Now You See Us

A little over a year ago, I wrote an ME/CFS protest song called "Now You See Us." It's full of righteous indignation, but also giddy and optimistic. I'm posting it here tonight in celebration of the long-awaited release of the Alter paper.

(This is a low-res home recording, so if you're listening on itty bitty laptop speakers, you may need to crank the volume up to max.)

This goes out to everyone at the Whittemore Peterson Institute for getting the ball rolling. It also goes out to Alter et al for discovering another important piece to the puzzle, and for dealing with a lot of political crap they likely never expected. And to all of us, for surviving the wait.

If you like it, share it with anyone else you think will like it too! Lyrics are below.




NOW YOU SEE US

Lyrics by Susan Wenger
Music by Susan Wenger & Ron Amistadi

Day they came
Did their worst
Felt like I might die of thirst
Not a drop of water to be found
Seasons pass
Years go by
Never knew the reason why
They always kick you hardest when you're down

Chase the money trail
And you begin to realize
There's shady people cleaning out the store

CHORUS
Someone's got to keep the faith
Someone's got to hold the line
I can build a mighty fortress
With the power of my mind
I'll do anything it takes
Gonna take back what is mine
And there's no stopping us this time


Alone we are divisible
Silent and invisible
Without the strength to get a message through
Find each other one by one
Get together
Get it done
Keep each other going 'til we do

They can call us crazy
See how much time that buys
But we will not believe them anymore

CHORUS
Someone's got to keep the faith
Someone's got to hold the line
I can build a bridge between us
With the power of my mind
I'll do anything it takes
Gonna take back what is mine, mine, mine
And there's no stopping us this time


Results of their analysis
Hysterical paralysis
The more things change the more they stay the same
But closer now
To the truth
And they cannot deny the proof
By trying to call it by a different name

CHORUS
Someone's got to keep the faith
Someone's got to hold the line
I can build a better future
With the power of my mind
I'll do anything it takes
Gonna take back what is mine, mine, mine

And you and me will be just fine

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Copyright 2009 Cinder Bridge. All rights reserved.

Alter press embargo ends in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

At 3:01 p.m. EDT (about 10 minutes from now at this writing), there will be a teleconference by experts from the FDA, NIH, and CDC to answer questions about the Alter et al paper that was put on hold in June.

Reporters should call 1-888-677-4212 and enter passcode 9258555. For those unable to participate, the briefing will be available on replay approximately two hours after briefing concludes. For replay, dial 1-866-373-4990 and enter passcode 5711. [Emphasis mine.]

Full press release available at Dancing with the Sandman.

I don't hold out much hope that mainstream media reporters will ask the hard questions, like why this paper was on hold for so long when the CDC's negative results were published relatively quickly. But this is still good news. Fingers crossed.

In press

According to CFS Central, the Alter paper is in press. That is, it's being printed and will soon be published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

I don't know how soon "soon" is. I don't know if the paper has been changed in any way since the powers that be put it on hold. I won't exhale until I actually see the damn thing in print.

Still, it's refreshing to get any news about this at all. I'm tired of waiting.

I know I'm not the only one.