Before anything else, please come or signal boost an important talk the inimitable SashaRJones wrote and I illustrated:

HOW TO ORGANIZE IN THE FURRY FANDOM
Room: Hilton: University
Jan 17, 2026 at 9:00 PM until 10:30 PM (local time at FC2026)

We will also be in the Dealer's Den West at table 39.
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Hey y'all. It's been a while since I've posted a furry con appearance in advance of the event. I am trying to make it easier for people who want to spend time with me, and this requires acting against a lot of negative momentum and anxiety. You can hit up the Shrine To Suffering post if you want a "summary" of some of that.

Truly, working conventions is not getting easier. I've done many but I don't know how many I have left in me. That said, I'd like to talk a bit about why FC is likely the easiest convention for me (WRT emotional load), and why it feels easier to give this convention my best shot:

Further Confusion is not too big. There is still much in walking distance for many diets, for those who can afford it. (The grocery store closure and longstanding restaurants priced out sucks. It contributes to what I assume must feel like an uncanny food desert for the poor locals.) Plenty of financially salient local furries (you know, tech jobs) are using their privilege to support both the event and furry creators, and this offers a kind of stability (at least for now) that feels unusual for a convention of its size.

FC also attracts people who don't make it to other conventions. The furries and furry-adjacents that fall off my radar trickle in and contribute to the magic each year.

As long as I've been in attending FC (since 2013, I think?) it has always been staffed by kind and responsive people. Every department. You should see the clean organization of the backend Dealer's Den Telegram--it is pristine. Their art show is, IMO, the best furry art collection I've ever seen. Old guard furry often folds into the newer furry aesthetics in refreshing ways. Furry artists know art shows can be a hot mess sometimes, but FC set the standard early on for how I'd like to see in furry con art shows and programming run.

On the way to the dealer's den, you will walk by the community resource tables. They're prominently displayed in the Zoo area, and it's always neighboring some impressive interactable art instillation, toys, gadgets, large props lovingly constructed in what I assume takes many months of planning and execution.

If that isn't proof enough of intention, check the Ofrenda against the wall. Yes, the vibes at FC are usually good, and they still take time to honor the dead. As someone now old enough to see how furry is changing on a generational level, this means more to me than I could say. When you lose someone and see their name on that table before you got the chance to write it down yourself, it feels big.

The Night Market (separate adults-only Dealer's Den and kink space) was the first I attended. I got to wear a horny getup and share some horny art. Kink spaces aren't for me, but it meant something to me to get to have that experience and to feel genuinely welcomed.

Like the rest of the country, the unhoused population around all furry con venues continues to increase. Furry cons have me in places like SJ for only one week at a time. Even with that limited exposure, one can see how unhoused populations each mid-January around the businesses get swept. Naturally, the camp-able sites reduce every year. This harsh contrast to the furry party I'm working just next door, it gets to me. I associate more with the unhoused than the furry fandom, even though my furry connections and friendships run deep. It's like the deeper my self bleeds into the world around me, the more of reality I see and feel, and the less self there is. Last year, when my friends covered for me during setup, I dragged my Long-COVID-suffering ass to the hotel room and worked on art for a fundraiser: a young Palestinian medical graduate. Thinking about Raghad and her family centers me where the West Coast furry Chill-At-All-Costs posture may stir up the crazies in me. Allowing my heart to float out the hotel room and into the local unhoused campers feels like a sunflower doing its thing on my chest.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like FC is becoming more real. It feels like I have to disassociate less with the Dealer's Den masking mandates, the excellent staffing, the art show, and the Ofrenda being a standard. I got an extended conversation on disability justice from a really cool furry and her partner, and it made FC feel more special. Every convention is full of moments like that if I show up, but there's less bullshit on the way to those experiences than at most other cons I work. FC seems to fit my shapes better, I guess I could say. I want to allow myself to be excited to that. The reward part of my brain is probably fucked.

I know this is a weird format for a journal, especially since FC 2026 hasn't yet happened. But if I could leave you with anything, it's these two points:

1) Consider supporting and attending FC if you're on the fence about it. They deserve it.
2) I'm trying to restore the openness, connectivity, and positivity of my self at earlier cons. Not in a good-vibes-only way. Just trying to drop the hot coals in my hands and be as present as I can be, no matter what the feelings are inside of me.

Thanks for reading. I'm trying to better internalise when people say they're grateful for my updates.

Stig out. 🤍