I got to spend time with my husband as well as several friends who live closer to that con. We drove across the state, seeing plenty of wild animals that I don’t get to see at home, as well as enjoying a cooler temperature, and even some snow!
One of my favorite things to do was create some badges and stickers for friends and YouTubers that I’m a fan of to present to them at the con. I showed most of them in my newsletter last week, and I’m fairly happy with how they’ve turned out.
I was still a bit confused as to the layout of the con, which I think is just due to the layout of the resort itself. I also thought that the schedule could be improved a bit, mainly adding a few more panels throughout the day to give more options. I realize that I don’t know how many folks submit panels, but with close to 2,000 attendees this year (over 40% growth over last time I attended in 2023), I’d try to do more outreach to get panels. Or even create meets and find a host for them.
I’m not sure if I’ll make it up there next year, since I think that I want to try FurSquared again, which is also in Wisconsin. But my husband and his partners enjoyed the water park like I’d hoped, so maybe I’ll see you again Aquatifur!
I’m giving the following presentation as a talk at Aquatifur 2025
Social Media and Walled Gardens can be useful for finding an audience, but not for owning your creative content online. In this panel we’ll discuss several options that you could take, with various degrees of difficulty, to own your own space to share your art, stories, music, or whatever else you create. Come with ideas, leave with some useful links!
I’ve spent a lot of my professional life teaching others. I’ve taught professionally at a university for a while. I taught online as well, with pre-recorded platforms like Skillshare, as well as a platform where I was paid to do live courses with small cohorts.
Something that I’m looking to finally do more of in 2026 is record and publish videos for more than small groups to watch. I have my small YouTube channel where I vlog and am currently wrapping my first Inktober.
One thing that I’ve allowed to get in the way of completing longer videos on different topics is wondering whether I should stick with one channel, or make new ones for the topics that I want to address. After reading this article, where the author discusses his reasoning for making multiple channels while only at a few hundred followers made me decide to do the same. If I’m going to do this, I want to do it right, which to me means setting up for viewer success.
With that, here’s what I have in mind for three separate channels to make videos for:
BowieBarks – My current YouTube channel, which I will continue using to share personal art, painting, drawing, fursuit making, and general crafting.
Bark and Bytes – A place to share tutorials and process videos for the things that I make on the web, as well as other videos examining online culture. That last thing has been an interest of mine for as long as I’ve been building, and I’ve got a lot of thoughts!
An as-of-yet unnamed third channel for video essays that aren’t directly related to web dev.
I don’t specifically want to have three separate places to maintain and try not to confuse myself with, but pretty much everywhere I read the advice is to have one channel be about one thing. The only reasons that I’ve seen to keep just one are to avoid spreading yourself too thin, and to be able to really push one. Which makes a lot of sense knowing how much I already overextend, but who am I to listen to sound advice?
So that’s my goal. Sure, I’d love to share all of myself as one whole being, but I realize that not everyone would care about all parts of me. I certainly wish that I could filter out eight hour live streams of gaming from channels that I follow for scripted videos as an example.
Whatever I end up doing, I’ll keep it all sorted and updated on my personal site and in my newsletter. The best places to record things and ensure that they won’t get wiped away by a fickle corporation.
Megaplex was quite a con this year! Not always in the best way, but I’m going to avoid going too explicitly into everything because frankly the negatives reflect more upon myself and minor issues than anything to do with the con itself.
The main con days ran from Saturday to Monday this year, which seemed to throw people off far more than anticipated, myself included. My partner and I arrived on Thursday. This was my first year trying out being on staff for the con, and I wanted to be rested and already in place, unpacked, and not worrying about all of that for setup on Friday.
Friday itself was a bit frustrating, and I think that a good portion of that was a buildup of things that took place prior to the con. There was a lack of communication about key information, which I personally have ideas as to why it happened, and how it could be addressed in the future. I admit, I spent a bit more time than I wanted that day dwelling on negative feelings, especially personal feelings.
Saturday was simply too busy to think too hard, which was probably a good thing. I had a staffing shift, and ended up helping earlier and later than my shift as well, as there was a need for hands. The registration team was working hard, and doing everything that could be done, but a record breaking 10k+ attendance make the line to check in go long on Friday and Saturday.
Sunday was to be my busiest day of the con. I had the Crafter Meetup to run first thing in the morning. After that, I had my Artist Alley slot, which I had to wait a bit to get into. Finally, I had a staffing shift on Sunday night, which would have gone well past my normal bed time.
It was on Sunday night, around 10pm, that I made a seemingly unimportant decision. While I was doing some room checking/counting (to ensure that folks showed govt IDs to get in, and ensured that the rooms didn’t hit capacity), I was asked by someone if I wanted a hug. I said sure, as the furry fandom is very physically affectionate, and hugs are the main currency.
Unfortunately, this person chose to lift me up and squeeze me as well. I was not prepared for this, and he is incredibly strong. After five or six pops on my spine, which normally would be helpful, I felt and heard a pop on my lower right ribs. He set me down, and I had trouble catching my breath. I immediately went to a private room that I thankfully had access to as staff and sat down. I then laid on the floor, trying to calm down and catch my breath past the pain.
When trying to express the seriousness later, and that I wasn’t simply trying to skip out on work, I mentioned that this was the first time that I can remember in quite a long time that I cried due to physical pain. It simply hurt and while I could tell I would be fine, I did not know how serious it was.
I still don’t know, as I’m awaiting X-ray results this week. There is a chance that there is a rib fracture, but my doctor thinks that it could likely be a cartilage tear, in addition to obvious muscle strain in the area. I’m still in pain, but thankfully not as much as a week ago.
Monday was comparably quiet. I actually was fine sitting at my Artist Alley table, which was basically the only thing that I had that day. After that closed, I went home with my friends, skipping the closing ceremony and final night dances, not that they were on my list prior anyway
I am still a bit “on” with visitors in town for the con and theme parks. I’m mainly glad that the months of stress prior to the con are behind me. They’ll come again, but next time I hope to be more ready.
As usual, here’s a big photo dump! As not usual, I’m gonna start just putting all pictures together, regardless of ratio or subject matter.
I regularly keep and update a list of goals that I want to achieve. A number of these goals are the same kinds of things that everyone wants: a healthier body, deeper relationships with others, more financial stability, etc.
But there are plenty of goals that involve learning. For instance, a few tech related things that I’ve wanted to learn or improve my abilities in:
Build Tools: to manage my web dev projects. Like actually understanding a bit of how things like npm and composer are working and not just running commands.
Laravel: I am working on a personal project that I’m very excited about, and I’ve been getting coaching on using Laravel. Plus, I’ve been asked about my skills with it for paid work, and it’d be nice to have that additional option.
Mobile App Development: There are several mobile app ideas that I have had in mind for a while. Including the one that I’m starting to build in Laravel! But I know that not everything is going to be as easy to make in a platform like that.
Outside of tech though, I want to learn more things for myself. I love the idea of having more skills that I can whip out at a moment’s notice. It’s
Cooking: I like to cook, but could stand to have a few more recipes just in my head and ready to go.
3D Modeling: I have a 3D printer, I love to paint minis, and I want to make my own to make things like fursona prints for my partners and friends.
Time Management: With the many things that I’m listening, I want to actually get better about using things like Time Blocking and Pomodoro. Knowing is one thing. Doing is another.
And some of these skills are completely unnecessary in life, but just fun things for myself. They seem almost silly to share, but that’s the point. Life is silly! Having fun is just as necessary as having competency.
So with that in mind, here’s a few things that I want to practice just for my own wants:
Juggling: I very briefly was able to juggle three balls at once a few times, and I’d like to get this physical skill back. Wouldn’t it be cool to whip out some balls to play with?
Singing: I took vocal lessons when I was younger, mainly for accent training. The biggest thing that I took away from it was diaphragmatic breathing, which has helped me when it comes to running as well. I guess I just wanna have what I hear in my head more closely match what comes out of my mouth. Maybe that should be a goal for public speaking too…
American Sign Language: I think that this comes from wanting to be more helpful in general. I only know a few words, and I want to at least be able to do basic non-verbal communication. You know, that thing that I already am bad at
This isn’t any sort of promise to do these in a timely fashion. I’m just trying to put some of my thinking publicly. It’d be nice to set some habits though!
This post isn’t complete, but I want to put something in my newsletter!
One of the things that was a wonderful surprise for me was how I did at Artist Alley! I had been preparing so many things for my shop, Barks’ Cafe, and much of that was because I talked myself into booking slots there to sell my merch. I think that I needed that push to get as much done as I did.
I sold a fair amount of stickers and buttons, and I was so thankful that people stopped by my table at all that most everyone was getting several freebies to go along with their purchases. This is the first time that I’ve ever done this, and I’ve already got notes for how I’ll make it better in the future.
I took a ton of pictures, and am sharing some of my favorites here as usual.
Last weekend I attended FurSquared 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The final attendance count was 1,790, which is about a 50% increase in attendance over 2023. The convention charity raised $17,420.69 (nice) for the Humane Animal Welfare Society.
This was a wonderful weekend overall for me. I feel bad that some of the folks that I was with were feeling sick, but am admittedly thankful that I stopped being sick the week prior, and my mental health was overall well during the event.
I met lots of great new folks, got gifts for friends and partners, and got to spend time with some friends that I don’t get to see much outside of cons. It was my first time attending FurSquared, but I’d gladly do so again for the great vibe that it had. Plus I got to walk around in snow!
As is becoming standard now, here’s a gallery of some of my favorite photos that I took this year, from fursuits to various merch to random fun things. Enjoy!
Alright, so this was the big one! No seriously, Midwest Furfest 2023 had a record attendance of 15,547 attendees who actually checked in over the weekend. It definitely felt crowded at times! But it was also really cool to see folks there for the con all over town, and even on the way to Chicago from Orlando.
There were so many highlights it would be hard to list them all out. Admittedly there were some low points too, but nothing that would stop me from attending a con again. There are just too many friendly floofs there 🥰
I did a bit of a recap in my belated vlog, which you can catch on my YouTube channel.
I also took a ton of photos, and apologize in advance for the 35mb of already compressed images that you’re getting
I had a great time at Aquatifur this year, a furry convention that takes place at a water park resort in Wisconsin Dells. I made some new friends and had a really relaxing time.
I ended up talking about it a bit in my weekly vlog, and even there I left out so many weekend highlights.
I also took lots of pictures! It was a very colorful event, and I took far more than I could share here. I love that it was around Halloween, and that they leaned into some theming around that, with suiters going beyond their fursuits to do a costume contest as well.
On 29 September 2023 I went to the Strong Museum of Play with my partner and friends. It was amazing! I absolutely recommend spending a day there if you are in Rochester, NY.
On 30 September 2023 I attended WordCamp Rochester and spoke on starting your own newsletter. The event was a lot of fun catching up with WordPress friends in a smaller, more intimate environment. I also saw a few other presentations and a wonderful keynote by Nyasha Green.
The following few days, from 1-3 October 2023 my husband and other partner joined us in NYC where we had a mini vacation. We went to several parks, got lots of good food, and I bought way to many books
Here’s a dump of parts of our trip, with almost too many that I liked to choose which to share
I also recorded a vlog about the trip, mainly showcasing books though 📚🤓
As an organizer of WordCamp US 2023, I am overjoyed with how the event turned out. This was my first in-person WordCamp in nearly four years, and it did not disappoint. There were insightful sessions, plenty of fruitful networking opportunities, and community engagement that made this WordCamp a tremendous success. This was my first time helping to organize such a large-scale WordCamp, and the experience was rewarding.
Community Summit
The first two full days that I was in Washington DC were the Community Summit. There were dozens of discussions, brainstorming sessions, and planning for the future of WordPress. While I can’t speak to specifics of the event, raw notes for each session are available on the Make Summit site.
My personal highlight discussion was the session on DEIB and the WordPress community. While the conversation itself was convivial, the hard and harsh reality of the negative aspects of the community made it a stressful discussion to be a part of. Still, I’m hopeful from this and other sessions that we’ve identified areas where we can improve, and more importantly some methods that can help to get us there.
The WordPress community deserves the best and has the ability to do better all the time. This summit was proof of that!
Contributor Day
Part of WordCamp US 2023 that I had a lot of input and focus on was Contributor Day. A Contributor Day is part of a WordCamp where the WordPress community comes together to work on the project itself. Whether it is writing code for core and plugins and themes, translating things, making new educational content, or finding ways that the community can bring others in, there are a lot of ways to get involved.
One of the most important things for Contributor Day this year was to ensure that we were welcoming new contributors as best as possible. I have been to many contributor days, and most follow a similar format. The organizers share a brief overview of the different Make teams, groups split up and try to figure out how to get into the wifi and on Slack, they work on things throughout the day, then share at the end what they worked on.
This time, we decided to cut out the first and last portion, since teams provide updates at their own pace, and can also post them online. Instead, we had new contributors arrive an hour earlier than returning contributors to go through an onboarding session. We also gave color-coded bandanas to team leads and new contributor guides to make them easy to find. The new contributor guides were important to make sure that people felt comfortable walking up to someone and knowing that they could ask questions without bothering them.
“Contributor Day is one of the things that I was most looking forward to.”
~ david wolfpaw
Of everything about WordCamp US this year, Contributor Day is one of the things that I was most looking forward to. Not just because I helped to organize it, but because it would be one of the first times in years that so many people involved in WordPress were able to gather in person and work on the project in groups. Being able to collaborate remotely is great, but having those in person hours to really hash things out together is priceless.
“This has to have been one of the largest contributor days ever for a WordCamp. Around 500 people came together to work on writing code, creating documentation, doing translations, developing training, and doing things that make WordPress better all around.“
~ david wolfpaw
One of the downsides to being an organizer means that I didn’t get to be quite as involved as I’d like to be. Instead of sitting down with the Community team or one of the coding teams, I was constantly checking in to make sure that everyone had what they needed to succeed. It was a good problem to have, but it kept me away from having the same experience. Still, I am thankful that I was able to play my small role in ensuring a good day. While I couldn’t solve every problem that came up on Contributor Day, I still helped to put together a space where all of these contributors could do work, and where new contributors could learn and get involved. I’m proud of the work done this year, and I look forward to the recap so that we can learn what worked and what didn’t to refine again for next year.
If you have any interest in how to get involved in the WordPress community, check out make.wordpress.org to see the teams that you can get involved with, and how to contact each of them.
Conference Days
After the Community Summit and Contributor Day, I was already three days into WordCamp US before we even got to the actual main event. To say that I was running low on energy is an understatement! Even my daily morning iced espresso wasn’t enough on its own to keep me focused on the day.
What really kept me focused and active were the wonderful conversations that I had. This was with old friends who I hadn’t seen in person in nearly four years, as well as new friends who I got to learn about and bond with throughout the week. Nothing perks you up like an interesting conversation with an engaging partner.
I started my conference days by helping with registration. The first hour of day one is the most physically active, as everyone is arriving at the venue at the same time to check in. While there were booths setup to print badges, it still caused a queue to form, so I helped by handing out lanyards and pins in advance, and sharing information on when and where events were, as well as preparing attendees to go to the sponsor area and to get their attendee shirts.
Honestly, the meat of WordCamp US 2023 was the two conference days at the end. Over 30+ sessions there were speakers, new and old, sharing their experiences and knowledge with eager audiences. I sat in on sessions where I could, and as expected everything was well prepared and interesting. I came away with even more notes and ideas on projects to work on when the conference is over.
The Expo Hall
Sometimes people avoid the expo hall at events because sponsors and vendors can feel a bit spammy. The feeling is that they will do anything to sell you on their products, and that they don’t provide real value. At WordCamps this can’t be farther from the truth. These are companies that underpin the community, and their employees literally help make the community and code happen. I’ve always found people to be there because they want to be, not because their company made them attend.
“These are companies that underpin the community, and their employees literally help make the community and code happen.“
Part of my day was spent with my friends at SiteGround at their booth. I love folks walking up to me and asking me questions about hosting, considering that I use multiple hosts and don’t work for SiteGround. I can honestly answer about the pros and cons about various hosts, and the fact that I have been a consistent customer for a decade at this point. People really seem to want to know more about businesses in the sponsor area of WordCamps, and not just pass by for the free swag. That said, the swag was pretty nice! I already put a foil SiteGround unicorn sticker on my coffee cup, and the tote bag will be getting a lot of use.
If you ever find yourself at a WordCamp, don’t skip out on the sponsor hall!
“It’s where you’ll make great connections, meet new people, and find companies to work with.”
Most Valuable Lesson as an Organizer
Undoubtedly, the most valuable lesson I took away from being a small part of the WordCamp 2023 organizing team was the significance of meticulous planning and effective delegation. Coordinating a large event like this requires a well-structured timeline, clear communication, and a dedicated team. By delegating tasks to individuals with specific expertise, the team was able to ensure that each aspect of the event was well-executed and no detail was overlooked.
Additionally, I witnessed the importance of adaptability and contingency planning. Despite our best efforts, unforeseen challenges will always arise, and this WordCamp was no exception. Being prepared to pivot and find solutions on the spot helped us maintain a smooth experience for attendees and speakers alike.
The most important takeaway when it comes to adaptability is to listen in the moment to attendees, and to ensure that the full volunteer and organizing team are ready to report any issues that they see. We organized via Slack, and the proper person to solve a problem was ready to see and react as soon as an issue was spotted. Whether updating signage, changing a room for talks when the existing one didn’t work out properly, or helping attendees with individual needs, we were ready to respond.
Future Involvement
Would I help to organize WordCamp US or another WordCamp again in the future? Absolutely. This is far from my first event, but it was my first event as an organizer in four years.
I feel like I have a renewed sense of commitment to the WordPress community. Having to meet remotely only led to a bit of burnout.
“As someone who works almost exclusively online, the in-person events are a lifeline and reminder that none of us are in this alone.”
WordCamp US 2023 was one of my most memorable events yet, and I appreciate the support given to me by SiteGround and everyone else who made it an enjoyable and fruitful conference.
