Cat X. Steppenwolf's Werecard

Human Name: Michael
Were Name: Cat X. Steppenwolf
Phenotype: Tiger
Shifting Ability: Mental. I tend to stay there, at least in part, 24/7
Birthdate: December 19, 1967

Birthplace: Nashville Tennessee
Home Territory: Alabama
Dream Territory: England (I am a bit of an Anglophile.)

Physical Description, Human: Brown hair, brown/green eyes, dark
complexion, a little over six feet tall, 210 lbs
Physical Description, Were: Black Tiger, sometimes with orange stripes,
but not always, green eyes to die for.
Human Career: Broadcasting, both in front of and behind the microphone.
Music director.

Hobbies/Interests: Playing guitar, 4 track recording, collecting rare
records
Favorite Movies: A Hard Days Night, Citizen Kane, The restored Touch of
Evil, Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion, North by Northwest, Night of the
Iguana, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Manchurian Candidate, The
Thin Man series, Batman Returns, Cats (the Lord Webber musical with the
spandex kitties)
Favorite Were-movies: The Cat People (1942) The Curse of the Cat People,
The Howling, American Werewolf in London, Fangface (the old cartoon)
Favorite Literature: Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Douglas Adams,
Robert Asprin, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Favorite Were Literature: "Steppenwolf" by Herman Hesse, "The Wild" by
Whitley Strieber
Favorite Art: Dali, Frank Lloyd Wright, classic cinema
Favorite Were-art: (Almost anything by): Susan Seddon Boulet, Elfquest
(back when Wendy Pini was drawing it)
Favorite Quote: "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to loose."
~Kris Kristofferson
Favorite Were Saying/Quote: "Oh my, live prey" ~Albert Brooks (as the
Tiger in Doctor Doolittle)
Favorite Personal Quote: "I'm livin' in- a Godda- Da- Vida loca." (not
really, that is more my personal joke of the week.)
Favorite Song/Band(s): The Doors, The Kinks, The Cramps, Marianne
Faithfull, Leonard Cohen, Phil Ochs, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, early
Pogues, Steely Dan, Stray Cats/ Brian Setzer Orchestra, Eddie Cochran,
Gene Vincent, way too many obscure Rockabilly artists to mention, The
Yardbirds, Django Reinhardt, Les Paul & Mary Ford, Dean Martin, Bauhaus
Favorite Were Songs: "Full Moon" by The Kinks, "Bad Moon 'Rising" by
CCR, "Crazy Man Michael" by Fairport Convention "Tam Lin" by almost any
Celtic band who does it. (I have yet to hear any two bands do the exact
same version of the song.),"Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls, "Putting Out
Fire With Gasoline" (slow version) by David Bowie, "Moondance" by Van
Morrison
Favorite Season: Late Autumn and Winter
Favorite Holidays: Halloween, the one holiday that IMHO has been
enhanced by commercialism, rather than distroyed by it. YMMV.

Preferred Prey: Asian cuisine, Rare and first edition records. (I love
record conventions.)
Hunting Tips: Be patient; but be ready to pounce at any time. Wear lots
of leather, for both fun and protection, but mostly for fun!
Preferred Method of Attack: By check if possible.
Favorite Non-Were Mythological Beast: Anubis (More of a God than a
beastie; but he is soooo cute!)
Feelings Toward Vampires: I was raised by one. Any opinion given would
be clouded by that. Short answer: I don't really care for them.
Feelings Toward Normal Humans: Little "Happy Meals" on legs. }:-) Just
kidding. Some are o.k.; It's just when they become a crowd that they are
become stupid, scary, or both.
 
Personal Therianthropy: In retrospect, I have realized I have shown Were
traits for as far back as I can remember. I remember climbing stairs on
all fours. I started walking at about the same age as most carbon-based
bipeds with a written language; but I preferred crawling on all fours.
The desire to do that was beaten out of me by parents who were angered
that I wasn't acting my age. I must have been a good four years old at
the time. I still climbed stairs on all fours. They let me do that all
the way up to the first grade. Most likely, this is where the rifts
between my parents, and consequently most humans began.

I was born on December 19, 1967 to parents whom for some reason or
another, chose not to make me a part their lives. I was adopted by a
young couple whose marriage was falling apart so violently, other people
were being hit by the shrapnel. Being of The Church of Christ, divorce
was out of the question. The second option was adopt a child. My
Grandfather was a deacon of the church; therefore he was able to push
the adoption through rather quickly. It was an adoption agency ran by
The Church of Christ, to which he was a large donator. Who could say
"No" to that.

My Father told me when I was about 9 that _he_ had wanted to name me
Lobo; but Mom would have none of that. She insisted I be named Michael.
(At the time of hearing the story, I had no idea of the significance of
the name Lobo. Lobo was the name of a silly sheriff on an American
television program. At the time, I was glad that Mom had won the
argument. I never got a chance to ask why Dad wanted that name. What did
he see in me at that early age?)

The idea of getting a child didn't work. Mom and Dad divorced when I was
in the first grade. Mother and I relocated to Alabama to live with her
parents. We moved just as school ended. That was a lonely summer. I
found a stray dog, then a stray cat. After much argument and tears, they
let me keep both. At last, I had some friends to play with. This was the
same summer that I discovered something that would stay with me for the
rest of my life, our dark friend depression. I used to pray to the only
god I knew for death. I wanted to end a foreboding sense of loneliness
that I knew would follow me for the rest of my life.

Finally school began again, I was so happy. It was my chance to meet
other children in the new town. If you have ever been a new kid at
school, you know where this story is going. Not only did I not get the
instant acceptance I longed for; I was shunned. I was the odd man out. I
was different. I sincerely doubt it was because they spotted a Werewolf
in their midst. I'm not really sure what the reason was. I just was not
liked. Kids will be kids, and all that rot. I stayed depressed most of
the time. Unfortunately at the time, I had not learned how to hide it.
The only time I was really happy was when I was with my wonderful animal
friends.
 
After I had finished several more painful years in the Alabama school
system; Mom said we were moving back to Tennessee, the same town I
remembered having my last happy moments in. We moved back, but I had to
leave my animal friends behind. Mom said we could get new animals in
Tennessee. I could not make her understand that I didn't want NEW
animals, I wanted my friends. We moved to Tennessee; it was almost two
years before she would allow me to have any new animal friends. By the
time I was actually allowed to have a new animal friend, I was on the
verge of discovering that I was becoming an animal myself.

We arrived in Tennessee; and mother quickly married a very abusive man.
By the time I started school, I had become even more depresed than I had
ever felt. After the marriage, her second husband started showing his
true colours. He scarred me physically and psychologically deeper than
any child had ever accomplished before. By the time school started, I
was a broken child who hid within. As much as I wanted to have a friend,
I couldn't bring myself to even try anymore. The taunting began almost
immediately. Fortunately, the story doesn't end there. We moved to a
different house. Up the street was another lonely child. His name was
Chip. Chip and I became close friends. He had a three-wheeler
(motorcycle) and a wolf. We would go riding in the woods on the
three-wheeler; and the wolf would run along beside us. I was in heaven.
I had a human friend, and a new animal friend. The three of us were
inseparable. Despite the fact that Chip was a wonderful human being, I
liked his wolf even better. His wolf would even come down to my house by
himself. Whenever he was missing, they would call me first to see if he
was with me. Nine times out of ten he was with me. Slowly, as my
relationship with Rebel (that was the Wolf's name) grew deeper, I felt
myself becoming a wolf.

The concept of "Werewolf" did not enter my mind. (And it would take
several years before I was comfortable with the term.) I doubt I had
even seen a Werewolf film at the time. This was the dark ages before
VCRs and cable would become common. At the time, I had a cool English
teacher named Mrs. Libragizzelle. One of the assignments she gave us
that year was to read a book that had been banned in other school
systems. She gave us a list of books to choose from. On the list was
"Steppenwolf" by Hermann Hesse. I chose it because it had "Wolf" in the
title. The book hit me like hammer, and cradled me like a child. I knew
what I was. I was a Steppenwolf! I grew as a Steppenwolf; and I wanted
desparately to find others. This was before computers or the internet
were common; and several years before AHWw was even born as a newsgroup
to discuss films.
 
To make a long story short, I came to accept being a Werewolf. After
awhile, I didn't even mind the word. I could say it with pride. I am a
Werewolf! (However, I still preferred Steppenwolf.) Cut to 1993, I had
just moved to where I am currently living, and didn't really know
anyone. I had met a guy up the road, and we were sort of hanging out. We
weren't exactly what you might call friends. He was too much of a
homophobic racist for my tastes. It was on October 30, 1993 when he came
to my door with a kitten. He said he found it outside wandering around
my car. A small black cat came to my door just hours before Halloween.
Naturally, I had to keep it! I had just arrived to a new location. I was
just starting a good job. I had a new pet, a cool black cat found on
Halloween; and I was a fairly content Werewolf. All was great in the
world. Enter the fade-out. The job wasn't as great as I thought; neither
was the new place. I still had a cool cat; and I was a Werewolf. But
there was something wrong with that. I was feeling less and less canid
and more and more felid. I was becoming a cat. I had finally gotten used
to being a wolf; and now I was becoming a cat! I tried to fight the
change for as long as I could; but the cat was taking over. For at least
four years, I had two phenotypes. Now the cat has become a Tiger. The
last time I actually shifted into a wolf was on January 1st of this year
(1999). If the Wolf is still around, he has become dormant.

Wolf and Tiger are not the extent of my shifts. Once the change from
Wolf to Tiger was put into motion; I have had other M-shifts. I have
what I have named "Cameo phenotypes" A rough definition of a Cameo
phenotype: A shift (in my case, an M-shift complete with phantom limbs,
tail, head, and in one case antlers) into an animal that is not your
phenotype.( Example: You are a Wolf, Wolf is your only phenotype.
Suddenly, and unexpectedly you feel a shift coming on; but this time
something feels different. You shift into a Deer instead of your usual
Wolf. You know that Stag is not a second phenotype; however you find
yourself suddenly shifted into one.) For me, these shifts rarely last
for more than 10 minutes. I do not count these as additional phenotpes;
for me they are learning expierences, and damned fun.

Since discovering AHWw, my life has changed. I want to thank you all for
that. I have made several friends via Email here. Ashwolf and Lance Foxx
were the first two. Shortly after joining AHWw, I attended my first Howl
in Mississippi. There I met 16 other Weres, including Lance. This was
the first time I ever met others like me. The love and acceptance there
was overwhelming. I was pleasantly stunned to find in one afternoon
everything I had searched all of my life to find: A family, love, true
friends, animal friends, and true friends who WERE animal friends~other
Weres.

Thank you,
Cat X.   
 

"Actually, I believe jungle cats are held in higher esteem. Whereas one
can hardly take a kid out in public, tigers add panache and savoir faire
to any social occasion." ~Hobbes