This was written for Circle of Titles in 2016, when I was assigned the title “Strategies to Live,” which felt super relevant given the then-recent Presidential election which was at odds with my safety as a trans person.

It took me five years to release this album, and I kept on feeling like it was too late to release this topical song, and yet, somehow it manages to remain topical.

Lyrics: Strategies to Live

You can hide yourself down a deep, dark hole Or hoist yourself on a really tall pole Anything that’ll help you get away

You can do heavy drugs to numb the pain, or Ask a surgeon to remove your brain So you can fit right in and start to play

Change your face and change your name Hide everything that brings you shame Or go on a preemptive sneak attack

Dig deep into the viper’s pit Embroil yourself in petty shit Just commit ‘coz there’s no turning back

Oh, I wish I didn’t worry oh so much Oh, I wish I could feel fine Oh, if only all my hopes weren’t out of touch I wish my safety wasn’t on the line

If you’re accused of doing a bad crime Want to hide for a very very very long time Consider all the possibilities

Make a run for President Convince the people you are heaven sent You might just win and then you are home free

Even if you’re caught lying Everyone gives you points for trying It’s not that the bear stakes well, it skates at all

Even if you destroy the world It doesn’t matter, you can fuck every girl And then you can go home and take your ball

Oh, I wish I didn’t worry oh so much Oh, I wish I could feel fine Oh, if only all my hopes weren’t out of touch I wish my safety wasn’t on the line

In the long run everything will be fine It will just be a matter of time, in Twelve billion years this will all be gone

In the meantime just try to survive The world is better with you alive Outliving him is a reason to go on

I wrote this song the night after I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, based on the then-current understanding of the condition (before new research showed that it’s actually an autoimmune condition), and also about my long-time frustration with just how people who don’t experience chronic pain talk to people who do.

Lyrics: Fibromyalgia

Every day I’m just a little older I feel a little twinge up in my shoulder Icing up my limbs until they’re colder Reduce the burning pain into a smolder

I’ve got fibromyalgia I’ve got fibromyalgia I feel a lot of pain but it’s Mostly in my brain I have Fibromyalgia

I’ve got Fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia There’s something in my brain that makes me Sensitive to pain I’ve got Fibromyalgia

Well I think it’s pretty nice To eat turmeric and rice With a spicy Indian curry

And I get so much advice And I’ve heard it once or twice About swimming and Pilates and so much yoga (You should swim do Pilates and so much yoga!)

Fibromyalgia, I’ve got Fibromyalgia It’s excruciating pain That comes from my defective brain I’ve got fibromyalgia

This song was written for Song Fight! Live 2020, and I don’t think people got the joke that it was a song about how 2020 was going to have been so much better than 2019 was.

(For those reading this from the distant future: It very much wasn’t.)

Lyrics: Better Luck Next Year

This year had its challenges All my flowers dead, my pain got worse, my brain got worse, there’s something wrong with my head

What happened to my career, it didn’t go my way Things feel bad, and I’m in fear I won’t live another day

oh, it can only get better oh, I know it will get better

we see the rise of fascists who think many lives don’t matter a president who’s on the brink, only cares to be flattered

where can our people go from here it all just seems too much famine devastation fear we need a human touch

oh, it can only get better oh, I know it will get better

but it wasn’t all so bad some of it was swell remember all the good times we had Song Fight! Live went well

We take the hand we have been dealt this year’s problems were a-plenty 2019 really smelt, so here’s to 2020

oh, it can only get better oh, I know it will get better oh, it can only get better oh, I know it will get better

Video: Better Luck Next Year