Steve Cotler Steve Cotler

Category: Cheesie Mack

MLK Day and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

— 4:12 pm · One comment

esq-kareem-bioAmerica is struggling in the aftermath of police killings of black men in Ferguson, New York City, Cleveland, Florida, and more…and more. Today Time published an essay by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar entitled “Why I Have Mixed Feelings About MLK Day.” Few celebrities utilize their celebrity status for the well-being of society. Mr. Abdul-Jabbar does.

I reprint the beginning of it below. I encourage you to click through and read the whole thing.

Screen Shot 2015-01-19 at 3.13.58 PM
Glenn Philips

[Full disclosure: I have no interest in the NBA, but I have been a fan of this intelligent and articulate man for years. In fact, I included “Kareem” in Cheesie Mack Is Sort of Freaked Out as the middle name of one of Cheesie’s friends, Glenn Philips…and he, according to Cheesie, is the smartest kid in school.]

Abdul-Jabbar’s essay begins:

I have mixed emotions about Martin Luther King Jr. Day. For me, it’s a time of hopeful celebration — but also of cautionary vigilance. I celebrate an extraordinary man of courage and conviction and his remarkable achievements and hope that I can behave in a manner that honors his sacrifices. And while Dr. King still has his delusional detractors, who have a dream of dismissing his impact on history, it’s not them I worry about. Continue reading “MLK Day and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar” →

Are Authors Rich?

— 6:38 pm · View all 2 comments

Screen Shot 2014-11-24 at 6.32.12 PMI end each Cheesie Mack school presentation with a Q&A. And I can count on certain questions always being asked:

“How long does it take to write a book?”
“How did you come up with the idea for Cheesie Mack?”

Those are not surprising. But I also always get questions you might not expect:

 “How old are you?” (I award a Georgie 4 President sticker if the questioner can guess my age within ten years. Their answers have ranged from 16 to 96!)
“Are you rich?” (Often this question is disguised…e.g., “What model car do you drive?”) Continue reading “Are Authors Rich?” →

On Balance

— 11:25 am · Comments Off on On Balance

I-5There is very little to recommend California’s Interstate 5 except straightness and speed.

In a midsummer’s sunset somewhere south of Buttonwillow, I am rolling at 80, glazed by oncoming lights and nearly listening to bad luck and worse love on a Country FM out of Visalia. I lift, drink, and am down to an inch in my water bottle.

Suddenly a below-decks clang-clank yanks my eyes to the rearview, and there’s something bouncing along behind me in the road dusk, losing ground. A non-conscious thought hikes my foot off the accelerator, and I coast into senses and an immediate inventory: there is no smoke, no smell, Continue reading “On Balance” →

In Praise of Children’s Librarians

— 9:59 am · Comments Off on In Praise of Children’s Librarians

When I was a boy, elementary schools did not have libraries. We didn’t know what we were missing because our town had a Carnegie Library.

Oxnard Public Library

Beginning in 1889, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie built homes for books. Eventually his philanthropy erected 2,509 public libraries, two-thirds of which were in the United States. The one in my little California farming community was by far the grandest structure in our town. The stairway on the left led up to the adult library. I was not permitted to pass through those doors. But there was a entry Continue reading “In Praise of Children’s Librarians” →

Dixville Notch: The First Voters

— 9:49 am · One comment

New Hampshire has held the first-in-the-nation presidential primaries since 1920. With the first presidential “beauty contest” in 1952, our citizens have personally met the candidates and by popular ballot have declared their preference for their party’s nominee. Since 1960, Dixville has been the first community in the state and country to cast its handful of votes in national elections. On election eve 100% of the eligible voters gather in the Ballot Room of The BALSAMS. At midnight polls open and a few minutes later promptly close. The results are broadcast around the world.

—Roadside marker text…NH Route 26

It is both a privilege and a responsibility to vote. The few citizens of Dixville Notch, NH, take their franchise seriously and have gained notoriety therefrom. So, this year…will it be…”How goes Dixville Notch, so goes the nation”?

Continue reading “Dixville Notch: The First Voters” →

Hurray for Boredom!

— 6:21 pm · One comment

When I was child, a protestation that I was bored or had nothing to do always got the same response from my father.

“Go bang your head against the wall.”

The absurdity of his suggestion was meant to reflect back to me the absurdity of my complaint. He was really saying, “Think harder, son. There is always something interesting to do.”

And of course, there always was.

As I grew, I no longer needed my father’s head-banging reminder. My internal mantra became, “If you’re bored, you’re boring.”

I took responsibility for my boredom. I came to understand that if I were bored, it was I who was not thinking hard enough.

There is an upside to boredom, explains renown psychologist Dr. Laura Markham, in a blog post entitled, Why Boredom is Good for Your Child:

Dr. Laura Markham

We respond to our kids’ boredom by providing technological entertainment or structured activities.   But that’s actually counter-productive.  Children need to encounter and engage with the raw stuff that life is made of: unstructured time. Continue reading “Hurray for Boredom!” →

Steve with students at an author event

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