For the MYFest Souvenir prompt, I knew I would write about this coffee mug, which I acquired thanks to discovering it as Veronica Howard’s Twitter avatar way back in June (and meeting Veronica was a high point of MYFest for me; we had never met before!).

If you want to know more about the “Be Gay Do Crimes” meme, which is new-ish as memes go, you can find out about it here: The Short But Fascinating History of “Be Gay, Do Crimes”

The words have been attached a lot of different images, and there are even multiple versions of the possum one; the coffee mug version is the one Veronica had, and the one I like best too. So, because I’m a LGBTQ+ ally, I’m very glad to be using this mug, and also because… possums.

I’ve always been a fan of possums the animal. And of stories about possums. My most beloved cat ever was named Possum. Then, last summer, at Digital Pedagogy Lab, I did a project on possum stories of the Catawba people.

So, whenever I see the Be Gay Do Crime possum on my desk (I’m using it as a pen holder so that I can see it all the time, not just when drinking coffee!), that makes me think of Veronica and of MYFest, and it makes me think of the possums of DPL and also of my cat Possum. All good things.

I’ve got a lot of intangible souvenirs of MYFest, but this coffee mug is my tangible souvenir, just like something you would buy at the gift shop from the wonderful resort where you spent your summer vacation!