Meet The Candidate Charles

[MnFurs Election Committee]

The following is Charles’ responses to a set of questions given to all candidates by the Minnesota Furs Election Committee. These are the unedited responses given to the committee. The only changes made by the committee was to format them for consistency between the posts.

 

Tell us about yourself

I’m a guy who loves bringing people together.  I value organizations and individuals who serve others.  I don’t mind a movie that makes me cry, I love one that makes me think.  You know the image of the mad scientist pouring strange chemicals together to see what kind of sparkly, amazing reaction will follow?  I love working on cons because you get to see people do that to themselves.

I’ve been working in fandoms for a very long time.  I’ve had the privilege to learn from some brilliant people, and from some amazing mistakes (some of my own, even).  I’ve run cons, including most departments at one point or another, I’ve chaired a couple, I’ve sat on nonprofit boards, all that fun stuff.  What it’s taught me in the end is that organizations aimed at serving a community need to be about the identity and needs of that community, not the personalities who happen to be in leadership today.  It’s taught me that collaboration is less sexy than control, but far more powerful.  It’s taught me that when you bring people together, amazing happens.

 

What brought you to the furry fandom?

Friends in my old D&D campaign introduced me to Omaha, the Cat Dancer and some of the other early furry work going on at the time.  I was fascinated by the art, the ideas, the nifty ways you could talk about character and personality with antro.  I’ve followed the form for years, finally re-connecting socially about 20 years ago, first through some old furry friends, later showing up at the meets (then at Eden Prairie Center).  I just love the people.

 

How will you continue to volunteer for the group after being elected?

My role around here has always been “other duties as assigned,” and I love it.  I have a couple of smallish roles at Migration, which I’ll likely continue.  Perhaps co-host another picnic?  Much of this will depend on what people ask me to do.

 

Is “furry” an adult group, or an all ages group?

Yes, of course.

I’d kinda like to leave my answer there; to really explain it would take a book.  Furry accepts that sexuality and other adult themes are an integral part of life, and are all fair game for art and storytelling.  Shame is unhealthy, and silence breeds trouble.  That said, we don’t need to talk about sex in every single thing we do.  We need to have spaces that also welcome people who aren’t interested in those conversations or are too young for them.  This is part of why I’m so excited about the Parent’s Initiative that Aerak is currently leading — it’s a great forum for articulating how we maintain the boundaries to keep all of this growing.

 

What do you feel are areas where you want to further develop yourself?  Why?

Like you, dear reader, I’m broken.  That both challenges me and teaches me things.  Right now I’m working on deepening my patience, strengthening my meditation discipline, and being a better friend, lover and partner.  There’s art in it, and risk, but I think I’m getting better at being me.  Whoever that is.

 

What do you feel are two of the most pressing issues with MNFurs and what will you do about them?

Love to see some more events get going.  Werecamp was a huge win for us, and I hope only the first.  I’d love to see someone get a weeknight meet going, perhaps downtown or near campus?  I’ve been discussing a new event idea for a bit now, hoping to be able to pitch it to the Board this year.

We need to get more people involved in running things; there are whole lists of ideas just waiting for the people to help make them happen.  Recruiting is, ultimately, a face to face affair.  Nothing, ever, has been as effective in getting volunteers.  Talk to people, listen to what they want to do, and find ways to hook them up.

 

What are two things you would like to see accomplished/improved during your tenure?

You know, when I answered this last time, I had ideas.  But of course, when you’re on a Board, unexpected things come up that require your time and energy, sometimes more than you’d like.  Time permitting, I’d love to work more to grow the staff on the “society side” (non-convention) of the organization.  I want us to build a structure to help start and sustain more mid-sized events (like Werecamp, or a new standing Meet).  And cookies, we need more cookies.

 

One goal of MNFurs is to promote education.  How do you intend on improving education?

For us, this is primarily a mission of educating the public about this community.  So much so, we’ve a mandate in our bylaws to do so.  In my own work, that’s frequently meant answering questions from interested (and usually misinformed) people.  In particular, it’s been an important element in building bridges with other fandom/geek identity groups — often people we have the most in common with, yet with the poorest understanding of what furry really is.  In leadership, the most important thing we can do here is to help equip our members with the tools to represent us productively and honestly.

[Author]

Posts