Right when the first cherry blossoms were beginning to bloom, just over 300 furries came down to Washington, D.C., last month. Touring the Tidal Basin and the National Mall, they walked around to take in the majestic sight of bright pink cherry petals. While 13 days too soon from what is deemed “peak bloom”, some other trees were budding or blooming entirely.

Furs from all over came as part of an evolved and growing field trip in the fandom to visit the annual spectacle on March 14th. Furs local to D.C., including in the neighboring states of Maryland and Virginia—known locally as the DMV—came, of course, but so did people from further afar. It’s been for decades a trip that furries’ friend groups would go down to the Tidal Basin, I’m told, to take in the sight of hundreds of thousands of beautiful petals in fursuit. These excursions were previously ad-hoc, small, private outings amongst friends for years by different groups of people. How did it become so large and organized?

Tuesday, the organizers for the Washington, D.C., FurRide sent an announcement to members advising attendees on how to behave in the presence of the National Guard during the upcoming event on September 20th riding the D.C. Metro. The message tells furs to “not engage in heckling, photography, or other disturbance” to the troops or to “other law enforcement personnel”.

President Donald Trump activated the National Guard in D.C. last month under the auspices of lowering crime in a city where, in the last five years, crime rates have fluctuated, and violent crime is on the decline since peaking two years ago. The National Guard are patrolling the Metro system as well as roaming the city’s streets. Some are armed, effectively making it an occupation.

Trump’s 30-day emergency direct control over the District’s police department expired Wednesday, though city police have been instructed by the mayor to coordinate indefinitely with federal law enforcement in an apparent appeasement.

This Thursday (July 21) sees the final performance of Squirrel, or The Origin of a Species, playing in the Redrum theater at Fort Fringe in Washington D.C., USA

A two-man comedy by Michael Merino, Squirrel is a dialogue between nineteenth-century naturalist Charles Darwin (played by Ian LeValley) and an American Grey Squirrel (played by Carlos Bustamante).

The play is presented as a series of skits, jumping about about in time and setting but roughly following Darwin's life between his voyage on the HMS Beagle and his writing On the Origin of Species. Bustamante brings the Squirrel to life with only a grey hat with ear flaps, and his own squirrelly movements.