sobe for newbe's

"why no one were i live will exept me for who i am" you'll get that in a lot of places. here in madison, everything is good until you do something different then 8poof* you're an outcast. But ya just gotta be yourself, and if nobody else likes it, its their problem.

Names jay by the way, but you can call me NES, or Grey.

if ya got YIM, add me sometime, Ravenblades1670, i;d love to chat with ya.

Sometimes you'll get lucky, My parents don't mind the fact I'm furry, and they are even getting accepting of my homosexuality. Going to a convention will realy make you feel alot better about your feelings, you'll met with others who share you're interest and make alot of new friends. Most furs will go far out of their way to help others, I know I do. As for not knowing what you are, try rolling a couple different things. I started out as a griffin and decided to just be a lion, it even gave me an interesting backstory as to how this lion lost his wings, Well interesting is a bit of a stretch, it's more like "i lost my wings" in fact seems rather boring, but never the less. Yea... convention, go to it, you won't regret it.

-Rawr

Yeah, it was hard for me when i started to show my furryness to the world. People don't understand what it really is and in so they fear it. There isn't much on it media wise and what there is i believe is kinda scewed to one persons view. ie. the mtv sex2k thing, gah i hate when people say thats all there is to what i am. there so wrong.

I love to wear my tail around town and to work. Took me about 2 months at work, but got them to classify the tail as jewelery so i could wear it to work =) . there are some people that may not respect me or what not for it, but there loss, i am happy the way it makes me feel. For me its now how people think of me and all that, its what i think of myself. if they don't like me because of my tail, then what kind of friend would they really have been to me.

if you want i may not be as knowledgeable as other people, you can tell because i cant spell worth crap hehe, but if you want to talk feel free to hit me up on AIM: sakefox07

Thankfully for me, I'm at a point in my life where I can wear it as a badge of honor. I look normal enough, and I've taken the time to carefully explain it to the folks in my life. In addition, here in New England, there are several dozen furs within an hour's drive no matter where you are.

I've got stickers in my car, badges on my dashboard... In fact, I've *met* furs randomly who have seen that and left me notes on my car! It's all about the folks around you and confidence in yourself. Take the time to define furry in your own words, (or use anthrocon's wonderful description!) and show folks the fun side of furry. Once people realize it's not a club or a cult, or some whacked out sexual thing, you're good to go.

Live furry and enjoy!

The entire problem lies in how you yourself view (and portray) furry fandom. Every time I hear people say, "OMG, I can't tell anyone I am furry!" I have to wonder just what the heck they are telling people about the fandom.

If you act like it is something shameful, then of course people are going to pick up on that. I have never in my life had a problem with it. "Hey, I like cartoons." Nobody in my life has ever given me a second look.

I am proud to be the furry I am. When I get back from AC the first thing I do is show my friends, and family all the art I bought. Even the non-G rated stuff. If they don't like who I am TOUGH, I don't change myself to make other people feel comfortable. And I have found that most people respect that self honesty, even if they don't approve of what you do. I also don't parade up and down the street screaming it to the world. I take a balanced approch. And when people ask me about the furry lifestyle I give them the best education I can. And if they don't listen or don't want to know the truth, I just leave them with their misconceptions. You can't force people to change their minds if they are determined not to.

Aptos? You live in Aptos?!? As in, on Monterey Bay, between Santa Cruz and Watsonville, next to Capitola, and just a short ride to San Jose and FURther CONfusion? Within a half an hour of the largest concentration of Furry Fans in North America, if not the planet?

THAT Aptos?

Friend, Start doing web-searches for the Bay Area Furry Fans mail-list, there is probably a Live Journal group up as well. Check out the FC website at:

www.furtherconfusion.org

Look around, make yourself known, ask for an introduction, and then stand by...there are likely to be 4 or 5 Furries within 10 miles of you.