Just a note: I've been putting off actually writing the "I can fly" song... I had a magazine article deadline coming up.

But I submitted that piece to the editor yesterday, and now I'm turning my thoughts back to this project (I feel the need to always be writing something, ya know?), and I've found myself puzzling out something.

Back in part one, McGrath pointed out that the Peter Pan reference in the song might reinforce the public perception of the disabled as perpetual children...

(A fact I was reminded of when NPR Sunday Edition did a report on the 25th anniversary of the sit in staged by disabled to get Congress and the president to enforce a disability rights law ... they frame the report musically with an orchestral version of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" [!!!])

But...

It was the Peter Pan aspect of that scene in my dream that has been the hook for all these years, and kept it fresh in my memory -- the way Peter Pan says "I can fly!" almost like "I dare you!". So I suspect it would probably be the strongest hook for the song, too... The fact is that Peter Pan has stayed a boy forever not because he can't grow up -- he refuses to grow up -- it's an act of defiance.

So, the puzzle is this: How do I write both aspects (the ability of the spirit to fly when the body cannot walk, and defying the adult-powers-that-be who try to define who I should be) into the song at once without one idea getting in the way of the other? Is it impossible?

(Oh, and I don't mean to be pushy, or anything, but I was wondering, did anybody get a chance to listen to the tune that I wrote for the lullaby above?)