Whines

Whines, also known as Josef Ricketts (born August 26, 1969), is an artist and fursuiter who lives in Austin, Texas, USA, with his partner, Fades.

Fandom involvement
Whines is active in the Austin furry community and hosts occasional events (such as the Austin furry dance) and is helping Fades organize the Austin Park Bark meet.

Starting in 2013 and inspired by descriptions of the Frolic in California, Whines started organizing small Austin furry dance events and has held them once every 2-3 months since them. They tend to have attendance in the 20-40 person range with a handful of fursuiters. In 2015-2016 dances were held on UT campus in partnership with the University of Texas' Longhorn Furs group, but changes to the campus rules barring non-students from campus events (a change unrelated to the furry events) have forced them to move back to private venues. More recently some of the events have been DJ Jams, inspired by a panel Edgewise does at some conventions, where a group of DJs (anyone who wants to participate) all connect to a common mixer and work together while other attendees dance.

Whines is on the staff at Furry Fiesta, where he has been bringing dance lighting since the first con. As of 2014, he was doing A/V for the underground Kempi's nightclub area in the hotel. He is the Corral lead and his team mans the third stage, also known as The Corral.

Whines is the A/V lead at Havencon, a GBLTQ gaming convention started up in 2015, which hosts a sizable furry contingent in both attendees and staff.

Whines is the Events director at Alamo City Furry Invasion, a furry convention in San Antonio.

Whines has been providing A/V at Furry Siesta, a summer furmeet event spun off from Furry Fiesta, which has been slowly taking on more events typical of a full convention. As of 2018, a lineup of events including a dance-off, a brief variety show, and evening dances took place.

Whines is the chairperson of the Austin Furry Burlesque board, a new convention starting up in Austin.

Fursona
Whines' fursona is a spotted hyena.

Fursuit
Whines has constructed several fursuits for himself and his partner, the first of which debuted during Halloween 2013. His newest suit is Sumadeepika the sparkle hyena, his first LED-illuminated fursuit.

Art
Whines' work has appeared in the first and third issues of The American Journal of Anthropomorphics, some early issues of "The Tai-Pan Project" APA, and illustrations for an article in "Passionate Living" about cyberspace. His art frequently features fennecs (and hyenas to a lesser extent), and tends to be silly, sometimes playfully offensive cartoons. Some of his images in the Furry Fiesta art show have gotten complaints about themes involving abortions, baby-eating and menstruation.