Pick a character—any persona—who is imbued with traits you desire. Shrouded in anonymity—an alter ego who is tougher, wiser, more gregarious than you are—know you cannot fail. If you do, it is not you failing but someone with another name, another history, another style, another life. Try on “Angel,” a tough-talking, gum-chomping ex-con who served time in the slammer for offenses you never reveal. Simply assure people, “It wasn’t murder or nuthin’.” Create your new history—with details of your time served and how you found the light behind bars—not in Jesus or the Bible, but in TV reruns. Spread the “good word” of a return to simpler, more innocent times through music. Write songs about reruns—“Beaver Cleaver Fever,” “Ode to Mrs. Kravitz,” and your most controversial, “Buffy Come Back,” a tribute to the sweet, freckled girl with blond pigtails from Family Affair. Anissa Jones, the actress who portrayed the precocious child who went everywhere with her best friend, Mrs.
