The Story of Anthrocon (2010) - Con report by Jaspian (part 2)
THE STORY OF ANTHROCON
My con report of Anthrocon 2010
SATURDAY
I got up fairly late, took a shower and then went to the con in my fancy clothes. The idea was to go and make the best of the things that I go to conventions for - i.e - the dances, and the dealer’s room, but today I was going to attend a panel - “Fit Furs” - because I had heard a lot about one fellow in particular - Iceman - who happened to be the panel host. To my pleasant surprise, my friend Beowulf was also sort-of co-hosting the panel. It had a pretty good turnout; over 20 for sure. Iceman seemed extremely nervous... he kept pacing and stuttering, but as the panel went along he seemed to get more comfortable. A lot of the information I found to be very valuable... but a little of it was just incorrect, or at least incomplete. I didn’t want to say anything because its their panel, but Beowulf talked about the virtues of the Atkins diet, which is universally condemned these days as a bad idea on the grounds that, in an absence of all carbohydrates, the body will break down protein before fat because the process of turning protein into sugar is faster than fat into sugar (the body only consumes sugar for energy)... or that it gives you blood toxicity by increasing the amount of ammonia in the blood, which wreaks havoc on your organs, especially the liver and kidneys. There were a few other times when I felt a nag to object, but I didn’t want to seem like a know-it-all because, fact is, I don’t know more than they did. A lot of what they said was new to me, and I would try it after the con.
After this, I went to the dealer’s den, which was still open. The panel went for a surprisingly long time, and so I wasn’t sure I would make it to the Den before it closed, but it turns out that they were open until 6. Here, I only stopped in to talk to Bonk. I didn’t go anywhere else. I’ve given up commissioning artists at conventions. Usually the work isn’t as good, there’s less opportunity for correction requests, and sometimes its even more expensive. On top of that, you often don’t even get the work at the convention because you’re out doing things with friends and often times miss the “pickup time” of art from the artist. It seems generally better just to commission artists outside of cons, when they’re less rushed and can dedicate more effort. So I visited Bonk and said “Hi” because I don’t personally know that many big-name artists except for Bonk. We ragged on eachother for awhile. I actually left with sort of a sour feeling that our friendship had begun to deteriorate. He wasn’t as jovial and tongue-in-cheek as usual, but more serious. However, he did show me that some of the art that I’d commissioned from him wound up in some folios that he’d produced, which pleased me a little. I really like Bonk’s work, and it bothers me that he’s becoming less interested in me as a client. I wanted to commission him at the con, but his colder demeanor and the presence of open ears all around me convinced me to just contact him after the con - which I did.
After this, I went back to the convention to find Jewel. We had exchanged contact info prior to the con, and I wanted to go to some Vorephile parties and dinners, since this was one of the highlights of my convention experience in 2009. Initially I had some difficulty coordinating with him. But this sent me momentarily over to the convention message board, which was worthwhile because someone had left me a message... a horsie, named Hoss (very original). So I texted him. We continued to exchange texts throughout the rest of the day.
Finally I managed to find Jewel, and discovered that the Vorephile dinner was cancelled. This made me very sad. We ended up going to Sushi instead at Sushi Kim’s. I’ve never liked Sushi Kim’s. I think its overpriced, mediocre, and the service is horrible. My experience on this day only reinforced my prejudice. It took us *forever* to get our food, but it was somewhat understandable, considering that there were 13 of us. They made jokes that this was the “last supper” and that for some reason I was Jesus. I suppose I should be flattered to be the center of attention as-such... but anyway... I really disliked Sushi Kim this day. I kept choking on the wasabi... something that’s never been a problem for me before. Maybe this was because Sushi with wasabi on it is kinda harsh for a first-meal of the day. I don’t even like sushi that much anymore, and after getting my bill, I remembered exactly why. However, I can imagine that many others probably had significantly higher bills than mine, even!
We went back to the hotel. I went back to my room to get into my show-costume. I did something different today than previous days - I did my foxy grooming procedure gradually over the course of two days rather than all-at-once. I’m not sure yet if this is prudent. It has many advantages and disadvantages. I will have to try it out again sometime.
So I went to the con in show-costume. It was great. I got a lot of compliments, turned a lot of heads, and a lot of people took photos of me as if I were a fursuiter. I kinda didn’t want the attention - I was trying to find mister Hoss, who was up on the roof of the convention center at the Stargazer’s party. Initially I had some difficulty getting up there. They were limiting the numbers of occupants on the roof because (supposedly) someone had threatened to commit suicide by jumping off the roof earlier in the convention. This would later turn out to be false. I will get into that more later, when I was told the truth at the Sunday Dead Dog Party. Anyway I finally snuck up onto the roof, and like yesteryear, it was pretty cool up there - they had drums going and Native American dance and bellydance. I wanted to get in on it, but it was really weird dancing and having tens of people watching... that I didn’t know. Usually, when I dance, I am one of many dancers, and so I am not as shy of the spotlight. Here, though, at any given time there tended to be no more than two ... including myself. Even so, I did some halfhearted bellydancing as I waited for Hoss. The bellydancing was even more half-hearted in that my feathers kept falling out. Note to Soron - we need to devise a locking mechanism for them.
Partway through the Stargazer’s party, one of the drummers came over to me and introduced himself as being Hoss. Initially I wasn’t sure he liked me, but it later turned out that he totally wanted my cute little bum (as everyone does! ;) ) I stuck around the Stargazer’s party until the end, then went down to the dance. They wouldn’t let me in because I had no shoes on. Oh well. I went back to the zoo with Hoss in-tow.
I went around, talked to folks whom I know, and then eventually got kicked out by the Dorsai for showing too much ass on my costume. He was actually very cordial about it. I’ve never heard of Dorsai being nice, but this guy wasn’t half-bad. He managed to boot me while making me feel as if I had his sympathies and he didn’t really want to do it. It was very diplomatic. Anyway - I couldn’t figure out how to get back to my room quickly. We were on the god-awful-ith floor and I wasn’t going to hike up the concrete stairwells in my leggings. I ended up having to go to the lobby and waiting in line for the elevators.
Here, I wondered if the show costume constitutes a fursuit, but I didn’t want to push it. But I did get to see first-hand the bullshit of Anthrocon. While waiting in line to be exiled back to my room, prominently displayed in the lobby in the meantime, droves of fursuiters got preferential treatment for elevator access. People were waiting for upwards of fifteen minutes just to get an elevator, while ‘suiters often got into elevators the moment that they touched the line. This is unjust on so many levels.
1. Suiters are not any “more furry” than any other fur. Furry means different things to different people, and suiting doesn’t even enter into my personal definition. They should not be treated differently
2. The supposed “safety” considerations are fallacious. First - there’s a headless lounge. They can go there. Second - they’re wearing a walking deathtrap, and they chose to do it. Its not my fault if they are burning up and can’t see shit - they did it to themselves, and that, to me, is their acceptance of all consequences. If they are hot and need to pee, perhaps they shouldn’t have wrapped themselves up in 40 pounds of fur.
3. “The illusion” is also a lie. Its a fucking body-puppet. Nobody actually believes that these are anthro characters. They are people in costumes. There is no magic. There is no illusion. The only illusion is that which you create for yourself. If you have to take your head off because you’re hot and want to drink water - it doesn’t ruin anything for anybody else except YOU. Deal with it.
4. People don’t like suiters. You think you’re the superstars of the con, but once again, you’re lying to yourselves. Its true that many furs like fursuiters, but generally, the furs who like suiters and other suiters. The majority of us just don’t care. Yet the preferential treatment of suiters around the elevators, for example, change that apathy to anger, because people who’ve been waiting for a long time get snubbed for suiters, as if their time is somehow less valuable. Once more - this is fallacious.
I did eventually get bumped up to the front of the line, because I was being exiled, but not before upwards of 30 suiters made the ordinary people wait and wait. If suiters NEED to take preferential treatment, at the very least, they should have to wait for the NEXT elevator. This would allow the regular line to flow, and the suiters would only have to wait a minute or so extra.
Anyway - I got back up to the room and I wasn’t going to stop doing the show costume. I tucked a pillowcase into the back belt along the rump, hiding my bare flesh except for the thighs. Checking in the mirror, I concluded that they could no longer make the case that I was being indecent, and went back down to the zoo. Virtually immediately I was stopped by the Dorsai again. Some lady, this time backed by a whole fleet of Redshirts. She said “You can’t wear that down here. I have a complaint from an attendee who’s afraid you could flash something.”, I responded, “Its not possible for me to flash something.” she asked “So you’re covered under there? You’ll have to leave unless you can prove it.” to which I responded “Feel free to check.” After this, she lost her nerve. I found it extremely comical. They left so deflated and shocked that I refused to be intimidated that they looked like dogs who’d just been scolded with a newspaper, slinking off into the corner. Even so, I appreciate the fact that they weren’t total dicks about it. They could have kept harassing me until I complied, rather than accepting defeat once they realized that I was complying with all of the rules.
So I stuck around in the zoo for the remainder of the night. This tends to happen when I get sucked into a game of Werewolf. (RUA Werewolf, not the RPG) I even got to GM one round. I love doing that. I didn’t get back to the room until 7 am. Looking back, Saturday night Werewolf in the Zoo was the highlight of the convention for me.
... aaaaaand that 's it for part 2! Check back in a couple days for part 3.
Thanks for reading!
-jaspi