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White rice bread (made by Food for Life) weighs 1.5 lbs. That can actually hurt my arm to carry for a mile. Well, I'd already walked 5 miles when I picked it up, and that makes my arms very stiff.
We went to look for a car, yesterday. Decisions, decisions. We had pretty much decided on the Chevy Aveo, which was available at the dealership in Auburn (only a 45 minute drive away) in green, but once there we found they also had a 1998 Suzuki Swift. Now, the Swift is the same car as the Chevy Metro, essentially, so we were then on a major decisional cusp - get the new car, which is cheap for a new car, or get the old car which is of a type we know from experience to be dependable? Every pro had a balancing con, and we went back and forth on this all the way home and in nearly every waking minute until this morning just before![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eor went to sleep. Now we seem to have settled - it will be the Aveo, because they're asking too much for the Swift - $4500. Which is about the same price eor paid for the same year Metro, our recently deceased valiant little green car, when he got it in 2000. That doesn't really make sense. So ... maybe we were only in this indecision because we wanted our little car back. It's true you can't recreate the past, we have decided to try to move on. And hope the Aveo doesn't turn out to the a lemon.
Meanwhile, as we were going through that whole decision making process, I was meditating on the recent trend among Sirius/Remus fans (at least on the Yahoo group Sirius_Black_and_Remus_Lupin) to cast Remus as an alpha wolf.
I posted to the group:
From: "Derien Nada" <derienme@y...>
Date: Sat Jun 5, 2004 4:51 pm
Subject: some thoughts on alpha!Remus and wolfpack hierarchy...
I've noticed a trend, lately, in Remus/Sirius fics, and it's gotten
me thinking, today. I don't know if it's new or if I only just
noticed it, but people seem to want to characterize Remus as an alpha
wolf. I hope nobody takes my following comments as negative, because
many of these have been lovely fics which I've greatly enjoyed
reading, but ... I don't see Alpha!Remus supported by the canon
text. Surely, if you were going to divide up their group into the
terms of wolf hierarchy (I'm not sure it makes sense to do so in
regard to all of the Marauder's points of view, but for Remus-as-wolf
it may make sense to do so), James would have been alpha. James
seems clearly to have been the leader of the group. Remus was given
the position of Prefect, which gave him official authority over his
friends, but he was not interested in attempting to make them behave,
even though he didn't always seem to think that the course of action
they were pursuing was right or proper.
I'm inclined to think that people find it more exciting to talk about
the alpha wolf than some mid-level hierarchy wolf - there can only be
one, the most important, the most special. We feel Remus is the most
special, therefore he must be alpha. However, he's only most special
in our hearts. Mid-level hierarchy is the reality of the world for
most wolves, as for most humans. That's not a bad thing - in fact, I
hope to show that it might play directly into our ideas of Remus and
Sirius as a pair. Placing both of them at midlevel also does not
mean that Remus and Sirius would interact as equals. Every wolf in a
pack is superior to some other wolf, until you get down to the wolf
who's obviously subordinate to every other member of the pack (Peter,
apparently). Sirius does seem to bow to Remus' authority much of the
time, so I think it IS quite safe to assume, as most people do, that
Remus is the dominant of that pair. (At least in situations where
cognitive thinking skills are necessary. Sirius might well take
dominance in other areas/situations, because human interactions can
be more complicated than animals - we can recognize our areas of
expertise and weakness, and allow another to take charge when the
situation requires a skill which we do not excel in.)
And then, if we were going to break down the Marauder's interactions
into wolf terms: James took a female mate and propigated, which is
the perogative of the alpha, as a recent story pointed out. I'm not
an expert on wolves, by any stretch of the imagination, but here's my
thinking with regard to the possibility of same-gender behaviors in
wolves (something we can be almost sure happens, probably on a
regular basis, but has recieved very little documentation due to
homophobia in publishing circles)... Most animals - at least most
male animals - seem quite inclined to enjoy sex. I had two male cats
when I was in high school, and the dominant one (there's always a
dominant cat if there's more than one cat in the room) often *ahem*
initiated sexual interaction with the other. If only the alpha is
allowed to have pups, but we can assume that other wolves still have
feelings of wanting to form close attachements and have sex, then it
seems logical that most non-alpha males would form male-male
attachements. Therefore, Remus/Sirius would make more sense if Remus
were NOT the alpha male of the pack.
And this is how I occupied my mind, today, when I really should have
been deciding which car to buy.:)
--Doe
Which got me back in return the best breakdown I've ever seen of wolf-pack dynamics...
From: [name deleted] <invisibles36@h...>
Date: Sat Jun 5, 2004 8:58 pm
Subject: RE: [SBRL] some thoughts on alpha!Remus and wolfpack hierarchy...
Yes, I too tend to be a tad taken aback by the alpha!Remus theory. I think
people tend to think is so because the 'Sit down, Sirius!' -line in OotP. I
never liked this theory, because mostly it tend to show the wolf-pack
hierarchy as very basic, as opposed to the amazingly complex estructure of
it. There is a reason why the Wolf-pack is considered the perfect society.
But I never saw James as alpha, neither, I'm sorry... James is clearly the
Gama-wolf, a.k.a., the Hunter. The Alpha is Sirius, the Beta Remus, and
Peter, of course, is the Omega.
In the wolf-pack the Alpha is the wolf with leadership qualities, the Beta
is the wise wolf (usually the former Alpha, ence having more life-experience
and more knowledge). Also, the Beta is the wolf who teaches the cubs (in
larger packs, the Gama-couples also mate and have cubs of their own), and we
can't forget that Remus is a teacher. The Gama is usually the one with the
better physicall (fighting and chasing) abilities. James was one of the
greatest Aurors ever and played Quidditch as a Chaser (hunt-chase, anyone?).
And in the Pensieve scene Harry notices that Sirius is the only one who can
controll his father. And when Sirius says is bored? Well, James-Gama
'catches' Snape-prey to satisfy his Sirius-alpha.
As for the Omega... Well, despite the fact that it plays the court-jest for
the rest of the pack, this, by any chance, means that he'snot has loved as
the other wolves. In fact, when a Omega dies, the pack helds a
mourning-period as large as if it had been the Alpha or the Beta dying. So
it makes sence that The Sirius-alpha had trusted his pack's Omega.
And yes, Sirius does obbey Remus in OotP. But the Alpha leads the Gamas, the
Deltas (2nd Hunters in larger packs) and the Omegas, but no one rules over
the Beta. No Alpha would be such a fool as not to listen to his Beta's
advice, so of course this Alpha obbeys when his Beta says 'Sit down,
Sirius!'
2 Knuts from a wolf-obcessed gal
We went to look for a car, yesterday. Decisions, decisions. We had pretty much decided on the Chevy Aveo, which was available at the dealership in Auburn (only a 45 minute drive away) in green, but once there we found they also had a 1998 Suzuki Swift. Now, the Swift is the same car as the Chevy Metro, essentially, so we were then on a major decisional cusp - get the new car, which is cheap for a new car, or get the old car which is of a type we know from experience to be dependable? Every pro had a balancing con, and we went back and forth on this all the way home and in nearly every waking minute until this morning just before
eor went to sleep. Now we seem to have settled - it will be the Aveo, because they're asking too much for the Swift - $4500. Which is about the same price eor paid for the same year Metro, our recently deceased valiant little green car, when he got it in 2000. That doesn't really make sense. So ... maybe we were only in this indecision because we wanted our little car back. It's true you can't recreate the past, we have decided to try to move on. And hope the Aveo doesn't turn out to the a lemon. Meanwhile, as we were going through that whole decision making process, I was meditating on the recent trend among Sirius/Remus fans (at least on the Yahoo group Sirius_Black_and_Remus_Lupin) to cast Remus as an alpha wolf.
I posted to the group:
From: "Derien Nada" <derienme@y...>
Date: Sat Jun 5, 2004 4:51 pm
Subject: some thoughts on alpha!Remus and wolfpack hierarchy...
I've noticed a trend, lately, in Remus/Sirius fics, and it's gotten
me thinking, today. I don't know if it's new or if I only just
noticed it, but people seem to want to characterize Remus as an alpha
wolf. I hope nobody takes my following comments as negative, because
many of these have been lovely fics which I've greatly enjoyed
reading, but ... I don't see Alpha!Remus supported by the canon
text. Surely, if you were going to divide up their group into the
terms of wolf hierarchy (I'm not sure it makes sense to do so in
regard to all of the Marauder's points of view, but for Remus-as-wolf
it may make sense to do so), James would have been alpha. James
seems clearly to have been the leader of the group. Remus was given
the position of Prefect, which gave him official authority over his
friends, but he was not interested in attempting to make them behave,
even though he didn't always seem to think that the course of action
they were pursuing was right or proper.
I'm inclined to think that people find it more exciting to talk about
the alpha wolf than some mid-level hierarchy wolf - there can only be
one, the most important, the most special. We feel Remus is the most
special, therefore he must be alpha. However, he's only most special
in our hearts. Mid-level hierarchy is the reality of the world for
most wolves, as for most humans. That's not a bad thing - in fact, I
hope to show that it might play directly into our ideas of Remus and
Sirius as a pair. Placing both of them at midlevel also does not
mean that Remus and Sirius would interact as equals. Every wolf in a
pack is superior to some other wolf, until you get down to the wolf
who's obviously subordinate to every other member of the pack (Peter,
apparently). Sirius does seem to bow to Remus' authority much of the
time, so I think it IS quite safe to assume, as most people do, that
Remus is the dominant of that pair. (At least in situations where
cognitive thinking skills are necessary. Sirius might well take
dominance in other areas/situations, because human interactions can
be more complicated than animals - we can recognize our areas of
expertise and weakness, and allow another to take charge when the
situation requires a skill which we do not excel in.)
And then, if we were going to break down the Marauder's interactions
into wolf terms: James took a female mate and propigated, which is
the perogative of the alpha, as a recent story pointed out. I'm not
an expert on wolves, by any stretch of the imagination, but here's my
thinking with regard to the possibility of same-gender behaviors in
wolves (something we can be almost sure happens, probably on a
regular basis, but has recieved very little documentation due to
homophobia in publishing circles)... Most animals - at least most
male animals - seem quite inclined to enjoy sex. I had two male cats
when I was in high school, and the dominant one (there's always a
dominant cat if there's more than one cat in the room) often *ahem*
initiated sexual interaction with the other. If only the alpha is
allowed to have pups, but we can assume that other wolves still have
feelings of wanting to form close attachements and have sex, then it
seems logical that most non-alpha males would form male-male
attachements. Therefore, Remus/Sirius would make more sense if Remus
were NOT the alpha male of the pack.
And this is how I occupied my mind, today, when I really should have
been deciding which car to buy.:)
--Doe
Which got me back in return the best breakdown I've ever seen of wolf-pack dynamics...
From: [name deleted] <invisibles36@h...>
Date: Sat Jun 5, 2004 8:58 pm
Subject: RE: [SBRL] some thoughts on alpha!Remus and wolfpack hierarchy...
Yes, I too tend to be a tad taken aback by the alpha!Remus theory. I think
people tend to think is so because the 'Sit down, Sirius!' -line in OotP. I
never liked this theory, because mostly it tend to show the wolf-pack
hierarchy as very basic, as opposed to the amazingly complex estructure of
it. There is a reason why the Wolf-pack is considered the perfect society.
But I never saw James as alpha, neither, I'm sorry... James is clearly the
Gama-wolf, a.k.a., the Hunter. The Alpha is Sirius, the Beta Remus, and
Peter, of course, is the Omega.
In the wolf-pack the Alpha is the wolf with leadership qualities, the Beta
is the wise wolf (usually the former Alpha, ence having more life-experience
and more knowledge). Also, the Beta is the wolf who teaches the cubs (in
larger packs, the Gama-couples also mate and have cubs of their own), and we
can't forget that Remus is a teacher. The Gama is usually the one with the
better physicall (fighting and chasing) abilities. James was one of the
greatest Aurors ever and played Quidditch as a Chaser (hunt-chase, anyone?).
And in the Pensieve scene Harry notices that Sirius is the only one who can
controll his father. And when Sirius says is bored? Well, James-Gama
'catches' Snape-prey to satisfy his Sirius-alpha.
As for the Omega... Well, despite the fact that it plays the court-jest for
the rest of the pack, this, by any chance, means that he'snot has loved as
the other wolves. In fact, when a Omega dies, the pack helds a
mourning-period as large as if it had been the Alpha or the Beta dying. So
it makes sence that The Sirius-alpha had trusted his pack's Omega.
And yes, Sirius does obbey Remus in OotP. But the Alpha leads the Gamas, the
Deltas (2nd Hunters in larger packs) and the Omegas, but no one rules over
the Beta. No Alpha would be such a fool as not to listen to his Beta's
advice, so of course this Alpha obbeys when his Beta says 'Sit down,
Sirius!'
2 Knuts from a wolf-obcessed gal
You are <table>
Now you're a strange one. You can be utterly fantastic, but you keep finding yourself in places that you really shouldn't be. Just keep to the straight and narrow, and everyone will love you!