Bold and funny. This is such a remarkable way of bringing research and personal feeling into a piece. I really admire it for many reasons. Thank you! (Funny and awesome!)
If you are planning to write a story about mycophiles, I could provide some fresh pictures. I found some really nice fungi yesterday. One is the magpie inkcap which is amazing to look at, but toxic only if one consumes alcohol with it. Bizarre but true! I also read that it is common in England. This is old, but still holds: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/oct/29/country-diary-the-magic-of-magpie-inkcaps Thank you for sharing here your gift of humor and epiphanous ideas.
Excellent piece, Sanj! I love the photos so much. How can you not smile when you see someone dressed in a fur suit out in the world. And why is it okay for a mascot at a football game to wear a furry suit, but not the guy on the subway? I say up with fur suits and down with sweatpants!
I wish I had this article at hand a few years ago,
My sweetheart’s daughter had an apoplectic, arms-crossed rant at me about furries, litter boxes in Cleveland classrooms, and the insanity of the left. All I could do was say I had never heard of such a thing. I am grateful for your article because now I have a trusted source on the subject. Not that she will read anything from me since I took a break from my sweetheart and his family over their unremitting glee at DJT’s re-election.
We live near Springfield, OH, where legal Haitian immigrants were demonized by false rumors about their culinary habits. I fear totalitarians and the Right fears chimeras - at least that’s my take on it.
What is the proper, forward-looking reaction, behavior, response to what I see as the current-day’s trend toward Nazism? Arguing only causes the ones who argue at me to become defensive and quote Tucker Carlson, the man who cost Rupert Murdoch $787 million and who was fired for his lies.
See, now I get rant-ish. As I said, I’m grateful for a trusted source to bolster my own credibility and defense. I fear logic has nothing to do with the desire of so many on the right to find scapegoats and othered enemies.
I wish I’d had this article to share when the fury about furries was fresh, not deeply embedded.
Thanks Jennifer. I'm sorry to hear about your family rift over the election. That's why I tried to frame this piece to create common ground between furries and conservatives. It's the kind of framing that could easily upset both sides but we have to live together somehow!
I think that the best reaction to right wingers who want to believe the worst about liberals, is probably the same I'd say to the left—acknowledge the other side's concerns as valid, focus on the complicated truth, not the propagada/lies, and concentrate on everything we have in common, which almost always far exceeds what divides us. I suspect one of the things we have in common, on both left and right, is an inability to view the other side in good faith.
Bold and funny. This is such a remarkable way of bringing research and personal feeling into a piece. I really admire it for many reasons. Thank you! (Funny and awesome!)
Appreciate it Rhony!
If you are planning to write a story about mycophiles, I could provide some fresh pictures. I found some really nice fungi yesterday. One is the magpie inkcap which is amazing to look at, but toxic only if one consumes alcohol with it. Bizarre but true! I also read that it is common in England. This is old, but still holds: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/oct/29/country-diary-the-magic-of-magpie-inkcaps Thank you for sharing here your gift of humor and epiphanous ideas.
I'm actually an economics professor. So that makes the furries stand out more in the class!
Excellent piece, Sanj! I love the photos so much. How can you not smile when you see someone dressed in a fur suit out in the world. And why is it okay for a mascot at a football game to wear a furry suit, but not the guy on the subway? I say up with fur suits and down with sweatpants!
Thanks Hilary. There is something joyful about furries, for sure. And they're always great for pictures!
I wish I had this article at hand a few years ago,
My sweetheart’s daughter had an apoplectic, arms-crossed rant at me about furries, litter boxes in Cleveland classrooms, and the insanity of the left. All I could do was say I had never heard of such a thing. I am grateful for your article because now I have a trusted source on the subject. Not that she will read anything from me since I took a break from my sweetheart and his family over their unremitting glee at DJT’s re-election.
We live near Springfield, OH, where legal Haitian immigrants were demonized by false rumors about their culinary habits. I fear totalitarians and the Right fears chimeras - at least that’s my take on it.
What is the proper, forward-looking reaction, behavior, response to what I see as the current-day’s trend toward Nazism? Arguing only causes the ones who argue at me to become defensive and quote Tucker Carlson, the man who cost Rupert Murdoch $787 million and who was fired for his lies.
See, now I get rant-ish. As I said, I’m grateful for a trusted source to bolster my own credibility and defense. I fear logic has nothing to do with the desire of so many on the right to find scapegoats and othered enemies.
I wish I’d had this article to share when the fury about furries was fresh, not deeply embedded.
Your work is important.
Jennifer.
Thanks Jennifer. I'm sorry to hear about your family rift over the election. That's why I tried to frame this piece to create common ground between furries and conservatives. It's the kind of framing that could easily upset both sides but we have to live together somehow!
I think that the best reaction to right wingers who want to believe the worst about liberals, is probably the same I'd say to the left—acknowledge the other side's concerns as valid, focus on the complicated truth, not the propagada/lies, and concentrate on everything we have in common, which almost always far exceeds what divides us. I suspect one of the things we have in common, on both left and right, is an inability to view the other side in good faith.
Thank you for engaging!