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Animation Magazine recently ran an article listing a wide range of animated films coming our way next year. Though it would be difficult to compete with 2016 in terms of anthropomorphic content (no less than 16 films of furry interest!), the article does list several new animated titles that are likely to catch some attention from furry fandom. In order of planned release, they include: Rock Dog, The Nut Job 2, Cars 3, Despicable Me 3 (yes, more Minions…), Emojimove: Express Yourself (yes, yes, yes…), My Little Pony: The Movie, The Star, and Ferdinand. They also make mention of Blazing Samurai, though there are some doubts as to when that movie might be finished, given that the main production company went bankrupt early this year. Interesting, they do not mention Animal Crackers — but we did! Elsewhere in the same issue of Animation is a note that a work print of Spark (the monkey-in-space feature from The Nut Job folks) has been making the rounds at film festivals.  Needless to say, we’ll be talking about all of these as they come closer to a theater near you!

image c. 2016 Lionsgate

Hello Everyone.

We open this week on a serious note. As many are aware there was a tragic accident within the Pup community this past week that took the life of one of its most sex positive, fun, outgoing members. We were faced with a dilemma on how to approach this, as we wanted to address the dangers of self breathplay (autoerotic asphyxiation) without shaming or causing additional pain for those whose lives he touched. It's an important topic, and one that we would be remiss to not discuss, so we attempt to do so as delicately as possible. 

What's important, in moments like these, is that we do not equate the individual to the mistake and, instead, celebrate the positivity and light that they shared with us. It's important that we educate others off of the mistake made, and continue the legacy they started of being open, honest, kink friendly, and a mentor and friend to many. It is in this spirit that we discuss auto-erotic asphyxiation and the inherent dangers as our top of the show. 

We did not use names, as we did not want to cause additional grief for others. It is our hope that we did this properly and, if you feel otherwise, we invite you to contact us with your feedback. This is a Pup who will be missed by many, including ourselves. May we all continue to spread their legacy to all we encounter on a daily basis.

Our main topic is on explaining relationships to family. During this holiday season many will have the unique position of "coming out" to their parents, whether it's as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, or as an individual in a poly relationship. We discuss how to prepare yourself for this, how to handle the ongoing conversations that might be started, and how to move forward once you've opened the dialogue. 

Our question for the week focuses on this main topic-- how do you handle a family member who does not want you telling other people about your relationship because they are afraid it will cause gossip or damage the reputation of the family?

For more information, including a list of topics, see our Show Notes for this episode.

Thanks and, as always, be well.

FA 047 Explaining Relationships to Family - A serious discussion of safe health play and the tragic loss of a community member. Introducing nonmonogamy to family.

(Patch O’Furr:) Furries love plush like a fat kid loves cake. My friends do, anyways. That’s how I met Amy Brown, a non-furry crafter who specializes in plush objects on Etsy. I heard that she enjoyed commissions for fursuit props.  It makes me happy when furries make friends like that!  Amy mentioned weirder commissions, and that made me invite her to tell some juicy stories.  (Mmm… carrot juice for everybunny).

Christmas is coming. Need gifts for furry friends who already have every Zootopia tie-in on earth? Commission Amy for props!

(Amy:) “I’ve been making plush fruits and veggies under the brand Jumbo Jibbles for over 5 years now. I’m self-taught and welcome custom projects as a way to expand my design brain. I’ll usually say yes to anything that is interesting, but I shy away from recreating other people’s designs. A few years ago, I got a request through Quora.com to make a Chibi version of a DragonballZ character. I had to do a little research on chibi and DBZ, but it seemed like an existing character in a fan-inspired form sounded like a fun challenge. I made a chibi Piccolo for a man in Czechoslovakia.”

Then there were the hipster urban farmers from Brooklyn, who needed French breakfast radish and zebra tomato hand puppets to use as ring-pillows at their wedding. That one boggled my mind– it’s like I invented those customers in my head! It was a really fun project. I’d never heard of a zebra tomato before.

People ask me what the weirdest thing I’ve made was. Nothing is really weird– most things already exist. What’s the funniest part is the sheepishness from the askee, how they apologize for asking, and how relieved they sound once I say, “Why, that isn’t crazy at all!”

In 2014, I made a giant plush replica of a client’s penis. No, he did not send me photos. That would have been an instant NO. He’d already bought a large veggie pillow from me and liked it so much he wanted to commission something.  He asked very politely, recognizing his request might seem offensive. I respond well to civility, even when it includes asking personal questions about someone’s genitals. How often, at work, can you ask about girth, testicle color or circumcision? This might be the only time. Anyhow, after asking what were typically very inappropriate questions, I made up some sketches and then a gigantic plush peen.

You want a picture? A lady doesn’t share such things. But here’s the carrying case:

It was 4 feet long with detachable buckwheat-filled testicles. My name is Amy Brown, and I make dreams come true!!

(Patch:) Honestly that is so innocent compared to some things we may have seen around the web, but let the charming picture above get rid of anything your imagination might run away with.  Thanks Amy! Follow her here: @jumbojibbles

Recently the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA) announced the nominees for the Annie Awards of 2016, celebrating the best in animation in all media. Perhaps surprising no one, Zootopia topped the list with 11 nominations in 10 categories — including Best Feature Film, Best Writing, Best Directing, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Character Design, Best Voice Acting, Best Effects Animation, Best Storyboarding, and two nominations for Best Character Animation. The Annies being widely acknowledged as “the Oscars of Animation” means that Zootopia is now considered to be a front-runner for the Best Animated Feature Film at the actual Oscars — if not more categories as well. Interestingly, one thing that was a surprise was that Zootopia’s biggest competition at the Annies is not Pixar favorite Finding Dory (which was nominated in only four categories) but Laika’s most recent stop-motion film, Kubo and the Two Strings — which was also nominated in 10 categories. Other films of Furry interest that received nominations include Kung Fu Panda 3, The Red Turtle, The Secret Life of Pets, The Jungle Book, Sing, and Storks. Over in the TV category the anthro-themed nominees included Bojack Horseman, Peg + Cat, Puffin Rock, Tumble Leaf, Elena of Avalor, and long-running favorites like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Adventure Time, and Wander of Yonder. Plus many other nominees in many categories, including the avian favorite Piper for Best Short. Read all about it over at the Annie Awards site. The awards will be presented at UCLA on February 4th next year. (And don’t forget — soon it will be time to nominate the Ursa Major Awards too!)

image c. 2016 Disney Animation

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Hello, Papa Bear,

I think it's been two years since I sent a letter, I'm feel like I'm suffering from chronophobia and gerascophobia, I believe it's a delayed reaction to almost dying earlier this year, a few months back.

Two years ago I was training to be a Forestry Fighter, I fought two fires, I really loved the job, it was hard and very exhausting

This year I did my second season, and this when it happened, I'm not sure if you know about " The Fort McMurray fire " in Canada? it was a major fire that was burning a major city, it was nicknamed " The Beast " 3 weeks after the city was burning I couldn't take the news anymore, knowing I was trained, so I throw my name in and I found a leader who would take me.

We got there literally in the worst conditions, poor water source, Limited air support,windy and one of hottest days, using only axes, shovels, and chainsaws, we had to basically beat any flames down and remove any potential fuels from the fire, we were tasked with making the escape route while the others deal with fire, while making the escape route, I worked with the chainsaw man, I was one of strongest and the chainsaw guy was the fastest, we worked together, he would cut and I'd clear the path while watching over him, making sure nothing surprises him or hurts him, I had a radio on my chest, I was part of communications so our leader told me and my chainsaw guy go head, ahead of us was a danger zone, hottest spot, if the fire on our end should ignite again this would be the spot..... and it did.

You see, our leader literally had his whole family working, the only odd ones that weren't family was me, the chainsaw guy, and our sub leader, so while I was clearing the path the leader stopped me so his son could do it, so I left what I doing and moved farther ahead with my chainsaw guy, the only escape route behind us, after a few minutes, I heard a voice yelling, it was my sub leader, I turned around expecting new orders, in stead only a solid wall of flames blocking my view and my escape route, wasting no time, I ran to chainsaw guy then we forced a path through the tree's running around the fire, we were so close to the flames they blocked the sun, making all the light around us red with thick shadows waves moving through the light, and roaring, the fire actually makes a loud roaring, I felt deaf because I couldn't hear the radio on my chest or hear the branches and twigs snapping as I smashed though them, when we regrouped with the other, other leader ordered we save the equipment, without thinking, I scooped up like 20 pounds of gear while while still running down the line, then leader told me stop and wait for his family who were slow because of the gear he wanted to save, then ordered us hide in the worst possible area, we should've died like 3 times just from his poor decisions.

After a while air support came in and we evacuated, at base I started looking for answers as how we lost control, I found out that our leaders sons wanted videos of flames that they could post on YouTube, so they noticed that the escape route was on fire, and they polled out their phones to record it grow, you can see me standing on the other side, but they comment on fire and become a family moment that almost ended with me burning alive, the chainsaw thanked me, saying I probably saved his life going back for him and at camp I removed my shirt to shower, then I looked in the mirror and my body was covered in bruises and stretches from my desperate escape, I spent 28 days there.

While working it didn't bother me, but after work when I got home, I was hearing voices and having nightmares, I felt like I was losing my mind, it only lasted a few days, but occasionally I still get nightmares, now I get borderline panic attacks at night from chronophobia and gerascophobia being the main causes and another interesting thing, while working, I'll sleep fine, as if nothings wrong, but during days off my phobias hit me hard, I was thinking of possibly seeking professional help or if you had any other options? 

Hale (Alberta, Canada)

* * *

Dear Hale,

First of all, I think you are a hero. What you did was amazing. If they don't pin some kind of medal to your chest, it will be a grave injustice.

Secondly, I would like to meet the people who thought this was a great thing to put on YouTube and kick them and beat them to a pulp and shove those phones up their arses. OMG, disgusting!

Thirdly, I'm not sure how gerascophobia (fear of aging) comes into play here. I get chonophobia (fear of the future), since you cannot be blamed for being anxious about what might happen with a fire in the future, but can you explain further why you fear getting old?

Finally, you clearly are having a PTSD issue here. What you suffered through was a nightmare, and it is completely understandable that you would have nightmares and other issues afterwards. Does your employer offer any counseling benefits? I would be surprised if they did not. Talk to your superior about getting some help with PTSD through your employer (government, correct?) benefits. I mean, you're in Canada, so I would think you could get some help with this.

If you have not already, I would think a formal, written report should be composed by you and given to your boss concerning your sub's incompetence and the digital recording incident. These are gross lapses in judgment and the fire chief should know about them, yes?

Write again if you wish to chat more, and I hope the above helps.

Hugs,
Papabear

​* * *

Thank you so much for the reply and your kind words

PTSD? I've never consider that? And gerascophobia I guess is more of me being worried that, I'd be too old to experience things with my mate, who is only 3 years younger then me, it's seems kinda silly, but it still scares me, my Mate is American, Sometimes I worry that I may never raise enough money to visit or be with him.

I've never thought about asking for counselling, but its a little late to request it, since any benefits expire when we get off work, however, I've heard of there being counselling offered near by, might be worth talking to them about PTSD and Phobias.

As for reporting My Leader and his family, their stupidity didn't just effect me and my co worker, but roughly 30 other people almost died that day, even after we got evacuated, less then an hour, the whole area burned, so everybody had something to say about it, as for the video they recorded was deleted after they realized it was basically evidence against them

Thank you again for taking time to read this ^w^

* * *

Hi, Hale,

1. Try reading about PTSD on the Canadian site http://www.ptsdassociation.com/.

2. Three years difference between you and your mate? That's nothing. There were 9 years separating me and Jim, and I might be starting a relationship soon with a man who is 17 years my senior.

3. The incompetent boobs you worked with fighting the fire: it's never too late to file a report, if you want to. Or, another option, leak the story to the Canadian press. That's up to you. I realize that it might stress you out, but just think if these people keep their jobs they could cause more damage through their negligence.

Take care,

Papapbear

Feral Planet is a new publishing company started by Michael Friedlander, the former CEO of FPG Inc. (Guardians). Their first project was successfully fired up on Kickstarter: Goliath, a fully-painted story book written by Mr. Friedlander and illustrated by Mike Ploog (famous for his many designs for Hollywood movies). “The story follows the adventures of a small family of prehistoric people named the Ty clan. The Ty clan live in very difficult times and face incredible dangers every day. To survive, they must embark upon an epic journey to find a new world and the peace they have always dreamed of. They find great strength and determination in their belief in magnificent stories passed down through the generations that speak of giant white guardians that protect and watch over them. As the story unfolds, we will find out if these are just age-old tales the clan elders tell while sitting around the fire or if these great guardians prove to be so much more…” It’s available to order in hardcover over at Previews, and it’s expected to hit the shelves before the end of December.

image c. 2016 Feral Planet

Roo and Tugs share some important recent events in light of one of our own attempting to take their own life.





NOW LISTEN! Special Release - Roo and Tugs share some important recent events in light of one of our own attempting to take their own life. - NOW LISTEN!

World-famous author James Patterson (Zoo) has returned with a new novel for young readers: Word of Mouse, written with the help of Chris Grabenstein and illustrated by Joe Sutphin. It’s the story of a very special mouse. “What makes Isaiah so unique? First, his fur is as blue as the sky–which until recently was something he’d never seen, but had read all about. That’s right–Isaiah can read, and write. He can also talk to humans…if any of them are willing to listen! After a dramatic escape from a mysterious laboratory, Isaiah is separated from his ‘mischief’ (which is the word for a mouse family), and has to use his special skills to survive in the dangerous outdoors, and hopefully find his missing family. But in a world of cruel cats, hungry owls, and terrified people, it’s hard for a young, lone mouse to make it alone. When he meets an equally unusual and lonely human girl named Hailey, the two soon learn that true friendship can transcend all barriers.” Word of Mouse will be available in hardcover this December.

image c. 2016 Jimmy Patterson

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We’re the NSA’s favorite.

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Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Ironfur Makes A Special Blue Tag Made for Fayroe
• HolidayHole
• Wuff Hotel Promo
• Chicago Airport Workers Vote To Strike
  • Story 2
• Best F’d T-Shirt
• RFC 6919
• Gif pronunciation solved
• More people convinced of TimTams

News:

• Privacy Row as U.K. Government Plans Porn User Database
• Rare Allergy: Some Cannot Tolerate Water
• Law introduced to ban conversion therapy in Erie County
• ClickHole: How To Make A False Face To Fool Wolves In Less Than 30 Minutes
• 39 Percent of Americans Would Give Up Sex to Never Worry About Hacking
• Kit Kat Fills Student’s Car With 6,500 Bars After Chocolate Theft
• Man without arms denied housing loan due to inability to provide fingerprints
• ‘Suicide bomber’ squirrel hospitalizes Chicago politician who spoke out against squirrels
• Woman shares Thanksgiving with teen she accidentally invited

 Emails:

• Timber Wulffy – “The Gov. And why I can’t be a furry”
• Someone – “Legitimacy of Online Relationships”

FC-252 Suspicious Package - We're the NSA's favorite.

We’re the NSA’s favorite.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Ironfur Makes A Special Blue Tag Made for Fayroe
• HolidayHole
• Wuff Hotel Promo
• Chicago Airport Workers Vote To Strike
  • Story 2
• Best F’d T-Shirt
• RFC 6919
• Gif pronunciation solved
• More people convinced of TimTams

News:

• Privacy Row as U.K. Government Plans Porn User Database
• Rare Allergy: Some Cannot Tolerate Water
• Law introduced to ban conversion therapy in Erie County
• ClickHole: How To Make A False Face To Fool Wolves In Less Than 30 Minutes
• 39 Percent of Americans Would Give Up Sex to Never Worry About Hacking
• Kit Kat Fills Student’s Car With 6,500 Bars After Chocolate Theft
• Man without arms denied housing loan due to inability to provide fingerprints
• ‘Suicide bomber’ squirrel hospitalizes Chicago politician who spoke out against squirrels
• Woman shares Thanksgiving with teen she accidentally invited

 Emails:

• Timber Wulffy – “The Gov. And why I can’t be a furry”
• Someone – “Legitimacy of Online Relationships”

FC-252 Suspicious Package - We're the NSA's favorite.

We’re the NSA’s favorite.

Download MP3

Link Roundup:

• Ironfur Makes A Special Blue Tag Made for Fayroe
• HolidayHole
• Wuff Hotel Promo
• Chicago Airport Workers Vote To Strike
  • Story 2
• Best F’d T-Shirt
• RFC 6919
• Gif pronunciation solved
• More people convinced of TimTams

News:

• Privacy Row as U.K. Government Plans Porn User Database
• Rare Allergy: Some Cannot Tolerate Water
• Law introduced to ban conversion therapy in Erie County
• ClickHole: How To Make A False Face To Fool Wolves In Less Than 30 Minutes
• 39 Percent of Americans Would Give Up Sex to Never Worry About Hacking
• Kit Kat Fills Student’s Car With 6,500 Bars After Chocolate Theft
• Man without arms denied housing loan due to inability to provide fingerprints
• ‘Suicide bomber’ squirrel hospitalizes Chicago politician who spoke out against squirrels
• Woman shares Thanksgiving with teen she accidentally invited

 Emails:

• Timber Wulffy – “The Gov. And why I can’t be a furry”
• Someone – “Legitimacy of Online Relationships”

[Live] Suspicious Package

Hey there! Arrkay here from Culturally F’d with a special guest post. I want to open right away with a new T-Shirt design poll, closing on Sunday Nov. 29:

Culturally F’d giving some Sh**ts away

SHIRTS that is! Sign up to our newsletter to enter into a draw for the winning design. Here’s what Rusty has to say about it:

Vote here: https://goo.gl/forms/9NJxjVg11GUq7lqy2

Subscribe to Culturally F’ds newsletter at www.culturallyfd.com to enter the draw to win. If the shirts end up in a tie, then both will end up going to print.

Previously on Culturally F’d

Over on my channel, we discuss how we define our community and how a fur might describe it themselves in: Hobby, Lifestyle, Fandom: Defining Furry.

Bandit from The Raccoon’s Den came onto F’d to discuss how he got started, what it takes to become a YouTuber and conquering social anxiety.

Still bummed out about the US Election? Maybe these 19 unlikely cartoon candidates will cheer you up:

A regular YouTube feature – call for submissions

Do you have a YouTube channel?  Right here on Dogpatch Press, we’re looking to fill in a new monthly guest post.  It will feature all the current and best YouTube videos that furries are producing. The primary goal is to expose more YouTube creators from our fandom to more furries. The secondary goal is to create a video creator network to encourage more collaboration between Furries on the video platform. Please message me (Arrkay at culturally.fd@gmail.com) if you have a channel you want us to include or at least investigate. We are looking for YouTube channels that are up to date and posting new content regularly.

Here are some fine channels that you should subscribe to in the mean time:

Betsy Lee – An animator with an ongoing fantasy series “No Evil”. A very impressive production for a small crew, the story reminds me very much of a dungeons and dragons role-play campaign. You may need to watch the back-log of episodes to figure out what’s going on with the cast of characters right now.

Blü – Blu The Dragon is an australian dancer/performer/choreographer, and does profanity infused vlogs about life and furries.

Culturally F’d – Hey that’s my channel! Every other week we discuss anthro animals in culture and mass media. Everything from cave paintings to what the furry fandom might look like tomorrow. The F’d stands for Furry. We also have regular “F’d Up Dates” with Rusty Shacklefur, a rabbit from the moon. I should also mention we have a Patreon and as of Dec 1 2016, a merch store!

EZ Wolf – Professional quality photography and videography. They are responsible for many music videos, dance videos and dramas starring fursuiters that have gone viral.

Furries in the Media – Aberguine carefully dissects instances where furries are represented in news reports or fiction, and grades them on Accuracy and Spirit.

Majira Strawberry – This fursuited vlogger is probably the most popular furry YouTuber with over 44,000 subscribers. Majira specializes in comedy skits, Q&A’s, and collaborating with other fursuiters in his area and at cons.

The Raccoon’s Den – The Docu-Dramadey of the fandom, Bandit and friends explore furry parties of California and dramatizes furry-life outside of the parties. They also have vlog style “Drakes Corner” videos and they produce a podcast “Pawesome”. Check out Patch’s article on them!

Furry.Today – Not a YouTuber, but a great resource for finding new fluffy videos from all sources.

Another giant monster comic — this time, a black & white classic returns. According to Previews: “The giant kaiju return to ravage the Earth in the first volume of cult genre legend Mike Wolfer’s War Monsters! Originally released in 1987-89, Wolfer’s Daikazu series was his first published work, and issues #1-5 of the giant monster rumble are collected here for the first time ever in one giant volume! On a remote Pacific island, a group of strangers accidentally stumble upon the secret, underground base of a mad geneticist responsible for the creation of two gigantic behemoths, and only the ancient ‘god’ Daikazu stands against them in an earth-shaking battle that climaxes in downtown Tokyo!” The first issue arrives with a Bang at the end of November.

image c. 2016 by Mike Wolfer

Black Swan / Pt. 1 (Episode: 99)
After a hard drive failure causes a great setback for Bandit and his friends, various other losses bring the group together to overcome them. See more at: http://www.TheRaccoonsDen.com FACEBOOK:... From: The Raccoon's Den Views: 3956 39 ratings Time: 08:01 More in Entertainment

Papabear,

My enemy heard that I am a furry and now he is going to tell my friends that I am a weirdo. My enemy hates and thinks furries are stupid because he says that they are sex addicts (but I know they're not). Please, can you help me out? I need it, please.

Kit the Wolf (age 12, U.K.)

* * *

Hi, Kit,

Okay, the issue here is gossip. Whether it is gossip about being a furry or anything else for that matter, you can deal with it in the same way. Usually. What is unique here is that this gossip—that you are a furry—is actually true. It's the details that are incorrect. Kind of like if people at the workplace outed you for being homosexual. Here are some things you can do....
​

• First off, do not be ashamed for being a furry. If you act ashamed, you will attract more criticism and shaming.
• Head the "enemy" off at the pass by telling your friends you are a furry first and what that really means to you. Better they hear it from you than a cruel gossip.
• Prepare your arguments: if someone approaches you and says something like, "I hear you are a pervert furry and like to yiff dogs." You respond calmly by hitting them with logic, such as, "I know you got that information from John Doe Butthead. He's been spreading things about me that aren't true because he doesn't like me, so you should consider the source first. Second, you guys don't even get what a furry is. Let me give you an example: Did you go to see Zootopia in the theater? Did you like it? That's furry! It's just about fictional characters who look like animals but act like humans, that's all. Is there sex stuff on the Internet about it? Sure, but there is porn all over the Internet and I'm not into that. Anyway, I'm 12. I'm not having sex and I don't watch porn. Do you?"
• Only worry about arguing your case if you are confronted by it. If no one is talking to you about it, ignore it, and ignore that gossip jerk as much as possible. Just stay away from him or her.
• If it gets bad and you get harassed, don't be afraid to tell a school teacher or administrator. Tell them you are being bullied. Schools have gotten very tough on bullying lately and do not tolerate it (in Britain, confer https://www.gov.uk/bullying-at-school/the-law).

I hope that helps. Good luck! Write again if you need more help.

Hugs,
Papabear

Boom! Studios have a new full-color comic mini-series called Mega Princess — with an interesting sideways anthro-angle. “During Princess Maxine’s 10th birthday, her fairy godmother grants her the gifts of EVERY fairy tale princess, which…sounds a lot cooler than it actually is, in Max’s opinion. She doesn’t want to sing on key or feel a pea under 20 mattresses-she wants to be a detective! At least the power to talk to animals is cool, but her pony Justine is downright saucy. They don’t get along. When her little brother, Prince Robert VI (better known as Baby Bobs), goes missing, Max and Justine are on the case, and her new Mega Princess powers just might come in handy after all!” It’s written by Kelly Thompson (Jem and the Holograms) and illustrated by Disney artist Brianne Drouhard. The first issue is on the shelves now.

image c. 2016 Boom! Studios

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Dear Furry Community,

While not all of you visiting this site are American (and therefore do not celebrate Thanksgiving), I would like to take a moment to thank all of you who have visited, posed questions, and perhaps took the time to offer a compliment or two.

Take a little time today to think of things you can be grateful for: friends, family, food on the table, clothes on your back, a bed to sleep in.

And do not envy those who may seem more prosperous and successful than you. There will always be others who have more money, better careers, better physical features than you. Envy just brings you down.

Instead, work on accepting yourself for who you are, and exercise kindness towards those around you at all times.

Take time to appreciate the beauty of nature, the love of a good dog or cat, the flavor of the ice cream melting on your tongue, a kiss on the cheek.

None of us knows why we are really here. Perhaps there is no reason at all. So, do your best to enjoy what you have in the here and now.

Hugs,

​Papabear Grubbs

How did we ever miss these? Katherine Applegate is a writer of books for young readers, who has some interesting anthropomorphic credentials. The One and Only Ivan is a Newberry Award-winning novel from 2013 about a very special gorilla. “Inspired by the true story of a captive gorilla known as Ivan, this illustrated novel is told from the point of view of Ivan himself. Having spent twenty-seven years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.” Take a look over at Amazon.  Then more recently, and even more anthropomorphic perhaps, there’s Crenshaw from 2015. “Jackson and his family have fallen on hard times. There’s no more money for rent. And not much for food, either. His parents, his little sister, and their dog may have to live in their minivan. Again… Crenshaw is a cat. He’s large, he’s outspoken, and he’s imaginary. He has come back into Jackson’s life to help him. But is an imaginary friend enough to save this family from losing everything?” Guess we’ll find out soon enough. It’s also available at Amazon.

image c. 2016 Feiwel & Friends

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