Furry Epiphany
It happened to me 20 years ago tonight.
I found out there actually was a name for people who loved the things that I love, thought the way I think, and felt the way I feel.
We've all experienced a similar moment of realization, I'm sure. It's when these three simple words appear in one's consciousness for the first time.
"I'm a 'furry'!"
About a week before, I had de-lurked on the main internet forum for plush aficionados, and found references there to a group called "furries." I had no idea what that meant, but they seemed to be people who liked cartoon animals, and some apparently liked stuffed animals, too. So, out of curiosity, on September 14, 1994 (on the recommendation of toonster), I started lurking on the Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.furry.
Right away, I saw discussion threads on "The Lion King" and "Watership Down;" many postings expressing feelings about these films that mirrored mine exactly. Very exciting!
The real clincher, though, was this post by someone calling themselves "Miskatonic Gryn." Specifically, it was this single sentence:
"I've got posters of otters, wolves, and other animals on my walls, as well as a few otter statues which I value more than several of my internal organs."
That was it. That's the precise instant I knew beyond any shadow of a doubt.
"I'm a 'FURRY'!"
Only about an hour later, while I continued reading older posts on AFF, I came across one that clarified some policies about "CF6," which is something I'd previously seen referred to on the plushie newsgroup. I knew that "CF" stood for "ConFurence," which was the furries' annual world convention. I skimmed the post which at first didn't seem very interesting, then my eyes drifted up to the headers, where I saw that the author was someone named "Rodney Stansfield."
OMG! I knew a guy named Rod Stansfield. Way back in 1980, when I lived in L.A., I had crossed paths with Rod and his partner, Mark Merlino. We were all passionate mustelid fans and otter nuts. Could this Rodney Stansfied possibly be the same person? I quickly dashed off an email to the Netcom address in the header, and within minutes, I got a reply. It WAS him! I was gobsmacked. My long-lost old chums Rod and Mark were the founders and organizers of ConFurence!
Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. This was genuinely too good to be true. Within a little more than an hour, I had not only finally found a word to identify who and what I am, I discovered I had friends I'd already known for a decade-and-a-half who actually had a hand (er, paw) in creating furry fandom itself!
The clincher came 12 days later. One of my main email friends in those days was nefaria, and in the course of talking about furry fandom, he sent me this picture as an email attachment. Seeing this, too, was an immediate life-changing moment.
I'll never forget the words that entered my mind the instant I saw these obviously personally-made "fursuits" (a new word in fandom at the time), and especially THAT BUNNY.
"People can really DO this?"
And where were people doing this? At ConFurence! In a heartbeat, I decided, "I'M GOING!" And not only am I going to CF6, I'm going "in the fur" myself, too!
All that in the latter two weeks of September, 1994. Truly, thereafter, my life would never be the same...
I found out there actually was a name for people who loved the things that I love, thought the way I think, and felt the way I feel.
We've all experienced a similar moment of realization, I'm sure. It's when these three simple words appear in one's consciousness for the first time.
"I'm a 'furry'!"
About a week before, I had de-lurked on the main internet forum for plush aficionados, and found references there to a group called "furries." I had no idea what that meant, but they seemed to be people who liked cartoon animals, and some apparently liked stuffed animals, too. So, out of curiosity, on September 14, 1994 (on the recommendation of toonster), I started lurking on the Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.furry.
Right away, I saw discussion threads on "The Lion King" and "Watership Down;" many postings expressing feelings about these films that mirrored mine exactly. Very exciting!
The real clincher, though, was this post by someone calling themselves "Miskatonic Gryn." Specifically, it was this single sentence:
"I've got posters of otters, wolves, and other animals on my walls, as well as a few otter statues which I value more than several of my internal organs."
That was it. That's the precise instant I knew beyond any shadow of a doubt.
"I'm a 'FURRY'!"
Only about an hour later, while I continued reading older posts on AFF, I came across one that clarified some policies about "CF6," which is something I'd previously seen referred to on the plushie newsgroup. I knew that "CF" stood for "ConFurence," which was the furries' annual world convention. I skimmed the post which at first didn't seem very interesting, then my eyes drifted up to the headers, where I saw that the author was someone named "Rodney Stansfield."
OMG! I knew a guy named Rod Stansfield. Way back in 1980, when I lived in L.A., I had crossed paths with Rod and his partner, Mark Merlino. We were all passionate mustelid fans and otter nuts. Could this Rodney Stansfied possibly be the same person? I quickly dashed off an email to the Netcom address in the header, and within minutes, I got a reply. It WAS him! I was gobsmacked. My long-lost old chums Rod and Mark were the founders and organizers of ConFurence!
Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. This was genuinely too good to be true. Within a little more than an hour, I had not only finally found a word to identify who and what I am, I discovered I had friends I'd already known for a decade-and-a-half who actually had a hand (er, paw) in creating furry fandom itself!
The clincher came 12 days later. One of my main email friends in those days was nefaria, and in the course of talking about furry fandom, he sent me this picture as an email attachment. Seeing this, too, was an immediate life-changing moment.
I'll never forget the words that entered my mind the instant I saw these obviously personally-made "fursuits" (a new word in fandom at the time), and especially THAT BUNNY.
"People can really DO this?"
And where were people doing this? At ConFurence! In a heartbeat, I decided, "I'M GOING!" And not only am I going to CF6, I'm going "in the fur" myself, too!
All that in the latter two weeks of September, 1994. Truly, thereafter, my life would never be the same...