out there like Rowrbrazzle being published. ANYhoo, I was wondering if there would be any interest if I attempted to organize a renaissance of the "old ways" of furry? My first thought is starting an ezine (I'm tentatively titling it Furnaissance) that is kind of a combo of the old APAs (people can submit stories and drawings) along with discussions/articles about comics, games, movies, TV shows, and all those things that led us to the fandom in the first place.

I'm thinking this would be a quarterly ezine along with a website, and the website would include a chat room where furries could feel free to discuss things without fear of being censored by the FB Nazis (which I just got censored for today for dissing on Karens, sigh, and also for posting about the Twin Towers, sheesh).

Would you furs be interested? If I see a lot of interest in this, I will get started with putting the callout for submissions, and I will set up a website.

I used to be a Republican, believe it or not. I voted for Reagan. Twice.

But the Republicans have adopted a terrifying trifecta.

They are now the party of Ignorance, Fear, and Hate.

At the core of the trifecta there resides two things: white supremacism and religion.

I am not a Republican. I am not a Christian. (I am white, but can't help that).

Today, my politics is Kindness. My religion is Love.

My nation is the Furry Nation.

Love you. Be kind to each other. Please.

Love is immortal
How do I know?
I still cry for Jim
Years after he died

My love never ends

I will always be bonded to him, a bond even Death can't break

I'm so tired of furries trashing the fandom.

If you don't like the furry fandom, please leave. And go ahead and let the door slap you in the ass on your way out.

If anyone wonders why Charleston Rat, who designed the original Furry Book cover, and I have parted ways, it has to do with his making excuses for people not getting the Covid-19 vaccination. This is a position that I simply cannot tolerate and never will. It led to an acrimonious exchange between us and the end of our friendship. The cover he designed for The Furry Book, which I am laboring on still, will therefore not be used for that project. I have found another designer with whom I am very pleased.

With the way the world today is, I increasingly want to get my furry on and dive into the fandom. This is my means of escaping all the crap that is going on, from wars to plagues to politics to petty social drama that should belong on the school playground. This is why I get royally pissed off when furries bring outside crap into the fandom, including Nazi Furs and Antifa Furs. IMHO that stuff needs to stay out of the fandom. I don't want to hear it, I don't want to see it. Get away from me. If I see you wearing a swastika armband (or anything resembling one--you know who you are) it will be all I can do to keep myself from spitting on your putrid human face.

I became Grubbs because I wanted to be part of a world where people just enjoy their fur (or scales or feathers) and go have fun. A home where bigots, racists, fascists, and suchlike people have no place.

To me, the furry fandom has become contaminated by the outside world. I am not giving up on you yet, furry fandom, and I will be doing my best to reverse or at least mitigate this crap.

Furry is supposed to be fun fantasy. Let's keep it that way.

Humans have left me with no hope for the future. Their determination to destroy the planet and everything on it is coming to fruition. I seriously doubt I will make it past 60 years old, the way things are going. The Gulf Stream will collapse, throwing half the world into a deep freeze and the other half into perpetual drought. The mass extinction will be completed, and governments will fall worldwide, leaving us in chaos and despair, fighting over the few scraps of food, and, eventually, going extinct.

After, say, a couple million years, Earth will recover. It might even be beautiful again. But humans will be gone.

Good fucking riddance.

Fucking hate humans.

Homo sapiens: 300,000 BCE - 2050 CE

Cause of extinction: Suicide

My interview with Taebyn and Bearly is now live at https://bearlyfurcasting.buzzsprout.....e-this-or-that

I will be a guest on Bearly Furcasting on July 10. https://bearlyfurcasting.buzzsprout.com/ Recording the show tonight.

Hi, Everyone.

I have a bit of an announcement to make of a personal nature. As of today, I will no longer be drinking alcoholic beverages. This is not because I'm an alcoholic. Rather, it is because I have finally admitted to the connection between drinking booze and my struggles with depression. I think some of you know I have had problems with depression since I was a teenager. They have had their ups and downs, with the recent down being when Jim died, and it was no help when Mom died a few years later. Anyway, although I love good beer, wine, and whiskey, whenever I imbibe I inevitably have a severe bout with depression--sometimes REALLY bad. I didn't really want to admit this because I do love a good beer or wine with a meal, but I have to say that it is just not worth the pain I experience after drinking something alcoholic. You may have noticed some really negative posts I have made in the past, and you can bet that the worst ones were booze-inspired. So, it is time to say farewell to alcohol. It's just not worth it to me anymore to drink adult beverages. I just wanted my friends to know.

Thank you.

Grubbs

ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS FOR 2021!

FIRST PLACE: CASSIDY CIVET
​
HONORABLE MENTIONS:

​Kitwana Lion
Paco Panda
​VinceWuff

Learn more: https://www.askpapabear.com/2021-voting.html

Often, I wish I WAS a bear because, frankly, I'm terrified of the human race and its insanity. Humans seem so entirely bent on destroying not only themselves but the entire planet that I just feel powerless to do anything about it. I'm barely able to get the energy together to help my family and friends, let alone save the world. I feel that the furry fandom is a way for people to, like me, just escape from being human. But then I think, running away is not the solution--if there IS a solution. That is, really, why I started the Good Furry Award. It is to encourage the works of furries who are actually making the world a better place. We need more of that and less of furries who just see the fandom as a way to get high and have sex at furcons.

The longer I stay in the fandom, the more mixed my feelings become about it. I don't like what I see in a lot of the younger furs, but then I get hopeful when I see people like those who have been nominated for the award.

The older I get, though, the less hope I feel. I'm 55, and I already feel very very tired. I'm so sick of people fighting all the time, or trying to prove they are better than everyone else, or grabbing power, or hoarding money, or trying to be popular. I'm a misanthrope. I dislike my species, I really do. Funny how one can like some individuals of a species, though, but when one considers the entirety of it, one is appalled.

I want to help people, I do. But another side of me often thinks, why bother?

I already feel my body wearing out, and I think my hypertension is gonna catch up with me despite the meds. Jim died at 59. I thought that was too young, but I can now see his point.

Dear Furiends,

I've been feeling a bit guilty lately for not chatting more with you. There are a number of friends out there who have made efforts to communicate with me, and I have had to put them off somewhat. I don't excuse myself for this, but I do have an explanation. I have been overwhelmed with a lot of things going on in my life. These include, but are not limited to, the following: 1) if any of you reading this is a caretaker, you know that taking care of a disabled person can be a lot of work. My husband, Michael, is a 100% disabled Vietnam Vet. He is slowly getting less able to take care of himself, and I spend a lot of my time just helping him. 2) My sister's wife divorced her (because my former sister-in-law is a selfish bitch, is all I will say) and my sister has had to move in with us. 3) I am still remodeling my house. 4) I am still working full time as a managing editor. 5) I am still writing my Ask Papabear column. 6) I am running the Good Furry Award. 7) I am still, very slowly, working on my furry book and trying to set up my own publishing company. 8) I also regularly take my disabled friend Frank to doctors and dentists and help him around his house. 9) And just all the quotidian household duties of cooking, cleaning, shopping, taking care of my doggie, etc. etc.

I don't write to ask for your sympathy, but just to explain myself. To those of you who have extended a paw, given me a phone call, or even sent me postcards and such, I want you to know I DO appreciate your thoughtfulness. I wish I had time to be a better friend.

Love you guys,

Grubbs Grizzly

Nominations for the 3rd Annual Good Furry Award are now open https://www.askpapabear.com/good-furry-award.html

I've had a shit week, even for this shit year. Started with chills, fever, cough and fear I had COVID. Went to the doctor. They also checked me for pneumonia and influenza. Anyway, found out I have none of them and no one knows, exactly, what I had. The good news is it wasn't COVID, but somehow got a bacterial infection on top of the viral one and got cellulitis in my right leg, which caused swelling and severe pain, so now I have antibiotics for that for the next week and a half.

Please, all ye gods out there, just fucking stop it. I want to erase 2020 from my memory as a totally shit year.

The furry fandom should be a place of fantasy and fun. It should be a way to escape from the hateful mundane world. Therefore, in my humble opinion, this is no place for politics. Furries who go on about Antifa and Furry Raiders and so on should really check those things at the door.

I don't get why someone would don a fursuit and then bully people about their left- or right-wing politics. I just wanna be a bear and give people hugs. I don't want to talk about Donald Trump when I am in fursona.

Am I offbase here? Is it just me who feels this way?

2020 GOOD FURRY NOMINEES

Below is a list of furries who have been nominated to date for the 2020 Good Furry Award. You may continue to nominate people through the end of May. Voting begins June 1. To learn more, go to http://www.askpapabear.com/good-furry-award.html.

Aleshka Alejandra

Arvada Tail Heads (group)

Boozy Badger

Ash Coyote

Victoria Dewitt

Opalite Fox

Hunter Fusky

Trevor Hedberg

Nicolle Hoffman

Kin / Zeek Kobold

Dakota Labato

Manick (Justin Los)

Missti Mystical

Moms of Furries (group)

Muscle Wolf

Patch O’Furr

Danny Palic

Simone Parker

Courtney Plante

Vivian Reyna

Rwylin Sheppard

Majira Strawberry

Tiara Tanaka (Blaze)

Furry Weekly (group)

Noelle White

Dawn Willow

Gwendolyn Wood

I got put in Facebook jail for a week because I posted a video criticizing the government's mishandling of covid-19. Zuckerberg totally in Trump's pocket.