Eric "Snapcat" Stevens

[Yancha]

Tell us about yourself

Hello Folks.   I am Eric E. Stevens, AKA Snap E. Tiger.  Owner, ByCats4Cats.com
A bit about myself:
I was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska where I lived until 2012 when I moved to White Bear Lake, MN to be with my husband Deron “Thor”.  While Thor and I were dating, I was working for PayPal.com and making fursuits on the side.  Meeting Deron, falling in love with him and deciding to make plans to move in with him sparked my passion to make fursuit creation my full time business.  We have been together in MN since August of 2012 and was married on August 13, 2013.  We have a Boston Terrier “Kylie”, German Shepherd “Mutz” and gray and white cat “Enzo”.  In our free time we like to golf, play tennis, host poker nights, go bowling and attend furry conventions.

 

Why do you wish to sit on the MNFurs board?

After running “Furbraska” for 12 years planning and hosting meetups, bowling nights, picnics and campouts I left a bit of myself behind there.  Over the past 2 years I have been working 70-80 hours a week on my business which left little time for a social life.  Now that I am working normal business hours and have a fantastic full time employee, I wish to involve myself more within the community I have called home.  I quite enjoyed working with Furry Migration as part of the registration department for last year’s convention.  Volunteering has always given me a purpose… something to look forward to.  Putting time into the local community is something that has always been a passion of mine.  I have sat on the board of directors for Rocket City FurMeet in Huntsville, Alabama as treasurer for two years before the convention sadly cancelled its 2013 year due to hotel issues.  Its time to put my name in the hat for my home community instead of some convention 5 states away.

 

How will you continue to volunteer in the community after being elected to the board?

Honestly, this has yet to be discovered.  As I mentioned before, I have been putting in a lot of hours to grow my business.  Now that the business is doing well and I have a dedicated staff, I have time to pursue other things.  Having all nights and weekends off now, there will be plenty of opportunity to explore how I can best use my time for MNfurs.

 

What brought you to the furry fandom?

While working for Kinko’s in Omaha, NE in 1999, I met an artist who drew what he described to be “Anthro” characters.  I got on a computer to do some research and was instantly hooked.   At the time, I was running a small business from my home making videos with music dubbed over people’s photos.  The business was called “Snap E. Video” so “Snap E. Tiger” was born.  In the hopes of meeting more local furries in March of 2000 I started the yahoo group “Furbraska”.  After meeting some awesome people on alt.lifestyle.furry (ALF), I attended my first fur meet in June of 2000 outside of St. Louis and quickly after bought a black cat fursuit which I took to Midwest Furfest later that year.  I made my first fursuit in 2001, a white tiger with velcro for the stripes so I could interchange colors and patterns.   In the years since, I have been in multiple stories in the media and have volunteered/worked staff at many conventions.  Check out my wikifur page for more info please.   http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Snap_E._Tiger

 

Who/What is your inspiration in life?

People with Passion.
– Robert King has always floored me with his passion for furry, fursuits and community.  In 2002, it meant the world to me when he asked if I would be interested taking over the “Constructed Fuzziness” track (fursuits, puppets) for Midwest FurFest.  I felt that as this was his passion, it was a huge honor for me to be asked.  I gladly accepted.  If you do not know who Robert King is, be sure to look him up.
– My dear departed friend Dennis Avner aka “Stalking Cat”.  He was always striving to be something he never fully could be in reality… a real tiger.  He had a goal in life and did whatever he could to reach that goal.  Body transformation, tattoos, a mechanical tail and made a lot of friends in our furry fandom.  He was happiest at furry conventions.   His memory of his passion is what drives me in everything I do.
– Jon Albers aka PandaGuy.  He sparked and continues to spark what furry is to me…  a total escape from reality.  Whether he was experiencing fursuit time or vacationing to Disney World he lived for those moments.  Forget that he had medical conditions, forget his banal job at the IRS, it was those times of escape to live for.

 

Being elected to the MNFurs board makes you a public figure. How will you adapt to that?

no adaptation needed.  I’ve worked hard to ensure my business has a good reputation.  Having over 170 customers all over the world alone shows that people have trust in my reputation.   I have represented myself well at numerous panel discussions at conventions and as a special guest of furry convention “Confurgence” in Melbourne, Australia.  In my free time, I am who I am.  I like cigars, I like beer, I can be a bit crass in my humor at times.  I have a ‘personality’…   I’m not just some name on a page.   I will always follow the guidelines of whatever event is planned for MNfurs but will never change who I am for the sake of being a ‘public figure’.

 

What message do you have for the MNFurs community?

Always follow your passions.  Put in the time, don’t listen to others who may harshly criticize you.  Do what drives you and surround yourself with people sharing that same passion.  Do that and you will be happy in life.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

Furry Migration Staff (programing & help desk)

Come say hi on the MNFurs Discord!

Posts on the MNFurs forums are of my own opinion and do not reflect that of MNFurs or chartered events unless otherwise stated.

[Cencewolf]

Mr. Snap E Tiger,

For a cat, you really are the one who got the bone in my own line of questions. The reason? I wanted to see if you could, or would answer them.  Even the cliche and debated “better than who” question that got soo much attention during my rantings on this site was answered and you answered it directly. Elected or not, i would very much like to talk to you, (and the board) about these “babysitting” issues you bring up.  (I have not done so yet, because it is only on saturday will we learn who i should appropriately be approaching) Also,.. Im gonna need a drink,

there are 3 very good incumbants you are running against, and 1 other candidate. Unlike Krios (and he did do very well during this process) you already had something coming into this election.  My respect. you didnt have to win it, you already earned a place in this community as a leader so far as i am concerned. You are a gem within this community and your brightest facets are your charitable and your dedicated sides.

for this reason, i am going to deviate from what i have done.. And not write out here why i like you as a board member but rather why i dont (as a board member). I Consider plausable board members to be “rocks”. Each is unique, with its own jagged edges, smooth surfaces and weighted value. Whats more, when the external community has a problem with our own, i want to be able use these rocks like boulders. I want to load them into catapults and hurl them at my enemy. I am not entirely certain that i would use a Gem for this.

-Cence -the slightly more striped gray wolf-

 

[Snap E. Tiger]

With my little walnut sized cat brain, I don’t completely get the metaphor but when my husband and I went to pick up our German Shepherd puppy “Mutz” the owner of the place referred to me as a ‘marshmallow’ as far as my personality type goes.  Perhaps I get it, perhaps I am Picard being told ““Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.”   Whichever, it was interesting answering your questions and however this ends, I appreciate your complements.

-Snap

Furry Migration Staff (Volunteers) & MNFurs Board Member.

Posts on the MNFurs forums are of my own opinion and do not reflect that of MNFurs or chartered events unless otherwise stated.

http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Snap_E._Tiger

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